Eli Turns 19

It's so hard to believe Eli is now 19 years old and a married man! Gendeling, his wife, is in Nicaragua right now, still waiting for her I-130 to be approved. He is going back in July for a month before his college starts back for the fall quarter. It's looking like February will be the month it's approved, but hopefully it will be a little quicker. 

Eli had to go get some more passport photos taken for supplemental documentation for the application. He already has a passport, obviously, but they needed some more photos for some reason. So we had to make the hour and a half drive to Monroe again (I just made this trip last Thursday) to the Walgreens to get the passport photos taken, and then take them by the lawyer's office (also in Monroe). 

Funny story - he was wearing a white t-shirt, so he had to swap shirts with Silas! They just changed right there in the middle of Walgreens - boys crack me up.

We decided to go ahead and get his birthday gifts while we were there since it was his actual birthday. He asked for some new jeans (since the kind he wears cost $80 a pair - Ariat) and some new t-shirts. He wound up getting two pair of jeans, five t-shirts, a new phone charger, and a huge bag of Mike and Ike's (his favorite candy). 

I told him we would eat wherever he wanted to. He wanted to go to the mall for Sbarro's Pizza (of all the places we could have eaten, he wanted pizza...). I decided to get some, too, and it was really good! 

We made a stop at Walmart on the way home in an in-between town (I love going to different Walmarts - I'm that kind of rural). He also wanted an Oreo pie instead of a cake, so I picked up another one for him. We had a great day, and I'm so thankful I got to spend it with Eli. I told my husband this would probably be the last birthday I get to take him shopping and out to eat like this, because his wife will be here next year and I'm sure they'll want to spend it together - which is exactly what I want them to do! 

Eli and Gendeling