Born in the U.S.A.--- Not

Illegal immigration is all over the news these days, and has been for as long as I can remember, but when do you actually hear anything about the people who do it right?

I found the following (thank you census bureau!):

- Since 1820 approximately 74 million people have been granted permanent residency in the U.S. Some of those people may have been our pioneer ancestors!

- In 2008 approximately 188,000 Mexicans were granted permanent resident status in the U.S. (31,000 Dominicans, 75,000 Chinese and 45,000 Russians)

- I thought I was special marrying a foreigner, but in 2008 35,000 American's foreign spouses were granted permanent resident status.

- In 2008 17,000 foreign babies were adopted by American parents. Almost 4,000 of those babies were from China.

- In 2008, a record number of persons (1,046,539) were naturalized as citizens of the United States of America. The leading countries of birth of new citizens were Mexico (231,815), India (65,971), the Philippines (58,792), China (40,017), and Cuba (39,871). The largest number of persons naturalizing lived in California (297,909), Florida (128,328), and New York (90,572).

Today we leave for Ciudad Juarez. Tomorrow Alex has a medical exam he has to pass, and Friday is his (our) interview with the U.S. consulate (pictured above). If all goes well, he'll have his visa on Friday afternoon and will then be granted permanent resident status the next time we enter the U.S.

Unfortunately, he's not feeling great. He came home last night feeling achy, dizzy and a little sick to his stomach. He's a little bit better today, but it's really not a great time for him to be coming down with something. Thanks so much for all of your letters and support up to this point, but please pray for him...and for me. I think I'm nervous enough for the 2 of us! I'll post again after the interview.