Hello Anna is the story of two people that are from opposite sides of the world and do not speak the same language. They met online and found true love. Anna is from Russia and Bryan Lives in America. They met online and fell in love through the use of Google Translator and Skype. They are now living happily ever after together in America.
Check out my new blog at http://whoisbryguy1955.blogspot.com
We have a lot of projects going on right now and it is difficult to keep you up to date in regards to what it happening with us. While we will still post relevant information on this blog from time to time, you may find our new blog interesting.
The title of the blog is "Who Is Bryguy1955" . It is Bryan's personal blog and I hope you will find it entertaining and sometimes useful even.
You can also follow us on twitter @privetanna and @bryguy1955
It's been a while since I took the time to write a new blog entry, mainly because there hasn't been anything new to tell you. But today I want to tell you about our upcoming book(s).
As many of you may already be aware Anna and I have been working on writing our story and publishing it. In fact Anna and I are working on at least 2 books at this time.
Unfortunately our novel is taking a little longer than we expected and I don't expect it to be ready until at least July of 2016. However, we are getting ready to release "The Never Ending Letter" on Amazon in January.
The Never Ending Letter is the poem that I wrote to Anna while she still lived in Russia. I began the poem shortly after we met online and the poem continued until soon before she came to America. It is 26 pages long and Anna has compared it to Shakespeare at times.
The unofficial release date is January 15, 2016 but I expect it to be available on Amazon before the beginning of the year. I will keep you posted if the release date changes.
On a side note, I am also working with a local songwriter that has written many songs that have become very popular within not only the United States but abroad as well. We will be working on writing a Love song based on our story and the lyrics in "The Never Ending Letter". Our goal is to have the song ready to record(yes, I will sing the vocals) by the official release of "The Never Ending Letter".
I will keep you posted on that as well.
Until then, I hope you enjoy a brief excerpt from our upcoming novel, "Hello Anna! A true love story from Russsia". This portion is titled "Dead Camels".
ANNA: You are taking upon yourself a big burden and it will be very difficult for you. Also, you have to take care of the three people from another country as you do for your own children. They will be helpless there at times. And you have to consider them 100% of the time and make them a priority. Is this really what you need? And what will you get in return? You do not know. Maybe you will get nothing in return. There is an Arab proverb that says; “A woman's heart is like a well in the desert. You never know in advance what is there. Cool water or a dead camel."
BRYAN: I think that I not only discovered the cool water, but a perfect Oasis full of luscious vegetation with a stream of cool, fresh water passing through it.
ANNA: I breathed freely when I read a message, Bryan. I was afraid you'd say, "Even if you're a dead camel, you're the most beautiful dead camel in the world." I still have not forgotten about the rabbit.
BRYAN: You know me better than you think. If this were true you would have the most beautiful of dead camels but I think that every one of us has a dead camel somewhere in our heart but your dead camels have been dead so long, the dry bones lie partly in the sand. They serve only to improve the desert landscape within your constantly growing oasis. So, yes, I guess it's true even a dead camel has a beauty of its own. In your heart I find more beauty every day. ;)
ANNA: I tried to thirty times to write back, but my words are not translated. So I'll just say this. "I have no words, Bryan. Simply there are no words."
BRYAN: You do not have to say anything. Sometimes there are no words. When I run out of words to say there are only three words left to say. Those words are “I love you!”
Today marks the 2nd anniversary of Anna's arrival to America. Two years ago today Anna and the children flew from Moscow to Seattle, Washington where I was waiting to take them to their new home.
A lot has happened over the past 2 years and without going into a lot of detail, I will give a brief summary of the most significant highlights over the past 2 years.
Two months after her arrival, we were finally married on September 20th in the courtroom of the honorable Michael Reardon at the Ada County Courthouse. Alan Dein and Laurence Grissel from BBC Radio in London both attended the ceremony and even signed as witnesses to the event.
You can listen to our wedding ceremony as well as hear the rest of our BBC documentary here
In October, 2013 we filed for green cards for her and the children and they were subsequently approved after a brief delay from our favorite organization (USCIS).
Fortunately after that minor delay their permanent resident status was approved in March, 2014.
Upon receipt of the green cards, Anna was given the legal right to work and she has since done some part time work but she prefers to stay at home and work on making improvements around the house and working on her garden.
She has also tried to take up some new hobbies. She decided to try her luck reupholstering old furniture and if you ask me she does a darn good job. We also picked her up a nice sewing machine and she has been making her own pillows and curtains to use around the house.
Meanwhile the children have been attending school full time and their teachers have nothing but good things to say about them. They are learning very quickly and soon you won't even be able to tell they weren't born here. Maria begins high school this year and Ivan starts 5th Grade.
About 6 months ago Anna and I found an author that will be able to help us write our book. We are currently working with him and we hope to have a book ready to publish by the end of the year. We are also currently negotiating with a local songwriter that has written a number of hit songs. We are hoping that he will be able to help us write a song based on the 26 page poem I wrote to Anna while she was still in Russia and we hope to have the song recorded with my vocals around the same time our book is ready for publication.
Soon we will need to once again file for new green cards because their green cards will expire in March. This will require about $2500 and another mountain of paperwork to send to the USCIS. Hopefully we won't have as many problems as we had getting their first green cards.
That's about all I can say without boring you to tears. Check back with us within the next few months. Hopefully we can give you an update on the status of the book and song.
I must apologize that it has been such a long time since the last time I published anything on our blog but there really has not been anything significant happen that justified a new blog entry. I am sure our lives have followed a similar pattern over the past year as millions of other married couples with children.
2014 has been a good year for us. This has been the second New Year that Anna and I have been able to celebrate together.
Over the past year Anna and the children have been adjusting well to life in America. The children are back in school and are doing very well according to their teachers. In fact they the teachers say they are doing better than most children who were born here.
Anna has also been making good use of her time. She has found some hobbies to keep herself busy while she works on improving her English skills. She has been trying her hand at reupholstering and restoring old furniture As you can see in the pictures she is doing an amazing job.
She has successfully reupholstered 2 wing-back chairs and an ottoman. She has a number of other projects she is working on now. I will try posting pictures of more of her work as she completes it.
Overall it has been a good year. I can't say it has been easy though. Supporting a family of six on a single income has been difficult. Money has been a little tight as expected but we are making it okay.
Anna is looking forward to a time in the future when she is able to find a full time job and help contribute but we still have much to do before that can happen. She still needs more time to work on improving her English skills in order to make her more desirable to potential employers. I also need to teach her to drive a car so we can get her a driver's license and a car so she has a means of transportation to get back and forth to work. I have given her a couple of driving lessons but we still have a long way to go. Next time I take her on the road for another lesson I will try to make a video of it and upload it because I am sure it will be entertaining.
We are looking forward to the new year and we are hoping to have our book ready for publishing by the end of this year. We are currently seeking someone who can help us write it so if you know of anyone who would be interested in working with us on this project feel free to have them contact us.
That about sums it up. I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and may 2015 bring to you peace and joy.
