Just Another "Hiccup" of Life!

So, today Rob & I went to the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers to meet with an immigration consultant. We were given information from the Centre about what forms we need to start filling out. I knew we would both have a lot of questions so Rob called to see if we could meet with someone. But, because we both speak English, they said there "should be no problems or issues with us filling out the paperwork." Sure...except for the issue of not understanding Government jargon! They let us come in to the Centre to speak to someone, but only for fifteen minutes! I had a whole list of questions to ask them but got NONE of them answered in the time they allowed. When we got there they whisked us away to a room, sat down with us and went over the paper work telling us what we needed to fill out and what not to fill out. The consultant proceeded to tell us about the fees we would have to pay. It turns out to be a lot more than we had hoped for. I guess we should have expected this...it is the government after all.

Then he proceeded to tell us that it doesn't matter to Immigration how much Rob makes per year (since he is sponsoring me as his spouse). However, he can not sponsor me if he is on Social Assistance. Currently he is receiving Social Assistance because he has some health issues and was ordered by his doctor to take a leave from work. So now what?! No one else can sponsor me. I can't apply for a skilled worker visa because I'm not "skilled" in any type of job (I don't have a college degree and to be offered a job as a skilled worker you have to be in a trade that either no one in Alberta can fill or the company has exhausted their efforts trying to hire Canadians to fill the position.) I could try to go back to school and get a student visa but that would cost over $25,000 a year! So, when we weigh our options, it seems like Rob finding full time employment and going off Social Assistance is the easiest option. We will just have to push our start date for filling out paperwork back a little bit.

My sister emailed me last night and said she was concerned that this is becoming harder and harder because God is trying to close off this path of my life. Although I appreciate her concern I know this is not the case. Life is not easy and never will be. Life is full of hardships and "hiccups". These hiccups are meant to challenge us, ultimately making us stronger human beings. I've always been taught that God only pushes us so far and only gives us as much as we can bear. I know that's what is happening in our lives now. We have both been through MUCH worse scenarios so we know we can make it through this challenge. Sometimes we just need a situation to bring us back to reality and to help us remember what we're fighting for. We will continue to fight for this because this is what we both want more than anything in this world. When you want something bad enough you will fight to the very end! We are not about to give up and we will not allow the Government rules and paperwork to force us to give in! They have put these rules in place to keep bad things from happening and we understand that completely. I just wish there weren't so many steps involved. In the end, we'll make it and it will be great! But for now we have a hill to climb and it won't be easy.