One afternoon, my husband and I were deciding on our next big step. My husband was then an undocumented immigrant married to a U.S citizen. We had been married for 6 years and had 3 children and decided it was time to hire a lawyer to help us out on my husband’s legalization, as we use to call the process. He helped us with the first step which was simple. Next came the time to file the I 601 form that could grant provisional unlawful presence waiver for my husband. That is the step to take when you come to this country through the back doors like my husband did back in 2004. It was now October and winter coming soon upon us. My husband came to me and said “There will be a slow down on work now and we might have to hold the legalization” My husband’s work in the construction field decreases drastically during winter and moving forward with the process would require spending valuable winter money. We spoke on the subject for while and I said “Maybe I should file this application myself”. The application also involved writing a persuasive letter on how important it was for me and my children that my husband was granted the right to stay and proceed with his legalization.

There are many adversaries we had to face having my husband undocumented in the family. It always meant that dad had to work twice as hard as other legal people and get paid a lot less than they get paid. Often times we would have dinner without dad around and most likely the kids would go to bed before he got home. He always had to drive long distances to work. I was always waiting for him. I needed to talk to him and share my worries about the process. Even though by faith I was assured everything would be ok thought about it a lot. I knew my husband would get home tired hungry and worst of all he would have worked hours overtime with no expectation for an overtime payment. However I had no other adult to talk to on the immigration situation and how it was affecting me as far as the anxiety it was causing. Our children were still too young to digest the fact that their father might not come back to the United States if immigration does not grant him unlawful provisional waiver. One of those nights after he came home we discussed about the legalization process and as christians we decided to go to church and see what God had to say about how we would proceed. Whether I would write the letter myself or just leave to the attorney.

We went to next service on the Sunday that weekend. At the church we attend there is no specific person assigned for predicating. It could be any member man who felt that God had revealed the word to him. That Sunday morning we entered our car on the way to church feeling virtuous and full of faith that God would speak to us through the his word and help us make the decision. When we parked at church my husband looked at me and said “baby God will speak to us” and I nodded in agreement. As I held my daughters’ hands while entering the church it seemed like the church was brighter that day and I could feel the presence of God. Service began as usual after praying and singing hymns it was time for the word. My children sat next to me and as I looked at them I felt an encouragement almost as a boost of faith to believe that day God would speak to us and guide us on the right way.

That day the same brother who was presiding had the word. However he did not know we were looking for an answer from God. I was in deep communion when the title was announced “let’s open our bibles on Nehemiah chapter 2” As he read the text It talked about Nehemiah asking the king for permission to go back to Judah and build it. It also talked about the letters Nehemiah was going to need from the king and the king would have given to him. At that moment I cried of joy and looked towards where my husband was sitting. I could see he was also crying. After reading the passage the brother would exhort it. As if he had known he would say “You are here today because you need an answer and God tells as he was with Nehemiah he’ll be with you. Do not fear” “God is giving you the permission you need to go where you need to go” That was the the answer to our petition. All the waiting was over and all the fear was gone. From that moment on I felt as if I had been given super powers and all I needed to do was open my heart and God would guide me throughout the right way on the legalization process.

That Sunday afternoon our family was rejoicing before the lord. We prayed and thanked him for being so precise in answering us. On that same day I told my husband “I’ll begin writing the letter today” My husband tended to the children who were not sure about what was going on but clearly could see their parents were happy. I remember telling them God is good, while I sat on the couch with a pen and paper and started writing the letter by telling the immigration department, why should my husband be granted his I 601 provisional unlawful presence waiver in order to come to the U.S. In few words I’ll say here the message of the letter: “I believe my husband should be granted provisional unlawful presence waiver because he is a good father. Even though he works extended hours and being tired, he always makes some time for the family. He is a loving and caring dad who would give up having his lunch if it meant he could finish his work earlier and come home to be with his family”. I sat there and in a few minutes and I was able to express all my thruthfull feelings on that letter and most important knowing that God had already told us the application with the letter would be approved.

The following day I filled out the application and attached the letter I had written. I also attached a few pictures of our family.It is part of the process the department of immigration sets up an interview at american consulate in the country where a beneficiary is from and in my husband’s case he needed to have the I 601 form approved so he could come back. I looked to my children and thought “you’ll never have to be away from daddy” Deep inside me I had that fear before we decided to ask God what to do. We were much relieved because we did not have pay the attorney to do this step of the process for us and winter savings would be untouched. Even knowing that it is not an easy step and people usually don’t file I 601 application by themselves, we were assured by our faith in God that he would take care of it from then on. A little less than a month we received the approval letter and the date my husband had to be at the interview overseas. Once again we were reassured of our faith.