An attempt at a world record.

After almost 2 years of conversation with Anna through Skype, We have almost 3500 pages of documented correspondence through Skype. In fact we have almost 2,000,000 words that are documented in Skype.
I decided I would check with Guinness to see if there is a record for the longest documented conversation. I don't know if there is a current record holder or if there is even a category for this. So I filled out an application with Guinness to see what they come up with.
Today, I received an email back from Guinness that states

** Please do not send a response to this unmonitored email address as it will not be read**

CLAIM ID: ********

MEMBERSHIP ID: ********

THIS IS ONLY FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Dear Mr Bryan ********,

We are pleased to inform you that your record application has been transferred to our internal system.

You do not need to do anything further at this stage.

At Guinness World Records, we take great care to evaluate every claim we receive. Before we accept or reject a new record proposal, we always carry out claim-specific research, which may require the expertise of external consultants.

We will process your claim within 6 weeks if you are applying to break and existing record, and within 12 weeks if your application is a new record suggestion.

For further details on the Guinness World Records application and record-breaking process, check out the attached document General Information on Record-Breaking. 

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANYTHING FURTHER AT THIS POINT.

Once we have considered your record suggestion, we will contact you with our decision. In case of success, we will send to you the current world record, the guidelines you must follow and details of the evidence you must compile.

For urgent claims which require an immediate answer, you can use Fast Track which ensures that your record application is assessed by our expert team in just 3 working days. To upgrade to Fast Track please log on www.guinnessworldrecords.com, select the claim number ******** and click on 'Upgrade to Fast Track'.

If you’d like to start record-breaking right away, why not join our Amazing Feet challenge? Amazing Feet is a unique record-breaking experience for record fans of any age, anywhere in the world. We need 50,000 people to help us set a new Guinness World Records title for the Largest online photo album of feet. 

All you have to do is upload a picture of your feet to our website: http://www.officiallyamazing.tv/Amazing-Feet.aspx. You can share a picture of your own bare feet or print out a foot template to colour-in or decorate. Everyone who takes part has the chance to get into the next edition of the Guinness World Records book. 

Thank you for contacting Guinness World Records.

Best regards

Records Management Team

Guinness World Records

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL AS IT COMES FROM AN UNMONITORED EMAIL ADDRESS. 

If you wish to contact us, please log in on www.guinnessworldrecords.com, select the claim ID ********, and click on 'Make an Enquiry', we will reply within 12 days.

** Please do not reply to this message; it was sent from an unmonitored email address. This message is related to your application on guinnessworldrecords.com. To reply to this email, please log in on www.guinnessworldrecords.com, select your claim and click on “Make an enquiry”. - Alternatively you can call our office in London on +44 207 891 4500from 9.30 AM to 6.00 PM GMT. **

Apparently they have decided that it is a valid request and they have forwarded it on to the next level. It will take about 6 weeks to reach a decision as to whether we are eligible for their record book. But To be honest, I don't think anyone else in the world can produce 3500 pages of written correspondence that covers almost 2 years. So hopefully within 6 weeks we will be able to gain the title of record holder for the "Worlds longest documented conversation."
We will let everyone know when we learn the results.

The wedding date has been set.

Anna and I have finally decided on a date for our wedding. We decided to schedule our wedding for September 21st. We had originally planned to have a simple wedding in front a judge but our plans have changed since we became aware that our story has gained the interest of the BBC Network in London, England. 
Yesterday I spoke with Alan Dein with BBC 4 Radio in London and he informed me that he would like to schedule a time next month to fly here with his producer and possibly a camera crew to interview Anna and I in person. I have had numerous interviews via Skype with Alan over the past year and a half and we felt it was time to meet in person. He also indicated that he would be interested in the possibility of attending the wedding ceremony.
He decided that September 20th would be a good date to come for the interview and since we had not yet set a date for the wedding, Anna and I decided it would be a good time to schedule the wedding.
We are still trying to work out all the other details but at least we now have a time frame that we can work with. I wish I could say we had the financial resources for an extravagant wedding because I would love to give Anna the wedding of her dreams but we are working with a very small budget. We are currently looking for sponsors willing to work with us in exchange for advertising on the blog and/or at the ceremony. It would also be good to have a wedding planner that may be willing to help plan the ceremony.
If anyone knows someone who may be interested in working with us or if you have any suggestions please feel free to contact us at annabryan1955@gmail.com or you can submit a comment.

