Yesterday was Mia Noerenberg’s first birthday — and perhaps the last she’ll celebrate in the country of her birth.

Mia’s parents, Benny, 31, and Bianca, 26, moved from Berlin, Germany to Erda two years ago for Benny’s job as an instrumentation technician at Detroit Diesel. The couple, both originally from Berlin, settled into American life feeling secure in Benny’s future with Daimler, the parent company of Detroit Diesel, after 13 years of working for the company.

Then, last week, Benny was fired and lost his job. Since his work visa was sponsored by Detroit Diesel, he has no legal means to stay in the country. Benny said he has two to four weeks to leave the country. That means the family must now conduct a fire sale of all the possessions in their current Stansbury Park home and return to Germany — not a scenario they ever envisioned.

“We have to sell pretty much everything we own to buy tickets to fly back and to have enough money to pay the container we have to order so we can put our car and stuff in, which is kind of expensive,” Benny said. “Every minute here costs us money we don’t have since I don’t have a job anymore and I can’t work anywhere else because of my [immigration] status.”

Detroit Diesel declined to comment on the reasons for Benny’s firing.

The Noerenbergs will be holding an open house sale this Thursday through Sunday at the home they’re renting in Stansbury Park from morning until evening each day. Benny estimates they’ll need about $8,000 to $9,000 to get themselves and a few personal belongings — clothing, photographs, a family bed, Mia’s bed, a car and two dogs — back to Germany.

“The rest is for sale,” he said. “We have to sell everything — furniture, every electronic item because we can’t use them in Germany because of the different power supply and different connectors.”

Other items, including yard care equipment, will also be sold.

Benny said some people, after hearing their story, have advised them to just stay in the country illegally.

“I don’t think that’s the right way and we have a little baby,” Benny said. “We have to take care of her too.”

The couple plans on living with Bianca’s parents in Berlin until they can get back on their feet. After building a new life here and making friends, Bianca said it will be hard to leave that all behind. Right now, however, they’re still struggling to come to terms with their situation.

“The first few days after we had a really hard time,” Benny said. “If you are not in that situation like we are you have no idea what’s going on and how hard it is.”

Sandy Critchlow, an agent with Prudential Real Estate whom the Noerenberg family rents from, said it’s been difficult to see what the family is going through.

“We all complain everyday about the traffic, price of gas and the heat,” she said. “What if you were faced with nowhere to live, nowhere to go? Now they’ve got to sell everything — everything that they’ve worked hard to buy — and try to get the money together to go home.”

The couple does want to come back to the United States, but with a Green Card next time.

“The United States was our dream,” Bianca said. “It was our big dream.”

Benny said he was hoping for a new challenge in his work here and the chance to see all the country had to offer.

“There are so many things to enjoy, but we never had a chance to do all of that,” he said. “We will come back, but just with a Green Card.”

The family’s yard sale will be at 5483 Lorraine Way in Stansbury. An account has also been set up at Wells Fargo in the family’s name for those who would like to donate.

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com