Wife didn't split.

[philb]

Just to give a little balance to some of the other topics.

My wife and I are rapidly approaching our third anniversary.  She received her  10 year permanent resident card at the beginning of November (the one without conditions) and she is still here.  We also still sleep in the same bedroom and couldn't be happier.

She recently received her teaching certificate, is substituting with the local school district, is currently learning her 8th (not a typo) language (Arabic), and recently had an article published in the local daily newspaper.  I guess you could say she is thriving here.

On top of all of this my wife is from a big city (Kiev) and we currently live in a town of around 50,000 in the least populated state in the USA.

[Maxx2]

Congratulations Phil on defying all odds!


Maxx 

[Sculpto]

Phil.. please tell us more.. how did you find your lady?  What did you do to help her adjust?

[philb]

We didn't quite defy all of the odds.  I forgot to mention that my wife is only 4 years younger than I and it took me over a year and about 18 weeks of face time before I proposed,  Also, she wanted to review my finances (she wanted to "know what she was getting into" and by the way I am far from rich) and came to see me in the USA before saying yes.

[philb]

My wife and I met when I responded to her personal add on a dating website.  No agency involvment.  She speaks fluent English.  No translators.

As far as adapting, I think it is just in my wife's personality.  In all honesty I think that she could thrive anywhere  All I have done is allow her to persue her interests and make sure she has the opportunity to do this. 

In addition, my wife had traveled extensively before we were married and had lived in Cuba for several years in the 1980's.  In all I think that the two of us are well suited to this type of relationship (cross cultural).

[groovlstk]

Welcome back, Phil. It's good to see you posting again. And congratulations on your impending anniversary!

[BC]

Phil,

Great thread.

Congrats!

We just celebrated our sixth.

Not trying to hijack, just draw some parallels..

We met in person while travelling, no agency involvement.

My wife's English was near fluent when we met. No translators.

We met a couple times, then I decided to visit her in UA and RU.  By the time we married Probably 2 to 3 months face to face time mostly living together with her family.

She got her EU green card a few weeks after arrival.  Permanent within a year.

[Vaughn]

Phil,

  It's great to hear all this good news. Kudos to both of you for patiently building that solid foundation
beforehand.

   Here's wishing you many many more!

[Russiangirl]

Hey philb, I think your example is perfect for illustrating the kind of marriage which will work, vs. the one that likely won't.

Good job! 

[Gator]

philb,

Your title made me smile!  Congratulations!

[ChrisBfla]

Excellent!  We have been married over 8 years.  My wife got her psychology degree here and is now aiming for a masters and a PhD.  She is such an inspiration that I used her (under a different name) as the main character in a book that I wrote.

Good luck and keep up the good work

[Diplomacy]

Great News!  Best of luck in the future!