This morning we found ourselves at our local immigration office again. I must admit I love the place. The smell of the muffin stall in the back, the sound of my sandals slapping against the cool tile. But most of all I love to people watch. Happy smiles coming out of citizenship testing, people applying to sponsor those less fortunate, and the happy faces of children who have never seen anything as amazing as this country we call home. The mix of 6 different languages blur thru my head almost like music. Some are newly married, some are renewing work visas, some trying to get information on how they can vote. I am in awe of everyone there to have the bravery to pack up and move to a strange country just to give your kids a better life.
Now I know there is a lot of talk about the new immigration practices going on, and I have no intention on getting caught up in it. But one thing I will say is that I honor them, illegal or not, for taking the pissy jobs most americans turn their noses up at. They scrub our toilets, pick our fruit, tend to our vegetables, do our landscaping, work our dumps, and clean up our offices long after we have gone home. And for what? If they are lucky, minimum wage.
Anyway, we had to go to immigration because my husband has finally decided he wants american citizenship. This is something he has been trying to decide for years, but he wants to be able to vote. It was hard for him because in many ways he has been betrayed by our country. He grew up in Laos during the time the us army was using it as a gateway to vietnam. He knows what it is like to have grown used to the sound of bombs. His father was a brave man and joined the us and fought against the vietnamese. Much of the us practices over there were inhumane and sad. His father did what he thought was best because he wanted his children to come to america and have a good life. Well the promise was never kept.
The communist came into Laos and destroyed what was left of his life. They took their food, land and hope. My husband and his family were sent to a family prison, and he stayed there until he could be brought to america. He walked four days thru the jungle terrified of being found and shot. After various rides in the back of dark trucks, and boats he was finally brought to the right people who sponsored his way to america. He has had a permanent resident card ever since. I am so glad he is deciding to become a citizen I cannot even put it into words. We see no reason why he would be denied. He's worked the same job for over 10 years, we own a home, and we've never been in legal trouble.
I have to admit there is another reason for all this. We have decided to look into adoption. Not something right away, but we want to know more. I've always wanted to adopt someone out of fostercare. Having been in a foster home once I know how strange and surreal it can be. I honor people for being foster parents, but to a foster child its like staying in a hotel. You never know when checkout is, and you can never let your gaurd down enough to be comfortable. But now I can see us adopting a 4 or 5 year old in a few years. I know we don't have much. We live in a simple house on a normal street, but somehow I think we might just be what someone needs.
This doesn't mean we aren't trying to have a baby still. We are, but I just feel comforted to know that we will have another child wether we get pregnant or not. I just wish my son would stop asking when he gets to have a brother or sister. You want a challenge? Try explaining infertility to a 6 year old.
Onto fitness news. Tomorrow I do my first trial run for the fun run to see how much progress I've made. Hopefully I don't fall down and twitch until someone revives me. I think I can do it. I have my mp3 player all loaded and ready to go, all I have to do is actually go do it. Hah. I'm also meeting someone to do weekly workouts with me this saturday. It should be fun. Okay I'm done blabbering for the day. I think.