The Vacation is over...

Anna and I have been very busy the past 2 weeks making improvements around the house and getting her and the children situated in their new home. In fact I have replaced the flooring in more than half the house over the past few weeks.
We have been so busy that two weeks passed in what seemed to be only two days. Today was my last day of my two week vacation and I must return to work tomorrow. I only hope Anna is ready. I haven't spent more than two hours away from her since she arrived and tomorrow Anna and the children will be at home by themselves for almost ten hours. I am sure it won't be easy for her. It's not like she can take the children for a drive if they get bored. Fortunately there are several stores within walking distance that she can go to if she gets bored and need to get out of the house.
On my final day of vacation we decided it would be a good opportunity to go to the Ada County courthouse and apply for our marriage license because it may be difficult for me to get another day off soon to take her there. Now we have our license and all we need to do is set a date for the wedding. It will need to happen within ten weeks though or she will be required to return to Russia.
Neither Anna or I have any plans for her to return to Russia so I am sure we will schedule the wedding day soon. We are still not too sure as to what we will do for our wedding. Because we don't have a lot of money for a large wedding, we may just have a simple, private wedding in front of a judge and plan a large reception in the future when we get on our feet. But we aren't sure how soon that will be but we will certainly post it on our blog when it does happen and of course we hope to get plenty of pictures for all of our followers.

Anna's first week home...

It is hard to believe it has been a week since Anna arrived to her new home here in America. Anna has had a very busy week getting settled in her new home. After spending three days traveling and staying awake for over 24 hours straight, Anna and the children were completely exhausted when we finally came home. They spent most of the first day trying to catch up on sleep after they arrived.
But it was not long before Anna and the children regained their strength and began finding places for their things in their new home. Anna also began the process of converting my bachelor pad into a home that everyone can become comfortable living in. She spent many hours deep cleaning things that I have overlooked over the past few years. We also spent many hours shopping to replace the T.V. dinners, Ramen Noodles and Macaroni and cheese with food that actually contains something more than just artificial flavoring, artificial coloring mixed with salt. I can't say that I have ever been much of a cook so those meals have always been my specialty.
To my credit, I did make a failed attempt to help her clean house but I think I was less helpful and was more in her way of getting things accomplished so on Thursday we decided it would be best if I took the children to the river for a few hours.
We had a great time. I took them to Eagle Island State park and we enjoyed our time together swimming in the cold water on the hot summer day. While we were there, my friend Alan Dein with BBC Radio in London called me for another brief interview to find out how things were going. Hopefully you will be able to hear our conversation soon. Alan has told me that he has recorded every conversation and he hopes to have our story on the air in London soon. After that it should be available on podcast from his website.
But now our cupboards are full of food that actually has nutritional value and my sons and I are eating better now than we have in a long time. Not to mention the house is cleaner than it has been in years and slowly but surely we are all bonding together as a family.
And of course every day is brighter with Anna by my side. Now we must begin planning the wedding. Time is moving very quickly now and we need to set a date for the wedding. If anyone knows someone who is good at planning weddings and is looking to get their name out there. Please feel free to email us or leave a comment. We are looking for people and/or companies that are willing to help us plan this event for advertising on our blog because to be honest we don't have much of a budget for the wedding We are saving as much money as possible because we will be required to pay a significant amount of money to immigration services immediately after the wedding to get Anna and her children their Adjustment of Status which will give them their green cards enabling Anna to go to work if she desires and allowing the children to attend school here. If anyone ever tries telling you immigration is cheap, they are lying through their teeth. Both Anna and I have payed a lot of money just to get her here.
So please let us know if you or someone you know may be interested in offering their services. You can email us at annabryan1955@gmail.com or post a comment. Thanks.
Here are a few pictures I have taken. Hopefully we will get more soon.

Anna is Finally home!!!

