Around our home it is very common to hear us refer to Joshy as “The Lion,” and that is why it is his new internet name. It fits him for so many reasons. They are some of the largest patherines in the world, they are alpha-predators, and extremely vulnerable. The Lion’s physical characteristics, like the strength of its jaw, powerful legs, and hunting and diet manners are cornerstones of The Lion. And similarly, my son goes after easy prey, such as his brother’s meal, and attacks leaving only crumbs behind. Some lions rely on cooperative hunting, and our Lion is a pro at tugging and motioning for mommy and daddy to assist him in getting the exact meal he desires.

The most noticeable comparison is the form of communication. Wikipedia describes my son so accurately:

[The Lion's] repertoire of vocalizations is also large; variations in intensity and pitch, rather than discrete signals, appear central to communication. Lion sounds include snarling, purring, hissing, coughing, miaowing, woofing and roaring. Lions tend to roar in a very characteristic manner, starting with a few deep, long roars that trail off into a series of shorter ones. They most often roar at night; the sound, which can be heard from a distance of five miles, is used to advertise the animal’s presence. Lions have the loudest roar of any big cat.

Our Lion’s roar is so loud we have confirmed the neighbors can hear it. His daycare teachers comment when they hear less of it during the day. He definitely roars most at night, echoing his distinctive and unique sounds throughout our home, waking us up. His roar is almost like a grunt, and it signals the need for food, for his binky, to put on his shoes when it’s time to go, you name it. It’s especially loud when out in public. We enjoy the look on people’s faces when they first hear our Lion’s roar.

The idea of calling Joshy The Lion came from his older brother, who upon playing with one of our favorite wedding gifts, a four piece napkin holder set adorned with safari animal figurines, named each of us the appropriate animal. I am the Giraffe and daddy is the Elephant. So fitting.

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First, I want to acknowledge how completely delinquent I have been. My life has been so busy, that literally I have only had time to be a mom and an employee. Anything else was just too much. So, for those of you who visited thinking, what’s the point of a blog if she doesn’t post anything new, thank you for coming back! I will do my best to get back onto my Sunday writing schedule. When things are calm, I can write my posts for the week and schedule them to publish while my life goes on, but that hasn’t been happening for a while now. Today I am back in my groove.

We had our first snow over a week ago. It was so beautiful! I am glad hubby enjoyed the snow as much as I did. He wanted to go outside and make snow angels, but I just kept thinking about the feeling of cold, clumpy snow melting into my socks! No thank you as Gagdet says!

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When we got married, I just assumed hubby automatically became a dual citizen of Trinidad and Tobago and the United States of America. Ha, ha… not so much. I am now very familiar with the immigration process. Hubby came to the states as a student, and therefore had an F1 visa. Once he began working fulltime, he then was sponsored by his employer for one year, and held an H1 visa.

While we were working before business school, I “petitioned” for hubby to become a permanent resident on the basis of our marriage. We filed lots of paperwork and paid hundreds of dollars in application and biometric fees. Hubby was fingerprinted, and then after a long looooong wait of several months, we finally had our interview. We brought in with us about three trees worth in timber in paper: marriage certificate, bank account statements, a copy of our mortgage, joint tax returns, utility bills, my birth certificate, my passport, his passport, passport style photos, a medical examination, selective service registration, Amari’s birth certificate, photos of us together, and the list goes on! There were about three forms totalling well over one thousand dollars in application fees.

After the interview, we waited patiently for hubby’s green card to arrive. When it did, it was right on time because we were applying to MLT and you have to be a US resident to be considered a fellow. It was also perfect timing because hubby was eligible for the Consortium and Federal loans. After hubby had his green card for two years, we had to apply to have his “conditional” residency removed. This was because when you file on the basis of marriage, you have to prove you’re still married after two years. This meant another application, more paperwork, photocopies, certified copies, notaries and oh yeah, you must not forget, more money.

Once this stage was complete it was smooth sailing. Hubby could go and come as he pleased into the states without having to worry about any kind of visa. Somewhere along the line, we decided citizenship would be a great option for three reasons: 1) Hubby could sponsor his mom to become a permanent US resident. 2) He could vote to re-elect Obama, and 3) We would now meet the qualifications to apply for the Amazing Race.

So, several months ago, maybe in April, we applied for citizenship. This was another application, about $600, another biometric fee and fingerprinting. We quickly heard back and received the confirmation letter that his interview and test was for today. The test consisted of US history and economic questions, like name the first 13 states, who is your state representative, and who wrote the Declaration of Independence (I believe I would have failed).

Hubby and I stayed up late last night quizzing each other (well, really he was quizzing me because I was so fascinated by the questions). We drove the hour and a half drive to Hartford, CT this morning, equipped with an armful of documents proving our “marital union.” Hubby was called and he disppeared into a room in the Federal building. He immerged with yet another date, for his oath ceremony.

In case you thought the process was quick and easy, please think again. It is extremely costly and requires patience. Thankfully, hubby will soon be the rightful owner of a passport for the United States of America. Yay!

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