Once I left Russia and returned home, I was in a daze at what had just taken place. The reality of what was happening was sinking in, but in no way was there any regret. It was more of a serious feeling about what I needed to do to finish this process and prepare for her to come to the states. I was happy, excited, scared, and all of those emotions one experiences in a new relationship. I dug into my work again, started showing off pictures, my ring, and my enthusiasm for my new love. Most everyone knew why I went to Russia to begin with, but most were surprised by the way it culminated and the speed at which we had done it. In our emails, my wife told me about how she was doing pretty much the same thing. She had never been married before so this was her moment to shine in front of her friends and family. She took advantage of it too!

Our plan was to finish the paperwork that we had started and have her come to the states as my fiancee' as most couples do. We expected the process to take about another six months as we had been told and with much patience we prepared ourselves for this wait. I came back from our visit the last week in October and immediately began the Immigration paperwork. I got it submitted within a month and then began to wait. I eventually got my notice that the paperwork had been received and the process was started, and this took a ton of weight off of me. Unfortunately, as often happens with this process, the relief was short-lived. I guess it was around mid December that I started calling to check on the status of things. After many phone calls, I finally got through to someone who told me that instead of the six months this process normally takes, it was actually going to take up to a year or a year and a half. It seems they had a sudden inundation with applications and there were backlogged that far. My heart was broken and I did not know how to tell Nadya.

Finally, after summoning the courage, and considering our options, I decided to make the call on Skype and break the news. It was a sad and difficult day for me! I had gone over all the options that we had, and had thought very deeply what I was willing to accept as far as how long we were going to be apart. I thought of every possible option for getting her into the United States, legally and illegally, and although I wanted to pursue many options, none were really that realistic. I accepted this fact because her safety and our proceedings were the most important elements of the decision process. We were basically stuck with our process, but there was another option, which would not interfere with our process, and I had pretty much decided that it was what I wanted to do.

Later, when I got home, I made the call! When I finally broke the news to her, she was heart-broken, and the phone call did not last much longer. She did not know what to say, and I asked her to take some time and think through the situation clearly before she started making irrational choices. She agreed and I left a broken-hearted woman that I loved to make some serious decisions 8,000 miles away from me. I did not know what to expect from her. The next 24 hours haunted me with all kinds of wild thoughts about what she might do. Would she call it quits, saying that it was too difficult to continue? The ideas I had were so outrageous and wild. My mind would not stop creating these illusions of what might happen.

The next night, I could not wait to get home and call her. I was sick with anticipation and scared to death at the same time. I made the call as soon as I walked into the door and she was waiting to receive it. She answered, and I tried to get an idea from the tone in her voice about what she was going to do, and too my tremendous relief, she was not upset at all. She answered very calmly and had a strong matter-of-fact tone in her voice. She sounded like a woman who knew what she wanted, and it was not in a negative tone. Upon asking her if she had decided what she wanted to do, she turned on me as asked what I wanted to do. I told her that I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I was not going to say anything until she told me what she was thinking. She did not hesitate or play any teasing games but instead got straight to the point. She said, "Randy, I have decided that you need to come to live with me in Russia and that we should go ahead and get married here, and stay here until our paperwork is complete." I almost screamed as I could hardly contain my emotions. I told her that I had decided exactly the same thing. After moments of confirming that her and her mom could in fact deal with this situation, as she lived at home with her mom in a one-bedroom apartment, she finally convinced me about 80 percent that her and her mom had discussed it and that it would be fine. I was hesitant because I would be going into their space and their lives, but we decided that is what we would do. We began discussing dates for moving and for the wedding.

Continued...