Awe-Inspiring Citizenship

On occasion, we get to participate in things that are just exceptional and inspire us. Today was one of those days for me. What did it feel like? Do you remember how you felt after the first time you saw "Saving Private Ryan?" I remember that. I also remember being in Brittany, France, staring at a headstone with the name Chipman on it and listening to Taps being played. I remember the Veterans Day concert we went to in Novembr of 2001. Words can't describe these feelings. It's just amazing!

So what happened today? This morning I was able to witness and participate in a Naturalization Ceremony for 194 people in Salt Lake City who today, became United States Citizens. These people represented 53 different countries and ranged in age from 18 to 91. All of them with smiles and many of them with tears, raised their right hands and gave up a piece of their own heritage and their identity for what they all deem something much greater - citizenship in the land of opportunity, the land of justice, and the land of freedom.

The oath that they repeated states that they, "absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen." They agree to "support and defend the Constitution," "to bear arms on behalf of the United States," and that they "take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation."

Before and after the ceremony (as part as a Civics Workshop for teachers I am attending this week) we had the opportunity to learn more about this difficult process of becoming a citizen. I think that the majority, if not all, of the people reading this blog are natural born citizens. Do you realize the responsibilities and privileges that you have? Do you realized how badly other people want what you have? Do you realized how difficult it is to get what you have? Do you appreciate that?

Here are some facts that may interest you:


-- It costs, at a minimum, around $1500 to become a U. S. Citizen. If you having any issues that may require legal counsel to get you through it, it could cost many thousands more.

-- It takes, at a minimum, several months to complete the process. But, for most people it takes a year or more of determination to get it.

-- You have to take an oral and written English language test, as well as a written Civics test.

-- You have to pass a criminal background check, but also a financial background check.

-- We have quotas. Only so many people from a certain country can become citizens in any given year. You may be able to pass all the background checks, but won't be able to fill out the application because you are beyond the quota.

-- Even if you make it through the entire process, if you don't show up to say the oath, after you've done everything else, you can never become a citizen and risk being deported.

-- If you lose your citizenship documents, it costs $500 and at least one year to get an additional copy of them.

-- If you become a citizen by taking the oath, your minor children are automatically citizens.

After a brief program and the people actually took the oath, the Judge officiating it, Judge David Sam, asked for some of the new citizens to give some comments. Many spoke fluent English. Many did not. They all said how proud they were to be citizens and proud to be Americans. They all spoke of opportunity and freedom.

I think we sometimes take for granted that we were BORN in a great country. We have laws to protect us, but we also have ways to voice our opinion about those laws and even change them if necessary. We have opportunities to be educated. We can select whatever career we choose. We can choose to serve in the military or not. We don't realize what sacrifices others are willing to make to get what we naturally have.

These Naturalization Ceremonies occur once a month in the State of Utah. They are always at Rose Wagner Theatre. The swear in around 200 people each month. I think I am going to encourage members of my family to go in July.

Baby Blessing In Overton

On Saturday, my mom and I drove to Overton, NV. It's 375 miles. On Sunday, we drove back home. It's 375 miles. We went to the blessing of Cody Bingham Campbell, Melinda's and Cory's son. He's chubby. His brother Conner is funny with cute dimples. His sister Rilee tried to abuse me.

We're glad we went. It was nice to see Melinda, her cute family, and her nice home.

Washington, D.C. - DAY 4 - Tuesday, June 9th

We finally made it to day 4 of our fantastic trip of the summer. This day began extra early. We had to be at the Capitol at 8:45 a.m. Ugh. After our late night in Alexandria, the alarm went off especially early.

We made it to the Rayburn Building. We met a girl named Katherine who led us there from the metro. She is interning with a congressmen from Florida. We were headed to Jim Matheson's office. We made it. He has an old Parowan High School basketball championship banner in his office. His dad was the coach. We met Aaron. He was going to take us on our tour of the Capitol. We went through security. My mom has lots of stuff in her purse. They took her hair spray.

The new visitor's center at the Capitol is neat. Some of the statues are there. It's underground with skylights allowing you to view the Capitol. It has a museum and movie theaters. The movie was good, but I think I dozed off. Sorry. It probably had to do with the late night before and not necessarily my responsibility to civic attentiveness.

We visited the Rotunda. The artists painted their faces into their paintings for some secret recognition. Eva was dying of thirst and I snuck Starbursts to her.

We visited the House Chambers. It always amazes me how congressmen will talk and give their speeches, but no one (or hardly anyone) is their listening to them. Are they all in their offices watching CSPAN? I don't get it?

We at lunch in the Rayburn Building.

We went back to the hotel to check out and stow away our bags in a back room. We headed back out and would return before going to the airport.

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The following explains the part of the trip that Auntie Judy and Cousin Haley failed!!! We didn't plan as well as we should and probably disappointed a whole crew of certified life guards. We'll do better next time. Sorry Staples
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The Stapley girls as well as James had a burning desire to visit the American Red Cross Headquarters. They should have a museum. It's open like all other museum, right? You go and see cool Red Cross stuff, right? They used to have a museum, right? . . . . Well, they don't anymore. No museum. No entrance without a scheduled guided tour. Not much to see. Bummer dudes. Sorry.

We explained that we had some kids who REALLY wanted to come in, so the nice security guard let us all come in and look at the main hallway. There were a few artifacts and some signs that said Red Cross. This wasn't exactly the highlight of the trip, but it was all we could do. Go Red Cross!!!


Next, we sat on the steps of the Red Cross Building and sadly tried to plan our last activity before heading to the airport. Hannah sat in a puddle with her new white shirt. We saw Tibetan Monks in orange. Judy asked who wanted to go to Union Station. No one voted, yes. So, we went to George Washington University and to the bookstore. We all got fresh, new GWU Colonials T-shirts. I also bought a souvenir Mrs. Fields cookie in a package on the snack isle. Eva really liked the Foggy Bottom Metro stop.


We rode back to the hotel on the metro. Grabbed our bags and road the hotel shuttle to the airport. The van didn't quite fit 14, so we had to go in 2 shifts, but we made it.

We finally found the President in the airport. Phineas got his picture taken with Mr. Obama. After that . . . well the rest has already been reported in a prior post . . . . lightning and rain, stuck on a plane, miracle crew on board, saved the plane in Atlanta for us, got home really late . . . or early depending on how you look at it. My mom and her huge purse got MY hairspray taken away at the airport. Uncle Steve and Uncle Evan were both wearing Puke, I mean Duke, memorabilia at the airport. That was weird, but Evan's wasn't really Duke, just a blue D for the Dodgers.

What an amazing adventure!

Thanks to Mama Judy for all her efforts!! She's a great tour guide in addition to being a great mom!!

What's next? . . . Let's plan next year's trip!

Oh dear . . .

Heart failure! Phew! Back in business! Thank goodness.

James is the computer expert. Not only can he fix cars and build walls in our house, but he can repair computers and solve almost any issue. Plus, he regularly backs up our computer on an external hard drive? In addition, I usually upload pictures online for extra storage? Where is James? Not here right now. What happened to the computer? The hard drive crashed. Where are the pictures from Washington, D.C.? Deleted off the camera. Not on the Internet. Not on the external drive. Only on the hard drive. Crap!!!

My husband is a genius, though, and at some point in the last year or so purchased this little gadget and software that recovers photos from memory cards after they have been deleted. What!?! Oh my goodness! It's nearly a miracle.

A handful of the photos were damaged during recovery and now have gray stripes across them, but most are okay. Phew!!!