I was woken up early by loud knocking sounds at my front door. I tried to rouse myself awake as I got out of bed. I opened the door to find my husband standing there with the biggest smile on his face and joy in his eyes. "You won't believe what happened! We won the lottery to go America!" he told me. 

I was shocked. It had been a year since we signed up for the lottery back in 1999. Migration had been my husband's dream for many years. He had been saving money for transportation and wanted a better life for us. 

Over the next few days, my husband prepared to move. Our adventure was going to start soon, but the day of departure arrived too quickly. I was heartbroken and felt confused about leaving. 

My parents came up to me, smiling, but I knew they were upset. I felt their tears on my shoulder as I hugged them. My husband kept pulling me away, saying, "Let's go. We're going to miss our flight!" 

It was my first time on a plane. I had never even been in an airport. Once boarded, I was mesmerized by how the plane looked inside. My husband held my hand, praying for a safe trip. I knew he could feel me shaking and sweating. I spent most of the plane journey sleeping. We had landed by the time I woke up. Once we went through customs and were officially in America, we went to find a place to stay. 

By the end of the day, we had rented a very small apartment. Once we made it to the apartment, I collapsed from exhaustion and fell asleep right away.

I woke up the next morning to find my husband on his way out. He was going to look for a job. 

My husband thought he would find a good professional job like he had back in Egypt, where he had worked as a computer engineer, but reality differed from his expectations. He settled for a job at a deli.

Days went by, and I stayed at home, praying for better things. My husband would return from work upset and in tears. He was treated horribly at his job. We barely had money for food, and I didn't know any English. I had nowhere to go. 

The mosque provided us with as much as it could. My husband was so busy that I couldn't talk to him about how I spent my days alone at home. A few months later, I found out I was pregnant. I was scared and worried that we wouldn't be able to provide a future for the child. My husband got a different job in a company. It wasn't the best job, but it was better than his previous one.