nce the wedding was over, DF and I settled into comfortable, blissful married life with all the trappings. DF moved into the spacious home I had purchased a year or so before we married and was eager to recommend that we undertake renovations beyond those I had done, single-handedly, while he still lived overseas.
He would not be able to work until employment authorisation was approved, and therefore spent a lot of time putting around town while I worked, or frequenting the gym to work out. In anticipation of the receipt of USCIS' endorsement to work, I set out to open another small business that he would later operate, while at the same time attending to my own career and all of its day-to-day demands. Although I had two businesses that needed a lot of TLC, a garden in a constant state of evolution and the day-to-day requirements of keeping a home, I managed to juggle the schedule and still spend quality and demonstrably affectionate times with my new husband. It was during this period that discussions of having a child took quite a different tack.
Prior to marrying, we had always planned on having a child; had spoken of it often and would have begun a family a few years earlier had it not been for the delay in becoming naturalised. Now that we were settled into a comfortable life together, DF became resolute that there would be no additions to the family. After all, he had two boys of his own and did not wish to encumber our lives with an infant. I was disappointed that the matter was not for open discussion, and when he remarked that we had his two boys, who would be joining us to live in the US in a matter of a couple of years when they were a little older, I accepted the situation and agreed that indeed we could and would focus on providing a loving family for them and I contently placed my disappointment aside.
When DF's Employment Authorisation Document arrived in April 2001, he began to operate the small business I'd opened and developed and after successfully passing the Adjustment of Status stage in the immigration process and gaining travelling permission, he began a schedule of visits to Europe in late summer and at the end of the year at Christmastime when my company schedule could not permit me extended absences from the area. With two business under my helm, it was near impossible for both of us to leave for any substantial period of time. Nonetheless, he'd travel out for a month and I'd hop over to join him for ten days, whenever possible, and return to oversee his position until he returned. I offered, gladly, to do this since I felt it important that he have ample time to spend with his children. I embraced the opportunity to prepare for a comfortable life for us in the USA and the visits to his home country were blissful times.
All seemed to be quite normal on the surface, except for his occasional display of frustration that the immigration process was lengthy and that he missed his children. I could empathise how difficult it could be to have moved so far away, and so I encouraged him to arrange for the boys to come over and spend the next summer with us here in the USA.
Now let's fast-foward to the following summer and the week of our second wedding anniversary.
He would not be able to work until employment authorisation was approved, and therefore spent a lot of time putting around town while I worked, or frequenting the gym to work out. In anticipation of the receipt of USCIS' endorsement to work, I set out to open another small business that he would later operate, while at the same time attending to my own career and all of its day-to-day demands. Although I had two businesses that needed a lot of TLC, a garden in a constant state of evolution and the day-to-day requirements of keeping a home, I managed to juggle the schedule and still spend quality and demonstrably affectionate times with my new husband. It was during this period that discussions of having a child took quite a different tack.
Prior to marrying, we had always planned on having a child; had spoken of it often and would have begun a family a few years earlier had it not been for the delay in becoming naturalised. Now that we were settled into a comfortable life together, DF became resolute that there would be no additions to the family. After all, he had two boys of his own and did not wish to encumber our lives with an infant. I was disappointed that the matter was not for open discussion, and when he remarked that we had his two boys, who would be joining us to live in the US in a matter of a couple of years when they were a little older, I accepted the situation and agreed that indeed we could and would focus on providing a loving family for them and I contently placed my disappointment aside.
When DF's Employment Authorisation Document arrived in April 2001, he began to operate the small business I'd opened and developed and after successfully passing the Adjustment of Status stage in the immigration process and gaining travelling permission, he began a schedule of visits to Europe in late summer and at the end of the year at Christmastime when my company schedule could not permit me extended absences from the area. With two business under my helm, it was near impossible for both of us to leave for any substantial period of time. Nonetheless, he'd travel out for a month and I'd hop over to join him for ten days, whenever possible, and return to oversee his position until he returned. I offered, gladly, to do this since I felt it important that he have ample time to spend with his children. I embraced the opportunity to prepare for a comfortable life for us in the USA and the visits to his home country were blissful times.
All seemed to be quite normal on the surface, except for his occasional display of frustration that the immigration process was lengthy and that he missed his children. I could empathise how difficult it could be to have moved so far away, and so I encouraged him to arrange for the boys to come over and spend the next summer with us here in the USA.
Now let's fast-foward to the following summer and the week of our second wedding anniversary.
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