Home – Love, Hope and Borders

It has been over three years since I last posted. A LOT has happened since then, some really happy things and others hard and devastating.

Here’s the breakdown—

2021 was a good, pretty quiet year for us. Luisa got her first bike, Jose started a new job at Rock Valley College where he is currently an HVAC Technician, we traveled to Michigan for vacation, and our whole family dressed up as witches for Halloween—haha!
In late June of 2022, we traveled to Tulum, Mexico where we met up with Jose’s mom!
On August 13, 2022, Jose’s best friend, Eric, who was more like a brother, passed away. He’d be ecstatic about where we are today.
In March of 2023, we submitted our documents for Jose to apply for his citizenship. Jose had to hold his permanent residency for three years in order for us to apply (thus part of the quietness on the blog). With the help of our community, family and friends, we were able to pay off our legal fees for this step completely! We cannot thank you all enough.
Ignacia Sol Galarza was born on July 14, 2023 at 33 weeks. She spent 32 days in the NICU.
On August 6, 2023, Jose and I celebrated 7 years of marriage—woah!
In September of 2023, Luisa started preschool at a new school.
On October 31, 2023, Jose had his naturalization interview and test in Chicago. He passed, and we were told to wait for his letter in the mail that would provide his oath ceremony date!
On January 3, 2024, Jose FINALLY received his letter with the oath ceremony date which is THIS Monday, January 22, 2024. (You can watch Jose opening the letter here.)

I’ve had a few people tell me we should write a book, and I think we could. It’s been a long, tireless journey for us, and then add on just normal life. We started this blog in 2017 to educate people on what the legal immigration process looks like. Jose is the epitome of what it means to fight for the American Dream. Truly. He came here to the US illegally as a child with his family, worked hard in the shadows for several years, filed for DACA for the first time in 2013, received his green card in late 2019, and then applied for citizenship in 2023, and now will officially become a citizen in 2024! We did things the right way as soon as we were allowed. I do not wish this process on any one. Our immigration system is heavily broken. Scarily, some people still lump immigrants into a negative category – criminals, drug dealers, job-stealers. And, then, they turn around and say, “They need to do this the RIGHT way.” For Jose, the RIGHT way took him his entire life, but he never stopped, we never stopped. There are so many good people who never stopped fighting alongside us. There are so many people who believe in our story, and who still believe in it. We can now live in peace knowing that Jose is here for good, where he was always meant to be. Love. Hope. And HOME.