Kingston,Jamaica

[CharlieD10]

Good morning everyone

So glad another tax season is over and I survived.

I was looking at some of my favourite quotations recently, and came across one I had not thought about in a while. I'm not a big fan of Carl Jung, but back when I was learning the art of patience, these words of his must have resonated with me:

"Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity."

Let's keep the attitude of hope and positive vibes going!

 

[lilmaya]

waiting-for-a-star : Thank you so much for the morning prayer!
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Let's see some prayers being answered today!!

Make some calls Kingston!!

 

[chelley]

Seems like everyone had a sweaty wedding lol... Glad I wasn't alone there...

Our story started when he proposed (on bender knee in leischter square )... That trip we conceived our son, so after a bit of fretting and whining we buckled down and made the situation work for us rather than against us... We gave up on the plans for a family wedding and booked a "weddingmoon" escape to tensing pen Negril... I would be 5m pregnant and showing, so I stole a design for a lovely empire waist dress and had something made...

It was a bit of a train wreck since the dress maker failed to look at all the measurements that I gave (that were estimates but still fairly accurate), but instead cut a pattern from the largest measurement I gave.. Making my size 6 maternity dress a size 12

A trip to a seamstress made for a quick fix 2 days before I left... Dress looked decent (but baby loved yam and I grew lol so I needed to be squished in )... But based on comments, many could not tell I was pregnant hehehe not a fan of empire waist on me normally, but it served it's purpose well in the end

Our trip started with 8 days in clarendon with the family... We just relaxed, went to little ochi, milk river, town, back bush trelawny and just around... Then we headed out to Negril for a week of "us" time... The resort was gorgeous, the days were relaxing and heavenly... Sea bath in the morning and to our favourite place for lunch (every day but Saturday when they're closed we ate at sips and bites )...

Our wedding morning had some rain early, but by the time we headed out for breakfast there was a lovely double rainbow and the sun breaking thru the clouds... Rest of the day was hot and sunny and our sunset ceremony was perfect pastor was late and I lost my paper with my vows written on it, but minor details... Tensing set a table up outside our cabin with candles everywhere and we had a private meal... Hubby did NOT break his back carrying me over the threshold we had a great night and all and all a near perfect day

Since our sons eminent arrival needed to be planned for, we decided to work it out to spend my maternity leave together in jamaica... Hubby worked 3 jobs to save extra money... I stock piled baby stuff and researched schools for my older 2 children to attend... The day before my son was born I put in our application for PR (less than 50 pages, originals included, tabbed, indexed, written like a business proposal since that's what I do for a living)... I had a lonely pregnancy missing my hubby, but kept focused on the day we'd be together, planning and shopping (lots of daydreaming too )... I shopped for diapers and other baby stuff like a fiend, tried my hardest to get my 7 year old in a school with a pink or purple uniform (but she had to settle for blue since only the only close colour was a highschool in mandeville )...

We submitted in such a way to maximize the processing time together, but not have to revise the application to include our son (born in canada)... Application went in the day before my scheduled c-section... I was optimistically expecting a 9m processing time when my aunt helped me move three kids and 15 very full bags down in November 2009... Bought a car when we got there, got the kids in school (what an experience for my very north American children, they'd spent time on the island but not around a lot of kids... They're both mixed and have "pretty hair" so they got a LOT of attention)... We settled in for our wait... But we were pretty shocked to get the call for PPR in feb, Less than 4m after Kingston got our file... Sort of messed us up some since we weren't expecting it until Juneish...

We ended up leaving in may (found flights out of Kingston for 147 taxes in, couldn't pass it)... The rest is history!

 

[chelley]

okay... a few personals and i'll add my own inspiration for the day

soanxious... great to hear the landing story! getting sick is part of the initiation enjoy and welcome to Canada! (neocitrin (spelling?) is my answer to everything... it might not make you feel better, but it'll knock you out so you wont care )

Charlie, Lonely, ToGirl, Irving et all.. great to hear the stories...i couldn't help but add mine

brownsuga.. congrats on the landing too...

Charlie... whew... you can breathe and eat again! and hubby is coming soon, right??? even more to smile about

I'm a HUGE fan of Kahil Gibran, so here's my inspiration for the day (i own (ok, i borrowed indefinitely ) a pocketsized "prophet" and it's gotten me thru many tough times to look at things in a more "bigger picture" )...

