Here We Are, as One.

To wait for the one I’d call my true love was something I kind of already expected to happen.
Yet, in my case, to wait upon a governmental status was something that truly was not on my radar.

As many already know, Tobias and I were in a long distance relationship for quite some time — about 3 years, if I were to count.

During those near three years, there was a lot that occurred that left both Tobias and I feeling stuck in the unknown.

Since my last blog post, almost 2 years already, I was traveling all the way to Germany to celebrate Christmas with Tobias and his family. But what I did not mention was the fact that I got engaged on that same trip.

Tobias and I have talked about being married someday. We pondered on the various situations that could occur if it were to happen—where would we live, how many kids we would like to have, all those topics.

The day Tobias asked me to marry him, moments before it happened, I was in a very anxious state, unsure of of what our future would look like.

During that time, Tobias came up with a very clever plan of “running to the grocery store” nearby to get more refreshments I liked. Unfortunately, that beverage can only be found in Germany, which is why he had to “run” to get it.

I had no idea that on that day, Tobias leaving the apartment would actually be him picking up the ring he would propose to me with.

While I waited for him to come back, anxious thoughts began to creep into my mind, leaving me in a frozen state. The only thing at that moment that could help my anxious tendencies was to listen to a certain song.

The song was called, “I’ll Give Thanks” by Housefires.

There were parts of the song that got me crying immediately because being anxious isn’t a feeling I like to feel. To be honest, being in a long distance relationship activated intense anxiety most of the time. This is something I rarely shared with anyone.

Some lyrics of the song read,

“In the silence, I choose to believe

You're working in the waiting

Though the future isn't clear to me,

I trust You anyway.”

In that moment, I could only think about trusting God and letting Him work in my life.

I listened to the same song about three more times until Tobias came back home.

Then, in that moment, as if the words came out of my mouth before I even thought about it, I suggested to go for a walk to a familiar place that Tobias and I frequently went to in Hamburg.

Little did I know that on that same walk, Tobias would already be in position to propose—something I didn’t see coming at that point.

The way he described that walk was that every step he took felt heavy. He quivered on the way towards the route we would take.

I honestly never heard him describe anything to be as intense as what he felt in that moment.

We eventually stopped by a bridge where our first lock was. This lock was placed on a particular gate somewhere near the port of which Tobias passed by almost daily. To him it was a constant reminder of our relationship. The lock signified our bond, despite the distance.

When Tobias recited a poem to me that he wrote, it was an easy response he would get back.

There were no more concerns or worries of where our relationship would end up.

When he asked me to be his bride, all I could think of was my future with him. There was no location, but rather the fact that we would finally be together.

The next day eventually came, and I had to leave to go back home. This time, I left as a fiancé.

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Usually as a recently engaged woman, your thoughts would most likely be flooded about when would the date of your wedding would be, who were the people you’d first announce the engagement to, and so on.

To me, all of those thoughts occurred and although Tobias and I were at an all time high, we quickly researched how we would coordinate everything based on our desire. We even came up with a “pre-determined date” to marry which would have been July 2022 of that same year.

That high quickly came to a halt as we saw the process of being married to an immigrant would mean a long period of waiting and filing a lot of paperwork—especially here in the U.S.

Tobias always remained positive that things would be okay with us and that we could endure any kind of wait if that was necessary for us. As for me, my anxious thoughts only began to grow as time went on.

As I got back to my regular routine of being a teacher and doing life, almost every conversation Tobias and I had mentioned the fiancé visa we had to face.

Some background of the visa included dealing with a backlog of other cases due to the pandemic. These backlogs created longer processing times that made the whole situation look almost impossible to endure.

We constantly saw the case approval wait time increase from 12 to 13.5 to 14 months.

In my eyes, this felt as if we’d never see an approval anytime soon. Slowly but surely, it really looked ed as if I was losing hope on finally reuniting with Tobias once again.

I’ll be honest, waiting for a long time was not easy. There were many days that I couldn’t help but cry when there were no updates in the months we waited for the visa.

It felt like a never ending test.

It was continuous and dreadful, yet Tobias really made a difference in the way I looked at the whole process. His faith in us helped keep me hopeful.

On days where it just seemed as if they were just passing by, we remained in touch.

We continued scheduling virtual dates, we sent each other letters, gifts, and surprises over the mail.

Although many people wouldn’t want to endure a relationship like ours, Tobias made it worthwhile to keep going.

I am thankful that although Tobias was encouraging me throughout the way, to the many people of which I have shared my story to, they also helped increase my faith in this process.

Every day seemed like another step towards the approval we were waiting on, and although we didn’t know how close we were in the process, we knew we were getting closer.

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This was our timeline.

January 10, 2022 was the day our case was in the hands of the US government.

March 1, 2023 was the day our case was finally approved by the authorities.

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It was a full year and two months later that we finally got the answer we were waiting for.

No sense of relief can ever amount to ending the wait Tobias and I had to go through.

I can only remember that on the day of the approval, I felt as if I could finally breathe.

That was how intense this case was.

That was how much effort it took from us in this process.

The wait was finally over.

Tobias and I were bound to finally move on and get married.

After a few days and more updates on what to do next, we still had paperwork to do that would allow Tobias to finally enter the U.S on permissible terms.

That took another 3 months.

But on July 2nd, 2023, it was finally the day that he and I reunited and never had to look back on doing long distance again.

To see Tobias again and, this time with all his luggages filled with belongings, made my heart swell as it truly was an answered prayer.

It felt very natural for us to come together and be together in one place.

Many tears were shed, but also many smiles were shown.

The only thing left to do was finally get married.

As time went on and we got used to our real-time relationship, we got married by court and eventually had our wedding that we had planned months prior.

To say now that good things come to those who wait is truly a phrase that holds a lot of meaning and value.

Waiting is never easy, but it surely has its reward.

And while this chapter of long distance is finally over, I can let out another sigh of relief and say, “Here we are, as one” as Mr. and Mrs. Riesch.

Thanks for believing in us.