That night I asked Luz to marry me once again. When I first asked her I could only afford a small engagement ring so this time I did it right. When she said YES once again I gave her this:

We spent Valentines Day attempting to get Luz a new copy of her birth certificate. When she was born her parents hadn't decided on her name yet to the first name on her BC was blank, A year ago Luz had had that fixed and had a good copy but it seemed that the NSO in Manila didn't have the corrected one in their files. We knew that they would need another copy for the interview so we were very concerned that we would fail the interview without another good copy. A "fixer" offered to help us so we got into a taxi and went to the NSO in Makati. We asked for a copy of her BC there but it also had no first name on it. We were told that it wouldn't be until 5 PM that we "MIGHT" get a good copy. They said that we may have to go through all the investigations all over again! We were getting a little worried at this point. We went back to the hotel and began organizing all our documents that we would need the next day. In the middle of the huge stack of papers we had Luz found another good copy of her corrected BC!!! She had no idea it was in there and really didn't know how it got there. She must have had an extra one when she got it for the original fiancé application. It was like a gift from heaven! Luz, Robin and I spent the rest of the day relaxing and going out to dinner. We went back to the hotel early so we could get up at 4AM to get ready for the interview the next day.  

We woke up early the next day and at 5AM we walked the short distance to the Embassy. We were met by about a hundred other people there that were waiting for their interviews. We rented a chair and waited for the call to enter the Embassy. At about 7AM we were moved to a place away from the street to wait our turn to go in. A little while later we were told to get in line to enter. After checking our papers at the door they let us into the waiting area. After a while they asked us to give our application forms to a man at the first window. He checked the papers and gave us a number. We sat and waited for our number to be called and talked to some people we knew from VisaJourney. Soon they called Luz and Robin over to have their fingerprints taken. After that we went back and sat down. Soon our number came up to go to another window. There a very happy Filipino took our papers and asked us a few questions. He was humming and singing the whole time we was working. He told us to wait for the CO to call us for the interview. Soon after that our number came up for the interview!! My God we were nervous! I was in a cold sweat and could hardly get to my feet! The man that interviewed us was very nice. He only asked us a few questions and said "I will approve this petition! WOOT!!!!! Words cannot express the relief and joy of that moment! We went to another window to give some more information and then to the Delbros delivery window to pay for the delivery.

We walked out of the Embassy like we were floating on air! The three of us walked back to the hotel to rest a while before going out for our VJ celebration party! The party and pictures can be found here.

The next day we went home to Olongapo to just relax for the remainder of the trip.. Luz has her mother, aunt, sister and her sisters two children living with her along with her cousin Julie who is working as a maid to help take care of Luz's mom.

While I was there we all enjoyed each others company and I made them all my American foods that they all wanted for the supper meals and for lunches they made me Filipino dishes. It was a very enjoyable trip! We also went to her best friends house, Jing, so we could fill her in on the happy news.

On the last Thursday I was there we still hadn't received the Visa's from Delbros and we started getting worried so I called the Embassy. The lady on the phone said something about it still being with the CO so I decided it would be best if we went to the Embassy to see if there was a problem.  When I got there the woman behind the window told me that they were just running behind because the previous Monday was a holiday. I knew I would be leaving on Sunday so I asked if they could expedite the Visa and let me pick it up. They said yes so we checked into the Lotus Garden hotel for the night. The next day the Embassy called and said we could come pick up the Visa's!!! We went right over and got them. It was a beautiful sight! Three years of work, worry and expense finally was rewarded!!!! YES!!!

We went back to Olongapo for the last two days there. On Friday I called Northwest Airlines and bought two tickets to America for Luz and Robin! Thank you God!!!! Sunday was the day I had to go back home but this time it was so much easier to say goodbye knowing that Luz and Robin would be right behind me! They will arive on April 6 after Robin finishes he term at school. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!