There are 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. as of 2007.
Unemployment is at an all time low of 4.5%.
Somehow the statement that illegal immigrants are stealing American jobs, does not really seem to be in any statistics I have seen. Nor have I ever met someone who said they were fired and replaced by an illegal immigrant. A job will probably go overseas before stolen by an immigrant and labor jobs seem to be abundant for whomever is willing to work. But, somehow the illegal immigrant is the villain. Not the companies who supply the jobs, help get them into the country, and treat them as slave labor. Not the companies who move the jobs overseas and then take no responsibility of how the products are not safe (China toys) or how the employees overseas are treated.
I agree we need an efficient way to monitor who comes into the country. We should not accept people who could be a danger to our society. We just need to focus on it across party lines and realize we all were immigrants at one time or another. Except if your native American (that's another story). It is unfortunate that currently the system is setup in a way that most immigrants have to be fluent, educated, and with money to gain legal entry.
Why do we have so many illegal immigrants?
In the old days of our great grandparents, from what I understand immigration was very different. They would come over to the country, fill out some paperwork with no need for lawyers, and look for work. Within a year they would obtain citizenship and build financial and family stability.
I did some research and found out that currently to enter the country you must have a green card which takes up to 3 years to obtain and legally cannot be in the states to do so. It is also recommended you get a lawyer to assure everything is completed on time and correct. Applications can be difficult for most citizens, let alone an immigrant from another country. Last year 3 million out of 8 million applications were rejected for not being completed fully or correctly. Also, there is a 1 month window when all the paper work has to be in. It cannot come in prior or after that month. Then applications are drawn from piles and reviewed. There is no standard turn around time and can be years. If more information is required, more paper work, lawyers, and money is needed. Once a green card is given, citizenship takes up to 10 years.
It really seems very different then in the past and appears only the economically viable candidates can afford to follow the proper process and wait to enter legally.
The rest have to decide to try to follow the legal path with little hope or come in illegally and then try to gain citizenship for them or their children once in the country.
I have read specifically about immigrants from Mexico. In Mexico many work full time for $4 per week. The living situations are bad but dreams are high when they see that coming into America they can make at least $4 per hour. They are building communities, supporting each other, sending money to their families in Mexico, and raising children here. All in hopes to embrace the same American dream our families desired. They want a better life for their children and want dreams to be larger then theirs. If I were in their shoes, I would run over the border and risk it for a better future for my family.....
Coming from Texas I think George Bush understands the situation and has tried to slowly make change. He is trying to balance the political machine, so the monster does not turn on him and because this compromise is needed it appears little will be done.
It seems like we all need a villain to make us feel good and it seems like if it is not another country, we tend to pick the weakest group. Black as slaves, child labor, women, and now illegal immigrants particularly from Mexico.
What amazes me is some of the evangelical community that preaches love and the need to live more like Christ, turns their backs on these immigrants. Hebrew 13:2 talks about entertaining strangers, which translates to open your home to aliens/immigrants. Matthew 25:31-36, talks about how we should treat "strangers" again the translation is immigrant. This passage freaks me out because he stresses the accountability of loving and caring for the poor, strangers, voiceless. I know we can take scripture out of context and find a verse to support any side we want. But for me it comes down to Christ's actions. He loved to the point of death and knew it was coming. I guess Christianity is not a wimp religion if you are expected to love even if your afraid or not sure of the outcome. What is even harder is to be a Christian first, then a citizen of the state (America for me) . This is asked of us and is VERY hard to do since we are shaped as American citizens and even our Christianity is shaped in some sort of Americanized fashion.
If we follow this principle, does it change our perspective on illegal immigration?
For me my post does not resolve anything and raises more questions. But, I felt like I needed to express my thoughts.
Post your comments, I would love to know others thoughts. There are strong feelings on such topics and it has become a political catch phrase for candidates. These are the type of issue that are not black and white and causes lots of emotion and struggle. I wish it were simple.
We are traveling to Florida for Christmas and decided to write Santa to see if he could come early this year. The kids did not know till Friday night that Santa was coming early. They went to bed so fast it was amazing. It is so fun to see Christmas through their eyes.....
I remember being 16 or 17, like Caitlyn and feeling bad because I was excited but it seemed like the excitement was short lived. The innocence when your younger and excitement is something when you hit a certain age it just stops cold turkey.
Ok, so enough about Santa and presents. I am more excited then ever for Christmas. Our church emphasized Advent and it made a difference. In another post I really need to explain some of my thoughts around faith. Long story short, I feel like I found a part of faith that has been missing and I am excited to find a church home that will help me connect and be apart of a true church community. Merry Christmas........
