We all have a story. We all have those big moments in our life that truly make us who we are. Well my big moment has to do with immigration. There has been all this talk about the kids getting separated from their parents. These innocent, helpless children that can’t survive on their own. They are being taken away from their parents and told to survive. The stories I’ve heard and pictures I’ve seen have done nothing but break my heart. This shouldn’t be expected of a child at any age. It breaks a family apart and it shouldn’t be a child’s story. A child needs their parents. I would know, 9 years ago I was one of these kids that got torn away from one of their parents.
So let me just start at the very beginning. My dad arrived in America at 12 years old with his mom and older brother with a green card (which made them legal). My dad grew up with a single mom that loved and cared for him very well. But she worked a lot and she wasn’t around to watch them all the time. So my dad started getting into trouble and in 1987 in his early twenties he got arrested. He went to jail, got out early on good behavior, and got his life together. A few years later my dad met my mom and they got engaged and married. Well in 1992 shortly after my parents got engaged the government decided to take away his green card and deport him but my parents filed an appeal. The attorneys told my parents to live their lives it could take years before anything happens (B/C THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOTHING FAST). Well in 1994 I was born and 1996 my brother was born. And in October 1997 my mom got a job offer in Nashville. My parents called the attorneys to be sure the move was okay and they said yes, to continue living our lives it could still take years. So this is 1997 right…. we haven’t heard anything about my dads case. So lets go ahead and fast forward to May 17, 2009. It’s just any other normal Sunday morning. I’m still asleep. My dad, brother, and mom are awake and will be waking me up shortly for church. But at 7 a.m. on this ordinary Sunday morning we get a knock on our front door. My brother answers the door. My 12 year old brother answers the door to immigration officers that have enormous guns and are wearing bullet proof vests. Well my mom sends my brother upstairs and they take my dad away in handcuffs like he is a crazy person. That ordinary Sunday was filled with lots of tears but also with the assumption that my dad would be home that day. It’s 9 years later. I’ve graduated high school and college and my dad missed it all. He’s lived in Jamaica for 9 years and we only see him 2-3 times a year.
I was 14 years old. I was a 14 year old kid whose dad was my best friend. Who didn’t know a life without my dad. My dad did it all. He coached my soccer teams. He cooked and cleaned and had the flexible job to ensure he could get us to and from where we needed to be. My mom worked the 8-5 job and still does. So imagine having the person in your family who takes care of it all suddenly be taken away. We had to learn to live in a whole new way without a person we love most, all because the government decided 20 years after my dad got in trouble to rip him away from his family. My dad had done nothing but good since. He loved his family and anyone he came in contact with. He was and is all I ever wanted to be.
Out of nowhere having a parent taken from you really changes who you are. My brother and I refused to go to church and wanted to hear nothing about God because we thought he had abandoned us. “How could this happen if God is supposed to be good?” is what we would say. But it was all my mom had to hold on to. I would see her reading her bible in the morning before she got us on the bus and thought she was crazy. Like actually nuts. (P.S. my parents have lived in different countries for 9 years and they are still married. That’s the Lord and His love and commitment in their hearts. Like no other explanation for it.) There was also a lot of anger. A LOT. Let me be completely transparent here.. the fact that my mom didn’t kill my brother and I or have a mental break down is a miracle. We were awful. We got in fist fights, yelled, and cussed and just had so much anger towards everything constantly. That was the only emotion we would show. We bottled everything else up and we lived. I feared abandonment by anyone. I didn’t truly let people in because that meant giving them the chance to hurt me. I lived surface level.
Senior year of high school I had two really great friends that opened me up to the idea of Jesus again. And in my freshman year of college I accepted Jesus into my heart and learned to deal with a lot and have overcome a lot. I’ve learned to love and to let others in. And I’m not saying I couldn’t have had some of those same struggles if my dad were there the past 9 years but I think it would have been a lot different. I needed my dad. My brother needed his dad. We would be different people if it didn’t happen.
So for the kiddos out there that have been taken away from their parents, I know my story is a little different but I sympathize with you. I understand you. I pray for you. I pray that you are strong. I pray that you feel hope. I pray that you are reunited with your parents soon. I pray that this isn’t long. I pray that this doesn’t become your story. I pray that you are able to stay a child as long as possible and this doesn’t make you grow up quickly. I pray that people realize this is wrong and that children need their parents no matter the circumstance. Most of all I pray you know people are fighting for you and you are loved.
Fundraising update:
Thank you so much for reading this. Just an update on fundraising. I’ve raised about 9K thats come in online but with what’s been committed to be given I’ve raised about 13K. Guys this puts me at over halfway and almost 3/4 the way funded. WOAH! I’m so overwhelmed and amazed at what the Lord has brought in. I can’t thank you guys enough for being willing to give. I’m about $5,000 away from being completely funded. Which is absolutely insane because I looked at the number $18,200 over and over and thought “God, there is no way.” But of course He shows once again that anything is possible. So if you feel led at all to give that would be incredible. There is a donate button if you scroll up. Thanks again for your help and for reading my blog!!! I couldn’t do this without your support and prayer!
