I'm About to Become a Father

At age 58, for the first time in my life, I'm about to become a father, to a teenager. well, foster-parent to be exact. My wife and I are taking the steps to become foster-parents to a 13 year boy who attends Oklahoma Centennial whom I met through his participation in our school chess club.

The boy's home life is completely disfunctional, and when I discovered this, I talked over with my wonderful wife the idea of helping the young man out. I believe that he is the type of person who would do well if he had a stable home life. When I told Cat about the situation, she gave it careful consideration and agreed to take on this new responsibility.

We are traveling uncertain waters here and will need much patience and much love. I never had children, so this will be a very different experience for me.

I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Oklahoma Immigration Laws Lead to Death of 10 year old

Mother and Child

from MNBNC:
TULSA, Oklahoma - Edgar Castorena had diarrhea for 10 days and counting, and the illegal immigrant parents of the 2-month-old did not know what to do about it.

They were afraid they would be deported under a new Oklahoma law if they took him to a major hospital. By the time they took him to a clinic, it was too late.

A ruptured intestine that might have been treatable instead killed the U.S.-born infant, making him a poster child for opponents of a bill months before it was enacted as the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007.
Complete Article Here:
.Oklahoma Law Blamed for Death of 10 Year Old Child

I know that there will be many who will make the False Analogy between illegal immigrants and felons such as rapists and murders. How they can equate families who have come to this country in search of a better life (remember the Pilgrims?) and those who commit violent crimes against their fellow human beings, is beyond me.

To my way of thinking, the statement, "Illegal is Illegal." merely begs the question. Why are these people forced to use illegal means to better themselves? What is it about our immigration "policy," if we can be said to have one, that has created this problem?

For if you do much research into the history of immigration laws in America, you will find that they have been based, for the most part, on race and religion. Once we tried to exclude Germans and Irish because they were thought to be too Catholic for Protestant America. We also tried to exclude Asians during the so-called "Yellow Peril" because, as Pres. Woodrow Wilson believed, they never would be able to assimilate into American culture.

We need to step back and take a long, hard look at ourselves. I don't think we will like what we see in our attitudes towards those different from us.