A few years ago our eldest daughter, Beth, developed a passion for writing and through that found a website for young writers called Figment. This group shared a competition for a full scholarship to Interlochen Arts Academy in the USA to major in creative writing. Beth had not heard of the school but when she looked it up she really liked the look of it. The idea of being with peers who were motivated and also loved to write was just thrilling to her, so she entered the competition. She was not really sure what she was going to do if she won as the idea of boarding at the school was not so appealing. However, we told her we could cross that bridge if we came to it!
That was at the end of 2012 and the result of the competition was to be announced at the beginning of 2013. One night early in 2013 Beth had a vivid dream where she was at Interlochen Arts Academy and she walked out of her room but left the key in the room, so got locked out. She went to the office to see about getting back in but they said she would have to wait 24 hours. She realised she could go back to her room and wait for her room mate who would let her in. As she turned to go back she had the choice of taking the lift or the stairs. Even though the lift would have been the quickest way for some reason she decided to take the stairs. As she began climbing they looked very ordinary, but as she got further up they turned into a beautiful and very wide golden stairway with people playing on them and having fun. The staircase was also ‘supernaturally supported’ as there was no visible support beneath.
When she told us the dream we felt it meant she was going to go to Interlochen but it wasn't going to be via the scholarship (suggested by the lift). There would be something of her having to ‘take steps’ that would be upheld by God. The day after the dream Beth got an email saying unfortunately she had not won the scholarship but the school liked her work so much would she be interested in applying. Not wanting to squash her dream (but really not sure how it could happen) we agreed to apply. This involved the first small step of paying an application fee and filling in lots of forms. All the time we were thinking ‘How can this happen? Beth’s doesn’t want to board, but how can we all move there so she can attend?’
It took quite some time for the school to process the application. They asked for more information which we supplied and we just waited to see what the outcome would be. Finally in April they came back offering a financial assistance package and merit scholarship which reduced the fees by about 70%! So our next step was to find out about visas and look into the practicalities of moving to the states, all the time wondering how we were going to afford it!
We spoke to a number of people who had tried for visa's to the US before and they all told us that getting these visas was going to be a challenge. Immigration don't look kindly on whole families travelling to the US for extended period's of time (their fear being we would 'disappear' and not come back to the UK!)
However, undaunted we phoned the US Embassy and were told the only possible visa we (Marjory and I) could apply for was a 6 month visitor’s visa. Beth would get a student visa and Judith had the advantage of already being an American so didn’t need one. We would then have to apply for an extension to the visitor’s visas near the end of the 6 months. This all seemed very tricky and not exactly an ideal solution but we decided to start taking what steps we could and see what happened. It involved 3 visa application forms (approx 75 mins to fill in each) and fees for each application interview. Beth's student visa also had additional costs and all the time we were struggling to understand how this was going to work out, but sensing we just needed to keep taking the steps. On top of all this we then received an email from the school asking for a significant deposit for Beth's course. We thought about trying to delay this payment until after the visa interview but decided to take the step of faith and pay in advance of it.
Eventually we got dates for our visa interviews as the US Embassy in London. We decided to fly down the night before and stay in a hotel so we had plenty of time to get to the interview. We didn't want to miss our time slot as this was now July and even if we got the visas we would need to move out in time for Beth starting school at the beginning of September!
In an interesting turn of events we ended up flying into London on the day of the royal birth of Prince George! It made us realise that we too were 'royal children' and in very much in our 'King's hands'! The Embassy experience was not quite what we expected. We arrived just in time for our 11.30am appointment not realising there would be a queue just to go through security! When we eventually got through to the waiting area we found we were there with hundreds of other people all waiting their turn to be interviewed. After about an hour our number was displayed and it was time to go to the ‘window’ indicated. Once there, our application forms and passports were checked and our finger prints taken. A few questions were asked and then we were told to take a seat and wait for our number to be displayed again. That had just been the ‘preliminary interview’ and another long wait was still ahead of us! After what seemed like an eternity our number was once again displayed and we went to a different interview window.
The American who interviewed us looked very like Steve Carell, but as this was a serious interview he didn't really smile much! He asked Beth some brief questions all the while typing rapidly on his computer. Then without saying a word, he went away for a few minutes. Upon returning said ‘I need to tell you what you have applied for is not appropriate’ …..at this our hearts started to sink….but then with the next breath he said ‘what I'm going to do is give you is a ONE YEAR visitor’s visa in order for you to accompany and look after your minor’. He then told us all three visas were approved, (stamp, stamp, stamp!) and we should receive them in a few days. At this point some smiles came forth from him as he heartily congratulated Beth and wished us all the best! Much ‘high fiving’ ensued as we spilled out onto the streets of London and suddenly the realization dawned on us ‘this is really happening now!’
Five weeks later, after a LOT of packing and crazy organizing, we handed our house keys over to our new tenants and hopped on a plane bound for Traverse City Michigan, all ready to start our new adventure. The finances were not fully in place but as the doors were so widely flung open before us we decided to continue to trust God and so far everything we have needed has been provided!
So that is the start of the story of how we ended up moving to Michigan. We hope this encourages you in your own journey, whatever it may be. You can pursue your dream and if you keep taking steps you never know where it may take you!
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