a good day

Hello all! I'm writing on this previously-sunny-but-now turning-ominously-dark day getting mentally ready to start my first day of school tomorrow! I am nervous, of course, but I feel like the three days I spent at the school talking to the other teachers and looking through available materials really helped and I am relatively prepared for what will come tomorrow! I will surely let you know how it goes!

I'm also feeling hopeful and optimistic as we found out for sure today that we had been under the misconception that I need to have a 2-year contract by October (which is turning out to be quite impossible) in order to extend my residence permit, and in fact I only need a 1-year contract (which is much more within our reach)!

The story goes like this: Back in October Rene and I had our IND meeting, and the woman who took care of our case turned out to be a mean crazy lady. She told us then that our application would probably be rejected because Rene didn't have a long enough contract, even though the requirements stated that he needed a contract of at least 1 year and his was for 14 months. Thankfully another lady came along and let us know that the lady was crazy, and that Rene's contract did fulfill the requirement! We're thankful for that because the crazy lady told us that we should just leave without submitting our application and try to get a longer (2 year) contract. Well, as we know, the 14 month contract sufficed because I got my permit without any problem.

The misunderstanding for MY 2-year contract requirement came from the same lady who told us on that day that even if Rene's contract suffices, that we would need to have a 2-year contract by the following year in order to get an extension. So we had been operating under that assumption. I hadn't realized, though, that there could be a chance that EVERYTHING the crazy lady said was wrong, and it turns out that that's the case. I looked on the IND website and it said that in order to extend my permit we just need to meet the same conditions as we did when I first applied (read: 1 year contract), and Rene called the IND today to find out for sure, and that indeed is the case.

So I just wanted to let you know that things are looking up, and that I don't feel so discouraged about the prospect of being able to stay here, and that God is answering our prayers one step at a time!! :)