Then a woman said, "Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow."

And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

 

[CharlieD10]

Chelley - loved the wedding story!

And I have never read Gibran, but my brother is a big fan! Thanks for sharing that.

 

[lonely_wife]

thanks chelley for sharing your story!!!! Btw thanks for the inspiration :-*

Have a good day everyone!!!!

Lets GO Kingston Lets GO

 

[ladyposh]

Morning Guys, wonderful stories!!!

I have a quick question to ask....of late is KGN requesting Docs. thru the mail or by a telephone call?

 

[lonely_wife]

ladyposh... not sure if i am understanding your question correctly... but if you are asking how they do it... my hubby received a letter in the mail

 

[jahlove]

Good morning all, i trust that all had a great night. I would like to share a bit of humour that someone sent me this morning.
If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car.. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOD !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!
And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom t hr ew you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!
See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

Have a great day all.

NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lonely_wife]

hahahahaha jahlove... I am reading your post and I am only 24 so I kidda feel like you pointing out my generation lol but on the other hand I remember everything you mentionning lol I even remember my pac man game lol and man it was going so fast near the end and I would also die indeed lol

I remember when we got our first computer with the internet I wasn't that old but god it took about 10 minutes to get on the internet with the beep beep ring ring (dial up) hahahaha

I remember always having to be outside too winter like summer you had to be out... and God I remember my mom having a big poster with chores EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW but at least I learned to be responsible and clean up lol

about the cell phone well god I remember not having one cause I got my first one maybe 5 years ago but now I dunno what i would do without it...

Caller Id and call waiting are the best thing thing that ever happen and now you even get visual call display when you are already on the phone and get a second line wow... if you don't wanna work and take extra shifts don't pick up hahahahaha


child protective services well now you can't even say boo to you're kids or else they will call CAS on you lol

I remember my tv when I was a kid you only had 13 channels... I dunno if that was because we were outdated but we had to get up and twist the thing to change the channel and we only had the huge bunny hears on top of the tv lol

anyways so i think i can included myself in your group jahlove

 

[waiting-for-a-star]

ha ha ha jahlove

I remember the cartoons, pepelongstocking, Oh punkey bruster was the bomb, jake and the fat man, and god knows you couldnt do without the old time supermario jeees.

those were the days, now my kids even laugh at me when i say some words lol

like Issues.... you know the old way ish- youes, now its ish-shues
and bio-log-gy is now bi-hol-lo-gy, lmao

now a days pickney dem have life good satalight and cable can tell whats coming next week

where is kingston today has anyone seen her, lol

 

[jahlove]

You guys have good memory, you just crack me up.

But its so true though these kids they take so much for granted these days.

What a way kgn quiet fi true my oh my

 

[lilmaya]

Is ready to SCRREEEAMMM!!!

Are we certain Kingston ever returned from Ash Wednesday?!?! The silence is so upsetting!!

 

[CharlieD10]

Relax Don'w worry, be happy, cause every little thing is gonna be alright! One of my fave Bob Marley songs. Anyone know that song where the guy is giving advice to a group of graduates and he tells them not to worry because worrying is as effective as trying to solve algebra problems by chewing on a pencil eraser?

Hope is a positive thing, so is faith. My mother always tells me that worrying about something after you have prayed about it demonstrates a lack of faith in God. She would say that if you are still worrying after you have prayed about it, you didn't mean what you prayed and you need to go back to God and tell Him you want to take back the issue/problem/challenge from His care, because you don't trust Him to deal with it.

Let's not think that because KG is quiet, it means they are doing nothing. Instead, let us think that they are busy. Considering how many there are of us waiting, I would say there is a good chance they are VERY busy. Come on guys, more positive vibes, more pleasant anticipation and more faith. Cause every little thing is gonna be alright!

 

[waiting-for-a-star]

[glow=red,2,300][shadow=red,left][move]UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE !!!!!!!!![/shadow][/glow][/move]

I Finally found Kingston, lol

My hubby called me at 5 pm canada time, and told me he just got off the phone with them.

they want him to come in on the 30 march for interview, and bring pp and any other thing such as travel ticket, passport stamp, or phone record.

Im so happy, not for the interview of course but im happy that he heard something so I know they are working.

see folks Prayer works keep praying!!!!