Hello there all!
I have been browsing your lovely site for the past couple of weeks and decided I ought to register and contribute a little instead of just observing.
My husband and I have lived in Portland, OR for 6 years and we love it here, but we found on our last visit to the UK in September that the health of my grandparents has deteriorated - my family has kept me informed to a point, but things are much worse than they have been letting on and they are really struggling to look after them. They knew I was happy in the US and they didn't want me to be upset about being so far away and unable to help out, so it was all good intentions on their part but that made it quite a shock when we arrived. As a little background, my grandparents had a huge hand in raising me - without getting too much into it, I had a turbulent childhood and I firmly believe that they are the reason that I am a sane and rational human being rather than an emotional trainwreck. They are wonderful, supportive and loving people and I would do anything for them.
Long story short, my husband and I spoke at length about it and we decided to move to the UK to take care of them and allow them to remain in their home. My husband has been an absolute rock and it means the world to me that he is willing to make this move for me and my family, especially knowing how much he loves it here. He's pretty cute, too.
We have applied for the settlement visa but unfortunately weren't aware of the priority service and we're going through the LA consulate (which I hear is the slowest) - they received our app on November 5th and we're hoping to move to the UK in January, so fingers crossed that they'll get back to us soon-ish.
And that's about it. Hello UK Yankees!
