Nacho just got back from the consulate. He is eligible to file the waiver....not that we thought he wouldn't be....you just never know!

He was in line at 6am...they broke them into groups based on their interview times and was finally let in at 9am. The took a copy of his appointment letter and his passport. They then had to wait to be finger printed. Once they were finger printed they were sent to the other building where they had to wait to be interviewed. Nacho got a nice guy. He asked who was petitioning him, what my name was, what I did for a living, did he have kids and how many, and when was he going to visit his parents. That was it. Didn't ask to see anything....not even pictures. Nacho did say that the other ladies doing the interviews were asking lots more questions and asking to see pictures. I guess he lucked out! He then had to sit around and wait to be called up. They gave him the paper saying he wasn't eligible for a visa for illegal presence but that he was eligible for the waiver. Then he was able to go. He got back to the hotel at around 3:45pm.

Tomorrow we head to his parents house. I don't know if we will have any internet access so if not I will post lots of family pics once the kids and I are back in the states in two weeks!

Miguel found out they have video games in Mexico too. He is playing a car game with one of the boys last night at dinner. They are a very nice family and they live towards the edge of town. Unfortunately for them they live near where many of the killings have been happening (most of the killings are drug cartel related, though some have been caught in the cross fire). They were considering moving back to their hometown before the soldiers arrived a few weeks ago. They said it has been much better since the soldiers arrived. (we have seen many of them on patrol). The only bad thing is that now the police won't come out when there is an emergency. They tell you to call the soldiers instead! Scared or lazy? That is the question!
Here is Miguel just hanging out like usual.
This is a picture of the major street near the hotel that has lots of stores, a mall, and restaurants...including a pizza hut for Miguel! The bus in the photo is one of the city buses. It looks like they buy old school buses from the states, paint them and use them for their city buses. From what we watched you have to hop on fast. Sometimes the driver doesn't wait until you are all the way on the bus before he takes off!

Tomorrow is Nacho's visa interview. What we are hoping for is that he is told he is eligible to file a waiver of his inadmissability! I will let you know when he gets out. It should be a long day!

Sorry....no new pics today.....I wanted to take some pics of the street where the consulate is yesterday but Nacho had the camera in the medical clinic and you aren't suppose to take pictures in front of the consulate anyway...security reasons!

Well Nacho's medical appointment yesterday went like this......He left the hotel at 5:45 am. He decided to walk to the medical. He went to the clinic right next door to the consulate. He said the line moved pretty quick when the clinic opened at 6:30. He did have to wait a long time inside. They took a chest x-ray, drew blood, a physical exam which consisted of weight, height, blood pressure, and getting him naked! And shots! He had to get three. He was done around 11:30 or so. He came back to the hotel but we weren't here.....Miguel and I were going stir crazy so we had walked to a park just a couple blocks away. Miguel and I came back a little while later and we hung out in the room until 1:30 because Naho had to go back to the medical clinic to pick up his results at 2pm. Miguel, Alex and I decided to walk with him this time and let me tell you how crazy that street is ! I really wish I could have taken some pictures right across from the consulate because you won't believe me how many people are waiting for loved ones to come out! There are people sitting everywhere. There is a store where you can rent a chair for the day right across the street from the consulate and it was standing room only over there. People were sitting on the curbs, on planters in front of restaurants and everything.

When we got to the medical clinic it was just as bad. Alex and I sat on the curb while Miguel and Nacho went inside to get his results. There didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to how they were giving the results out. Some people would go in and come back out 10 min later with their results. Nacho went in right at 2pm.....at 2:45 I started to get really worried....everyone that went in at the same time he did had already come back out.....I was out there with only a couple other families now where it had been crowded before. I was starting to think something was wrong....like he had a shadow on his chest x-ray or something was going to keep him from qualifying for a visa. I stuck my head in there and he was still waiting. They were having a hard time finding his results. Finally a little after 3:30pm he got his results. Sigh.....one step down.

One of the guys Nacho worked with at APC has a niece and nephew that live here in Juarez. The nephew is a dentist and he came and picked nacho up on Thursday night to show him how to get to the consulate, where to go, and take him somewhere to exchange money. They invited us to their house for supper tonight so I will let you know how that goes later. They have been very helpful and friendly...it is nice to have friends in this crazy city.....which by the way I am NOT regretting my decision not to drive into at all!

Mom tried to get a picture of me at an Oklahoma rest stop but all she got was the back of me running away!
McDonalds! Like my prirate's hat?
This is the mountains headed south to El Paso.
This is the Hotel in Juarez. We got checked in around 4:30 local time. Apparently they are on mountain time here.
This is the inside of our room.

For those of you wondering we made it to Springfield MO the first night and the second night we made it to Tecumari NM.

Yesterday while we were driving through Oklahoma it poured rain the whole day. It really slowed us down because I discovered that our car does not have great traction in downpours.

Miguel is definately glad we are here. He was having lots of fits in the car just screaming his head off because he wanted to get out.

We did see some border patrol on our way south. Nacho said he saw like 6 altogether....I only noticed 1....but I was driving and it was super windy today.

We stopped in Indy to pick up some stuff from my cousin Jazlynn's house. We had time to watch a couple cartoons before we left.
This is the arch in St. Louis. Mom said we didn't have time to stop. Maybe next time.
We had Burger King for supper. I didn't want to get back in the car.
Papi mad because I didn't want to get back in the car.
Alex could care less....he was sleeping.

Well Here is the hardship letter we have been working on. Ready for our appointment in Juarez. We got it from the lawyer this morning. We leave tomorrow morning and hope to arrive on Thursday. I will try and keep the blog updated to check back often to see how it is going. Once we get to his parent's house next Tuesday I don't know what kind of internet access I will have but I will do what I can.

I did find out from my MRI this morning that there is NOT a stone still in my bile duct. That makes me feel much better about going to Mexico! Now I can enjoy it! At least as much as I can with all the worrying!

Alex was baptised on Saturday. Here is a picture of the family! Our first all together I think. Miguel was more interested in running around the church!
Alex's ice cream cake!!! yum!!! Thanks Aunt Mindy!

All 4 cousins all lined up in a row!