I-600A

I completed my I-600A this morning and happily placed it in the mailbox only to learn the mail had already gone today.  At least it is done!  It will probably take them a week to get it anyway.  For some reason it takes 4-5 full days before things mailed in Indy reach me, but my parents can send me a letter from out of state and I receive it in 2 days. 

My SW is supposed to complete my home study on Monday and fax the draft to my agency.  Hopefully there won't be any significant changes needed, but VN is different from China and my SW and I weren't sure specific things were needed on this particular home study.  I'm sure I'll be getting a call/email from the SW on Monday with any additional questions. 

Yesterday after work I decided to wander over to a second-hand children's store that carries all thing baby and child.  Before I even got into the store I saw a double stroller out front for $50.  I just had this moment where the light went on in my head and I thought "ah-ha, I'm having two!"  Just seeing what it looks like to have two small kids was eye-opening and exciting.  It's one thing to talk about my imaginary kids (as I like to refer to them until I actually get a referral), but it's another thing to see what two kids require and the space they take up. 

I have started reading one of the books my SW recommended and so far it reads very much like some of the books I read about China and Russia.  The communist revolution rolls in, land is redistributed, landowners (even if it was no more than an acre of farm land) are beat and/or run out of town.  The filth of the community take over and people start turning on each other.  It horrified me to read about it in college, and it horrifies me now to think of having to live through the horrors that they lived through.  I think my life is a struggle at times, but I don't have someone beating down my door and threatening to harm me because a distant relative has land.  In all of these societies, women are the ones that suffer most.  It seems to arise in very patriarch societies where women have little to no rights and as a woman, it breaks my heart to think of what women have endured for thousands of years and that there are still many women living in these conditions today.  I think that once you open your eyes to the plight of those in your world, it is almost impossible to shut them again.   That's my deep thought for the day.