While at a family get-together in Bear Lake, the Presburys wanted to get some new family pictures. I was so happy and excited when Lesley-Ann reached out to me to take their pictures. They were such a hoot to work with! A little wild and crazy and filled with so much love. They had so many fun pictures they wanted to try and I was down for it all.
After searching Bear Lake for some beautiful locations, we ended up doing the pictures right in the backyard of their cabin! There was no way we were going to beat that view. 😍
Lesley-Ann and her family are from England, but are currently all in the United States. They had quite the adventure to get here! I was very intrigued in their story so I asked Lesley-Ann if she would mind sending me their story. The response I got back from her was incredible. This family has been through so much in leaving their roots to find their new home. ❤️ And I'm so happy they are now here! Read her story below:
"Steve and I are were both born in the UK, Steve in Leicester as were our 3 children and I was born in London. My family moved to the Leicester area when I was 18 and I met Steve when I was 19 and we married 15 months later. Our last home in England was a 400 year old farm house where we lived for 10 years before moving here, we loved our time there. Aaron and Jess both moved to the US in 2003 to go to college and they both married Americans, Aaron married in 2004 and Jess in 2005 both settling here in the US. I knew when they left in 2003 that they wouldn’t come back to England to live and devised a plan to move once Beth was old enough to go to school in the US on a student visa just as her siblings had done.
The US immigration laws are strict and complicated so it’s important to know what they are so you we could navigate through them safely and lawfully. We initially were going to wait till Beth (who is 9 years younger then Jess) was 18 to go to college but found out through research (I did a lot over a few years), that she could get a student visa from the age of 14 so we moved our plan up a couple years. It was a stressful year of deciding where Beth would go to school here (it had to be a private school in order to get a student visa) and putting our plan into action.
Firstly Beth had to be accepted by a school then you have to apply through the US Embassy in London where we had to interview in person after filing lengthy paperwork or rather Beth did. We knew from others that had done this that they could totally deny Beth a visa with no good reason so it was important that we knew certain things on how to handle the interview for Beth to know what to say and what not to say! We were blessed with a very nice embassy official who I felt knew our plan which was for Steve and I to move to the US one day, How, because he could see from Beth's application that her 2 older siblings were already living in the US as permanent residents and married to American citizens. He did not say anything but he gave me a look of I know what you are thinking but because you have done it lawfully I’m ok with helping you along your journey.
So in October 2009 I brought Beth to the US and Steve followed 11 days later. As our plan was to settle her in school then go back to England after a 3 months stay (the amount of time allowed on the visa wavier program) and then start the process for Steve and I to move over, we sold up and put our belongings into storage before coming to the US in October of 2009.
After we arrived we decided to meet with an experienced immigration lawyer to see what our options were and we had confirmed what we had already been told, which was because we were immediate relatives of a US citizen as in our son Aaron we could actually apply for permanent residency while here in the US and did not need to go back to England and do that, plus it’s quicker. One thing we learned early on looking into our options over several years before we moved is that you can be told different things by different people depending on who you ask!
So while still here in US in early January 2010 we started the process for our permanent residency which was granted to Steve and I April 2020. Although Beth had a student visa for 3 years she would have to apply for another one to go to college so we decided the best think would be for her to apply for her permanent residency through us which took nearly 3 years! Beth got married in 2014 and in 2018 within 2 weeks Jessica got her citizenship in Colorado and Beth, Steve and myself all became US citizens here in Utah at the same ceremony. It was a glorious day and what we considered to be the last piece of the puzzle and know this where we are meant to be.
We have felt God’s hand throughout our lives, but particularly our long journey (over 15 years) for all our family to move to the US and get citizenship. When I say so many things could have gone wrong along the way I’m not joking but that would add many more paragraphs haha!
When we moved here in 2009 we had 3 grandchildren, we now have 7 beautiful grandchildren and I said when Aaron and Jess moved to the US it was one thing to have your kids living half way around the world, but your grandkids that is another story and it was our driving force to move here :-)
We are proud of our British heritage and loved our life in England but this is home now. "
Wow! This family has been through so much but now they are here, together as a family. ❤️
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