Here is a Christmas video clip. The video has 3 video clips and the rest are photos you will see in the family photo page.
Wednesday nights has quickly become a time our family looks forward to. Since we have attended Watts Street Baptist Church (month or so), the children look forward to eating dinner at the church and then attending chorus/class. They seem to enjoy mixing it up with the adults and children. It is starting to feel like home.
After getting the kids settled in class, we had an option to attend a book discussion or yoga. Both sounded really interesting, but we decided to do the yoga. It was a neat experience. They discussed meditation, breathing, and how yoga can prepare you mentally for meditation or study. We walked through some techniques and at the end I really felt like it was something I could do ongoing. Something apart of my lifestyle to help slow me down and bring me to a calming place to relax, pray, or study. It was mentioned they plan to do classes monthly.
The class mostly full of 60 somethings. That sounds weird but it was kinda neat to. I miss my parents and grandparents a lot and having some wiser folks around is comforting. Plus, they don't laugh at me when I am in a downward dog position...
Update 11/30/07:
I wanted to see if I could take apart my Mac Mini, before buying the Super Drive. So tonight I took it apart using a video I found online. Once I got the Super Drive out, I found ANOTHER card, this time it was a library card. So here it what I found in the Super Drive:
1. Kroger Discount Card
2. 2 nickels
3. 1 penny
4. Library card
It looks like following the video I can replace the drive. So Monday I plan to order one.... Maybe I will upgrade the memory while I have it open.
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Update 11/25/07
As you know from my previous post, my dad and brother broke the news to me that while here on Thanksgiving, a CD got stuck in my computer and I have to replace it. We found a gift card in the slot. A day later I was messing with it and found a credit card in there as well.
My 2 year old daughter was watching me pull it out and looked very interested. I asked her if she did this and she admitted to it. "I am sorry daddy, I put 2,3,5,7 them in there". When I asked her why (silly to ask a 2 year old but I had to) she just gave me a looked, hugged my leg, and said "sorry daddy, I love you".... Guess I will have to deduct it from her allowance :)
It was a massive migration to Durham, NC. We were so glad to have most of my family visit for the long weekend and celebrate Thanksgiving. I wish my oldest brother could have came but work calls.
We had a good time. We played with the kids a lot, went for a tour of UNC/Franklin Street, took a few walks to burn off some fat, and ate a lot of food.
It was tight fitting everyone in our home. But the new bedroom and a few pull out beds did the trick. I am glad the weather was mild so everyone enjoyed fall outside.
Sad but funny story. My brother and dad were using my computer and somehow jammed a CD into it . They fessed up hours later and as I tried to pull out the CD, I found a gift card stuck in there as well. Dad and my brother looked so guilty it was funny. I am not sure what happened but I am now looking into a new Super Drive for my Mac Mini.... It reminded me of when I was a kid and broke something, guess it is payback time :)
I used an auto timer and tripod to take this picture.
Well, I am gonna try and use the blog more often. There are thoughts and stories about the kids I really need to document and this will be the perfect place.
Thanksgiving is a few days away. I took off this week to spend time with my kids and get ready for family coming into town. Here are a few things significant to me today:
1. I was cleaning upstairs and my daughter bounced in the room and said "Daddy, I love you. Dance with me". She turned on the Hookey Pookey and it was all over, I jumped up and we started to dance. Being 2 she has no idea how much that made my day.
2. Stephen came home from school and received a free Chik-Fil-A dinner for reading.
I took him to Lowes on the way to pick up some stuff. After realizing I was ignoring him, thinking about work stuff, even thought I am off this week. I dedicated my thoughts, talk, and attention to him and we had a great time. He has such a sense of humor.
3. Caitlyn came home and let us know she got past the first selection / round for Governors School, which is a big deal. She also CLEANED her room and did her LAUNDRY and was PLEASANT about it.
4. My wife loves me in spite of me being me. She talked about fried green tomatoes for 2 weeks. In my rush to get all the yard work done for winter, I pulled up the plants and threw them away. Needless to say she found out in less then 5 minutes.... I was able to recover some of the tomatoes and am amazed she forgave me.
This Thursday we’ll will be centered around family & friends celebrate Thanksgiving. We’ll try to express our thanks for the blessings of this life. I am humbled and blessed for my family. They forgive my shortcomings and lunacy and love me anyway. If you know our situation you will agree that they are truly precious gifts to me, all of them...
Here is a link to a thoughtful sermon on Thanksgiving http://www.wattsstreet.org/n/gratefulness-3.html
Well it is officially 1 week into summer. We are on the move doing all the summer stuff:
The day has passed. Caitlyn got her license and now owns her first car. It was only a few days ago, I remember she was 4 years old, playing in the backyard picking flowers and naming the trees. Now she is grown up trying to pick up guys in her car....