Yesterday after spending 8 hours driving to Seattle and almost 4 hours waiting at the SeaTac international airport Anna's flight arrived. I was not completely sure she was even going to be on the flight because I had not spoke with her since she left her hometown to board the bus with the two children to Moscow.
My 9 year old son went with me because he was anxious to meet Anna and the children. I also spent over an hour on my phone talking over Skype with Alan Dein with the BBC4 Radio Network so he could record the event for a future episode of "Don't Log Off". In fact he captured audio of the moment I saw Anna for the first time after her arrival and he was even able to speak briefly to Anna as we walked to the Baggage Claim. I wanted to get video of the event but everything happened so quickly I was unable get any pictures or video of her arrival. I had to quickly end my conversation with Alan and immediately attend to Anna's luggage.
Hopefully you will hear much of our conversation on a future episode of Don't Log Off. Alan seems to have big plans for this episode. In fact he has almost 4 hours of conversation to build the entire story from.
After leaving the airport, my original plan was to get a hotel and stay around Seattle before the long drive home but Anna and the children were eager to get to their new home. I can't blame them. They spent over 3 days traveling with very little sleep.
Needless to say we came home at 8:30 this morning and spent many hours trying to catch up on sleep. In fact Anna and the children are still sound asleep as I am making this blog entry. Hopefully we will be able to get some pictures taken together in the next few days so we can share them with our readers.
The next thing that Anna and I will need to do is start to plan our wedding. We have 90 days from July 23rd to get married so she can stay here. Unfortunately we don't have a big budget so we will try to do what we can with what we have. We may even try to find some companies to sponsor products or services for our wedding in exchange for a full blog entry dedicated to advertising their products and services. So if you know anyone in the business of providing wedding supplies and/or services, please have them contact us at annabryan1955@gmail.com or you can submit a comment or suggestion directly on our blog.
Thanks for reading. Your comments and suggestions are welcome (Just don't try to criticize my writing skills because I already know they are terrible :)).

The Last Day

Today passed by like a blur for me. I could hardly focus on my job as I anticipated Anna's arrival and the trip to Seattle tomorrow. Not to mention I spent the day worrying about Anna and the children. I have not heard anything from her since she was preparing to leave for Moscow. I tried calling her on the phone but her phone doesn't appear to be working.
Last time we spoke she was hoping to find a place with internet access so she could send me a message on Skype and letting me know they are alright. But she must not be able to find a place because I haven't heard from her yet. I will try calling again when I know she will be at the airport. Hopefully her phone will start working again before she leaves. It would be nice to be know she is safe and on schedule. If I don't hear from her today I will have to call Aeroflot Airlines tomorrow to verify she was on the plane.
Today I had another interview from BBC 4 Radio in London. This time I spoke with Alan Dein's producer
Laurence Grissell. They are very interested in our story and he promised to have Alan call again in a few days after Anna is here.
Now I am getting things packed and ready for the trip. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, my younger son and I will be going to pick up a rental car. He has been looking forward to meeting Anna and the children and he wanted to go with me tomorrow. We need to pick the car up at 8:00 and take the 8 hour drive to pick her up. I only hope I can sleep tonight. Only one day to go until Anna is here!
I don't know if I will have the time to send a blog entry tomorrow before I leave so if you want to stay updated you can follow me @privetanna on twitter.

She's on her way!!!

Today Anna had to wake up very early because she and the two children had to take a taxi to the bus stop first thing in the morning.
Carrying three bulging suitcases, Anna and the two children left the only home they have known to begin the three day journey to come here. I can't even begin to imagine the apprehension she feels right now leaving the only life she has ever known to come start a new life with me in America.
Currently Anna and the children are on their way to Moscow on a bus. They are probably roughly halfway there right now. They will spend a day in Moscow before heading to the airport late in the evening on Monday. Anna didn't want to take any chances and decided it would be better to spend the night at the airport so they won't stand the chance of missing their flight that leaves Moscow at 10:15 on Tuesday morning. It is better safe than sorry.
Meanwhile, I am continuing to get the house ready for their arrival. Today I made reservations to rent a car so I can drive to Seattle to pick her up. I will pick the car up on Tuesday morning at 8:00 A.M. and begin the 8 hour drive from Boise to Seattle to pick her up and finally take her home. Her flight arrives just before 10:00 P.M. at the Seattle airport. I plan to meet her just as she exits customs and take her home from there. We will probably stop at a hotel on the way home to try to get some sleep before the 8 hour drive because I am sure they will be very tired after the long flight here.
In only 3 short days Anna will be here! I can't wait!

