In my case, there is the Holy Rosary. I've been praying along with my big brother for 14 days now. It started out as a Novena for Saint Joseph, but I love the feeling of how it makes me feel so peaceful that I'm thinking of keeping the deed every night.

Last Saturday afternoon, I was browsing through VJ when I saw a lot of June filers getting their NOA2. One was even approved in 19 days. I was happy for them but worried that it seems somebody skipped the pile of May filers. I told J about this fear of getting an RFE in the mail. And I won't forget what he said, "Don't worry about it." The remaining hours of that afternoon, I was fighting myself not to click any link from VJ anymore. This was not the usual crazy bets J and I used to have. It was me, fighting the feeling of doubt that we didn't check well enough if our K1 Packet will ace the adjudicator who will go through it. Come night time and when J was fast asleep, I caught myself staring out of my window, hugging my pillow so tight and prayed once again. It was excruciating, but I was praying to let go--let go of my fears and worries, let go of my doubts and obsession to over think. At the end, I kept repeating to myself "In YOUR own time." It's not being cinematic, but tears fell. Yesterday, at Sunday Mass, after the communion, I knelt down and closed my eyes to say almost the same prayer I had the night before. I went to my old routine, I prayed the rosary that evening.

At 5am this morning, J called me on my phone. I know it was the usual alarm for me to get up and talk to him before he goes to work. The camera was not working yet again. After restarting my computer, I called him with my eyes still closed. This time, the camera was working. He asked me in Tagalog, "Still sleepy?" I almost grunted. "You know what will wake you up?" And he was holding a paper in his hand and he said, "And this is not an REF!"

R-E-F? I was lost.

J continued to say, "Honey, the petition got approved!"

My brain goes, "Owwwwwkay, he was referring to RFE. But he said something else. It got approved? It got APPROVED?!"

Yes, it was 5am when I started yelling "Oh my God. Oh my God!!" And another, "Oh my God!"

We were both crying as we updated our Facebook Statuses.

J was so excited that he just couldn't fight the urge to dance. And believe me when I say that he's not a dancer! It made us both laugh. He also reenacted the earlier scene and went "You know what will wake you up," and he goes, "BAM!" with a blurred NOA2 because it was too near from the webcam. He can be so funny sometimes. He told me to update our VJ timeline so we'll know how many days it took for it to be approved. I gladly went to do the task and when the screen refreshed it was a shocking 21 days! :)

The funny thing is that, J never checked his mail. It was a blessing in disguise that somebody did and that the mail came with good news, too. This Thursday, the 8th of July, we will be celebrating our first year as a couple. With every little thing that's been going on, I could really say that we are both happy. Receiving NOA2 is the best anniversary gift ever!