Here are a few photos when she took me to the store. She ran a red light, but we made it home safe :)
Photos of her car
Here is some video of her car on the video gallery
This clip talks about the environment, the lords prayer, servant hood, and the true lens Christians should look through. Take the time to view this, even if your not a Christian. It makes me think about my daily actions about enemies, wealth, war, motivation and how Christ not only taught but lived.
I have to say Chloe's face in this picture makes me remember how fun it was as a kid. Just pure bliss.
Not much else to say, we are starting to pack and get ready for the adoption party. Stephen wanted to know if it was gonna be more fun then seeing the judge. I told him a lot more fun.... We are looking forward to seeing family and a boat load of others my parents invited.
Caitlyn got her drivers license and has started to drive to work. We are looking for a car now, so if anyone has an old clunker they want to sell at a good deal let me know.
A lot of thoughts have gone through my mind I wanted to post, but it is late and I have had little time to get them in the blog. More to come after we get back from Florida.
Here is a picture of the new tree house. Slide, climbing wall, and a few other gadgets. The dog even climbs up to take a peek of the neighborhood.
Well, we had one of those blow ups at our house this week. The kind where everyone in the house gets mad and yells, you think the roof is gonna fall in, then it gets real quiet for awhile and everyone hides in their rooms. One by one each of us creep out and test the waters, sitting around not saying much, hoping no one remembers what took place.
Of course, this happened at a time where I have not been in a good place. I have not been patient lately. Heck, I haven't been patient for 37 years now.....
Anyway, Kathi and I talked and she really made sense to me. This should be one of the happiest times of our lives. Adoptions are final, she can stay home, Caitlyn doing good, getting a new deck and the room completed, we are healthy, etc... It is strange how we get use to our lives to the point we make up stresses and do not appreciate how lucky we are.
What really matters now is sitting with Stephen before bed outside looking at stars and making up stories, giving Chloe a bath and singing silly songs with her, Taking Caitlyn driving and looking at clothes online with her, waking up early to be with Kathi and talk, taking time each month to date my wonderful wife. Thats what really matters.
I read an article online that said "What you choose to do with your children today will be cherished lovingly for decades to come". If we parents are not careful that could say ". What you choose to do with your children today will be hated for decades to come". I have a choice and I want my kids to cherish memories of their dad for years to come. I have to choose to not let stress, pressures, and my baggage to get in the way. For some reason this is very hard for me but I have to remember what really matters....
When I think of this I look back on the memories of my parents and the good far outweigh the bad. I have memories of:
I went to my weekly small group for church today and the lesson really hit me. If you do not know me, I like to win. When in a fight my initial reaction is to try and win, even if I am wrong.... So this lesson was hard for me, but I think it has helped. I will try to put it to practical use and see....
Acceptance is different then agreeing of someones action.
Our lives have been shaped by doses of rejection and acceptance and that we are far more open to the influences of people who accept us then those who lecture us.
When we struggle to accept, it is because we are holding to false standards.
When you focus on acceptance your mind does not focus on fighting to win the fight or prove a point. You can focus on the person.
Jesus did not come into this world to prove he was right. He came to accept us and show us by living a better way. This is the new lens we need to try and look through to live like him. If we can grasp a small fraction of this concept our relationships would be so much better. On the other hand, if everyone just agreeded with me, that would be easier :)
I have struggled with this issue for some time. Seems like the media, government, and all sides distort the truth to fit their needs. I found this interesting lesson on Sojourners that digs deeper into the cause of the issue and what we should do to fix it. Take the time to read it and post your thoughts. I had trouble printing it, so you may need to read online.
Christians and the middle east.
It has been a crazy week. I cannot remember a week so full of changes like this ever before.
We had a great time at Banner Elk with some family and friends, came back Monday and adopted our two new children, moved our oldest daughter to her new room, and put together a bunch of furniture. All this activity and the contractor is still building our deck and minor touch up to the room addition.
As I was putting together furniture my son had his tools and wanted to help. He talks a mile a minute and apparently I did not hide my frustration. As he approached me for the tenth time to convince me that he knew how to put together the bed.... I lost it. He looked at me and asked "Daddy, why are you so upset, what did I do". It was at that point I realized the stress of trying to make everything perfect for the kids really did not matter. They would rather me listen or play.
It is so hard to remember that. This is such a special time for us. Two wonderful children adopted and in a good home, so loving and fun. I am blessed to have them in my life and so overwhelmed with the grace my wife gives me for so many stupid actions...
Here are pictures of the remodeled garage, which is now the 4th bedroom