Six more days of the Final Countdown.

Today was a very busy day for Anna. She continued to pack her bags and cleaned house. She needs to do a deep cleaning of the house because her mother will be selling the house when she leaves.
As if that is not enough, Anna  had to file legal documents to delegate power of attorney to a good friend so she can take care of a few legal matters after Anna leaves. Then she had get some documents translated.
After that she had to stop by the bank to deal with money issues.
She is also searching for a padlock so that she can hang the lock on a bridge in her hometown. It is customary in Russia for couples to write their names on them and hang them on various bridges among other places. In fact there is a iron trees over a bridge in Moscow that are almost completely made up of "love locks". I took a picture of Anna standing next to them while I was there.

Anna has promised to hang our lock on a bridge near her house. On one side it will say "Bryan Loves Anna!" and on the other it will say "Hello Anna!". It will be written in Russian. She told me she will take a picture of it for me after she attaches it permanently to bridge. Then she will throw the key into the lake. I will be sure to put a picture on the blog after I get it from Anna.
Needless to say Anna was very tired when we spoke and the lack of sleep has not been helping her. We both have had difficulty getting a good nights sleep the past few weeks. We are both very nervous. Both of our lives are changing very rapidly  and it is hard for us to keep up with everything.
While Anna is busy working doing all those things I am very busy writing this blog. It is a difficult job but someone has to do it. But to my credit I am also working on installing laminate flooring in one of the spare bedrooms. I want to be done with it before Anna arrives. There is so much to do and so little time. It's almost hard to believe she will be here in six days.

Day 8 of the Final Countdown to Anna's arrival.

Today I was able to schedule some time off of work so I can take two weeks vacation for when Anna comes here. Fortunately I have a good boss who was very flexible on such short notice. I have a great job and my boss is not half as bad as everyone else says he is. :) In fact I have excellent coworkers. I couldn't ask for a better group of people to work with.
Me and my two children are still working on getting the house ready while Anna continues to pack things and trying to gather all the documents she will need when she gets here.
Tomorrow is her last day at work so she will be having a go away party at the office. Hopefully she will not need to work a full day because Anna is expecting her mother to come stay with her in the afternoon. She will spend the next few days with Anna helping her pack things and help Anna with the children. She will also see Anna off to the airport on Tuesday to say goodbye.
The next few days will be very busy for Anna and I as . Tomorrow I will try to reserve a rental car. I decided I will rent a car. Purchasing additional plane tickets was too expensive and my friend was unable to transport us in his plane on that day because he had prior engagements so renting a car was the only option I had left because I don't want to drive my car that distance without getting new brakes installed.
I plan to leave early on Tuesday so I have plenty of time to reach Seattle before Anna's flight arrives. Then we plan on renting a hotel and driving back the following morning because I am sure Anna and the children will be very tired after spending over 24 hours on a plane or in an airport. We may even be able to do some sight seeing on the way home.
Time is passing quickly now and tomorrow will be seven more days until she crosses the threshold of her new home. I can't wait!

Final Countdown... 9 days until Anna is here!

Today Anna told me some great news. She finally received her passport with the visas.  It was a big relief because both Anna and I have been concerned that her passport would get delayed and we would need to change the reservations. Not to mention it would have cost an additonal $600.00 to make any changes in the schedule. So fortunately we are on schedule and she will be flying out of Moscow early in the morning on Tuesday the 23rd.
Now it is just a matter of Anna tying up all the loose ends before she leaves. There seems to be an endless number of things she needs to do before she leaves. Unfortunately she doesn't have a lot of spare time. She is still working full time and her last day will be Wednesday.
Today she was able to order the transcripts from the schools her children have been attending so we can have them when we are ready to get them registered for school. She has also spent a lot of her time packing things. Unfortunately she won't be able to take everything with her on the plane so she is trying to prepare some packages to mail ahead of her.
We are both very excited that we have overcome the final hurdle. Now we know there are no other obstacles that stand between us and Anna and I finally have a definite timeframe.
We are down to nine days before she arrives to her new home.