Family of Love (or Immigration Part 3)

Do you remember your 16th birthday? I do. I don’t remember what I got as a birthday gift. I may have gotten my beach towel, but I don’t know. I assume that my mother made me my favorite cake. I likely even had good friends over.

But all of that is vague. It guess it shows me that those things were not the thing that mattered. There was something else that changed my life.

If you know me, you know that I am involved in politics. I have met Presidents and Prime Ministers. National leaders have asked me for advice, and I love fighting for my beliefs in the political world. But let me tell you about my first political memory. When I was a little child my family would get together with people from church and picket and pray outside of abortion providers’ clinics. I know we did it a lot, but the only memory I have is standing on the curb and watching a woman in a white nurse’s outfit driving by very slowly so we would all see her middle finger.

We were a pro-life family and that meant something to us. Years later we started talking as a family about China and their one-child policy. The more we read the more we felt God calling us to do our part. We contacted an adoption agency to talk about taking in one of the unwanted girls. After a little research it turned out that it would be better for us to try taking an orphan from Guatemala instead. It was a long process and I remember trying to learn Spanish so that I could talk with my new sister if she ever came.

Eventually she did. On my birthday. Yup, I got a sister for my birthday.

She was seven years old and it is hard for me to see what her future would have been like down there. Very likely she would have been on her own in her young teens and vulnerable. Guatemala is not a friendly place for young ladies without families. My sister still speaks with an accent. She loves spicy food. She puts an accent mark on her name. But she is American!

She loves to watch Fox News and see what is going on in the world. She isn’t crazy political like me, but she gets mad at Washington DC and votes loyally. She was adopted not only by my family, but also by our great nation. The United States is richer for her being here, just like my family is richer by her love.

Immigration to the United States is special. When it happens, It is more like an adoption than an economic proposition. My sister is able to live the American Dream because America welcomed her.

America is at her best when we remember that our values are greater than selfishness. We the People are great because the people who make up America are diverse in background, but united in the American Dream. In short, immigration changed my life and makes America better. How exciting is that?


Post by Jeremiah Lorrig
____________
Read the rest:
What Makes America Great (Or Immigration Part 1)
Shelter Those in Need (Or Immigration Part 2)