So James suggested that I might want to add an entry early in this blog for those who stumble across it and don’t know who we are. Here goes…

I’m Kari. I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. James lives in Reading, England. We’re planning to get married on October 22, 2004 (or if you prefer, 22nd October, 2004).

We met the weekend of March 28-29, 2003 at the Festival of Faith and Music at Calvin College. I work in Admissions at Calvin but also do some work on the side with the Student Activities Office (just because I love it) and had been involved in the planning of the Festival. James has friends in Nashville, and one of his friends there David Dark, who was speaking at the Festival, invited him to come along. Since then we have spent two weeks together (first week of June and third week of September) and kept in touch by email, instant messaging, and daily phone calls. Maintaining a transatlantic relationship is not easy but we’ve decide it’s worth it! We realized pretty early on in our relationship that we were meant to be together for the rest of our lives and decided after James’ September visit that the rest of our lives was going to start “officially” in October 2004.

Because James is a British citizen, there is all kinds of legal stuff that needs to be done in order for us to marry and for him to become a permanent resident (aka get a green card). Some of the websites that we have found helpful in this process:

K1 Visa FAQ

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

I will (hopefully) be recording much more about this process and about wedding plans on this site as we move along. If you’re curious, keep an eye on this space. Cash contributions may be sent directly to me. Thanks for your time!