Alba Lucia Moreno and Donald F. Cole, Jr.

Alba Lucia Moreno Ortiz and I met in June 1997 in Cartegena, Colombia. I was visiting the city after spending some time in Central America. Fortunately, she and her friend were on vacation and decided to spend it there on the beach. We met just after coming back from an excursion to the Isla Barú.

Soon thereafter, I called Alba and our relationship began. In the early days we talked by telephone which was anything but cheap, luckily I worked for AT&T and recieved the perquisite of reduced-rate long distance. During this time, we talked at least once a week until I had the opportunity to visit her and her family in Colombia's capital city, Santa Fé de Bogotá. Her family received me with kind curiosity and made me feel right at home amongst them. I stayed for an entire month with Alba's hospitable aunt, Denis, where I was treated like one of the local denizens.

Alba Lucia is 26 years old and was born in Santa Fé de Bogotá. She lives on the south side of the city, near Plaza de las Americas, in Barrio Lucerna. She has a been a student at the University of Antonio Nariño where she has studied law for eight semesters. She has several years of experience in the tourist industry and in accounting. She spent two years at Colseguros, S.A. (one of the largest Colombian insurance firms) where she recieved free tuition for her studies. Currently, she is working in temporary positions as a secretary and business auditor.

Alba's father, Sr. Baudilio Moreno, is an accomplished Bogota attorney who has lived in Cundinamarca for his entire life. He worked with the DAS (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad--Security Administration Department) for several years during which he travelled to Panama and the United States. Her mother, Sra. Isdelia Ortiz Sabogal, is from the Department of Risaraldes, the site of a major earthquake in January 1999. Her hometown, Armenia, is a the capital city of the Risaraldes Department and is an important business center for Colombia's vast coffee industry. The area is a mostly rural region some 10 hours drive from the capital department, Cundinamarca.  One finds breath-taking landscapes and quaint colonial farms throughout the area.

Currently, Alba is still studying and working in Bogota.  Our K-1 VISA petition for fiancé has at last been approved by INS.  We have endured an arduous two-and-a-half years enjoying those precious moments when we could hear each others' voice or even see each other.  It has made for an adventurous courtship and certainly has brought us closer in this unique bond of love that we have.  We cherish our time together and have learned from experience that patience is the virtue of the wise.  Alba, Paula, and Isdelia will visit Atlanta, Georgia, for their first time in November 1999.