June 13th-16th: Francisco´s First Trip to Juarez

June 13^th: (do we have a picture of Fsco w/ luggage or at the border?

Francisco left today for Juarez! Francisco, Andrew and I left for the airport at 4:30 am. Things went well except that Francisco’s luggage was 16lbs overweight!!! Guess our scale at home doesn’t work. Luckily I had my handy diaper bag and lugged 16 extra pounds in it so we wouldn’t have to pay the $90 overweight fee!!!

Francisco caught a taxi that picked him up at the El Paso airport and drove him over the border to his hotel. At the border, they had a “green light”, meaning they didn’t even have to stop and show identity or anything. I thought that was weird. No wonder people can smuggle drugs and weapons and money so easily! It all depends on whether or not you get a red light.

June 14^th: Francisco went early to his medical appointment, which luckily only cost $345. I was happy about that because we heard stories about how much more it could cost. Later that day he met a guy named Angel, who had been living in Chicago that he spent much of the rest of his time with. They went to their appointments together and killed time together. His wife is also a teacher and they have a 6 month old son. She wasn’t going to be spending the summer in Mexico though.

June 15^th: Francisco had his ASC appointment where he got fingerprints and passport photos taken. That night Francisco was even able to watch our new favorite show, The Voice, since there was American TV there.

June 16^th: (find picture) Visa Interview at 7:15am. This was the big appointment. He presented all his Visa Interview paperwork (which yours truly spent hours putting together PERFECTLY), and he had a very friendly officer conduct the interview. He only asked a few questions: When did you get married, what does your spouse do, Sprechen Sie Deutsch (do you speak German), and THAT’S ALL! He even had a sense of humor! I feel very blessed, because again, we’ve heard stories of how intimidating the officers can be. We also feel so thankful that all his paperwork was put together perfectly (can you sense my pride here? Ha!). His friend, Angel, was missing 1 sheet and had to go back the next day. We were also told that in 24 hours we could make our waiver appointment. The waiver appointment is the one where they look at the BIG stack of paperwork I put together to allow Francisco to re-enter the U.S.