OT, but wonderful news!

Oh my gosh, I am so excited, but I guess I better start at the beginning for all those who don't know my story:

I am an Aussie (well mostly, anyway). My DH works for Boeing Australia and we came over here on a 2 year contract - that was nearly 7 years ago.
We pretty much knew it wouldn't be done in two years, and sure enough, we kept being extended a little bit at a time over the years.

By now, our daughters are 14 and 17 - so the older one is  a high school senior. Now that she has a boyfriend, she wants to stay and study in Seattle *sigh*.

Our latest deadline was February, but the project isn't finished yet and they NEED hubby. However, there are budget issues and so there was some danger that they would send us home, although we kept telling ourselves it won't happen. Very recently we finally had a vague hope of staying until April, which was at least a step in the right direction.

Our daughter graduates in June, and her 18th birthday is on June 18th - we HAVE to be here for those events !!!! She would have endless problems with visa and health insurance etc, if we're no longer here.

Thankfully today hubby got the email asking us to stay until August 31st !!!!!!!!!!

Halleluja, what a giant relief!!!!! I am doing the dance of joy.
We'll be here to see her settled into the start of her adult life.

Now I'm crying.......... but I'm happy, really.........

Thats great Karin!

What a huge relief. The whole family must be celebrating.

Denise

PS...I Love Australia. I've been there 8 times!

Oh Karin that is fabulous news.  maybe at this rate you'll get to see the other daughter graduate here too. ...  So will the oldest stay and go to college here?  Will she be able to get her own student visa to stay?  I'm not sure how it all works... I was 14 when we moved to America from England, and we have perm. visa's.  When I got married, it now expires every ten years, but to me it's easier to spend a day in Homeland Security than to "give up" my heritage and become naturalized. lol.  (laziness on my part I'm sure comes in to play with that).

Anyways i'm glad you get to stay, afterall I've only just met you and look forward to getting to know you more and to see you shrink to the size / health you want to be :)

WOO HOO.

Denise,
next time you'll have to come visit us in Brisbane!!!

Terri,
I know what you mean about the visa etc. I was born in Germany, and lived there until I was 20. I think of myself as mostly Aussie, but I don't want to give up the German citizenship, either. If I become an Aussie, I'd lose that  :-(  
My girls, on the other hand,  have dual citizenship. That's because theirs is by BIRTH (German mother, Aussie father), not by choice as would be MY case.

Yes, she wants to stay here because of her boyfriend and go to UW. She should be able to get a student visa and a bunch of scholarships (she has awesome grades!!!), but she will be mostly on her own, we can't afford to run two households.

In the end, it is her choice and if all else fails, she can always give up and come home to us.
On the other hand, we all hope she succeeds as she may very well do. She is pretty determined  :-)

Woot Woot Woot - I'm doing a happy dance for you...and me, too, because I'm glad you'll be here at least a little while longer!




Are you doing anything this coming Tuesday night, February 10th?  Merrilou's Auburn Support Group is AWESOME (~waving hello to Merrilou and everyone I met in Dec~).  If you can't make that we really should get together sometime soon! 

I think it would be fun to "go to tea".  Tell me if I'm wrong, but don't Aussies "do tea" kind of like the British?  Since surgery I have developed a penchant for hot tea (herbal or caffeine free for any Srikanth narcs that may be reading ~Ha~) which I attribute, at least in part, to my melting insulation. I used to be the girl who was ***hot hot hot*** all of the time (hot as in temperature, I'm still damn *hawt* in appearance/style ~wink~).  In an effort to stay warm, I'm currently wearing pink leopard silk underwear (See http://www.wintersilks.com/viewproduct.aspx?BRANCH=1%7e52%7e&ProductDisplayID=667&dept=Silk+Long+Underwear-womens+size&prod=womens-leopard+print+long+john+top ) which were a gift from my mom who thought that the red wool men's union suit that I was wearing at Christmas was a hoot), wool socks,  t-shirt, sweat shirt, sweat pants, and my pink crocs; don't hate me because I'm beautiful!

The Secret Garden Gift Shop and Tea Room in Sumner is open 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Wed - Sun (closed Mon & Tue).  Would you like to go to tea with me?  Oooh, I just had a light bulb moment (and we all know how few and far between those moments are for me)!  Maybe a group of us could go!  The tea room's website indicates that they can seat up to ten people at one table in their parlor dining room.  What do you think?  Tea, anyone?

Amy

edited to add my doggy pic beside my name - I was so excited that I neglected to attach his lease before hitting submit the first time!

Thanks for joining me in my happy dance!!!

Amy, since I had to do without you at the last meeting, I'll come to this one.
Would you please send me the address and other pertinent details?

Whilst Aussies don't "do tea" quite like the British, I certainly don't mind a cuppa!

Sumner isn't exactly around the corner from Fairwood/Renton, but I'll come anyway.
I'll just make sure to combine it with a trip to Vitalady, so I can justify it better  :-)

We could talk about details on Tuesday, perhaps?

Oh and stop with all those descriptions of slinky silks....... you're making me drool here  ;-)

Heya, Beetle!

I'm off to my PT - yea - I get to warm up in a heated pool, but I'll send you the info you requested when I get home from that and running errands - definitely by this evening!

And just for you - sumptuous slinky sexy smooth sinful silks! 

Amy

lovely leopard undergarments!
Deb

Great new Karin...I knew things would work out for you and your family!

That is so wonderful Karin!!  I know what a relief that is for you.  I don't know what I would do if the Army decided to move us right now!!