on becoming american

By Christine Sine

Well the day is approaching.  Yesterday I received my notification in the mail that my citizenship swearing in will occur August 7th.  It has been a long process and one with a lot of struggle.  After all who wants to become an American when the economy seems to be sinking like a rock and the US dollar is devalued daily?

The final challenge was having to say No when I was asked would I be willing to bear arms for the good old USA.  The thought of bearing arms against anyone is anathema to me and I could not bring myself to say yes.  Having seen up close the atrocities of war and worked with those who have been the victims of war I think that war in any form is evil, condoning it even to become a citizen just was not something I could do.  Fortunately all it meant was that I needed to write a letter stating my objections but it made me wonder how many say yes and are afraid to speak up for what they believe.

So why am I becoming an American?  First because I don’t expect that I will leave here any time soon and having lived here for 16 years I think it is time.  Also I want to be able to vote and at least add my small voice to keeping out another president like George Bush.  There are other ways too in which I would like to be able to raise my voice that I have felt unable to do as a “resident alien.”  At times I have truly felt like a voiceless, faceless entity and I can only be a “voice for the voiceless” if I am able to speak out.

Will I give up bing an Australian? – No in fact I feel more Australian than ever these days.  I think that this process has given me more confidence in who I am as a person and the US is a richly diverse cultural gathering of people.  I am glad to be able to contribute to it.

What’s going on at the MSH

Some news and updates:

• Peter is at Georgetown for a month. He will be back in August and then him and Anneke will move to DC.
• The Garden is been generous as always, which means we need to do a lot of grazing from it. We are excited for the cauliflower bounty, because we get to eat a lot of Tom’s famous Cheese Cauliflower Casserole.
• Tom and Christine are in Winnipeg, CA at Mennonite Church Conference. Tom’s book is The New Conspirators is catching momentum with lots of people reviewing it online and we are very excited about that. 
• Christine recently recieved some good news and vibes about her book project of the morning and evening prayers that we use at the house. She will share more about it later.
• Catie and Gabriel are keeping a list of how many wadding pools are in the Seattle parks.
• Eliacin’s and Ricci’s family from Puerto Rico were with us for the whole month of June. They went from using wool sweaters at the beginning of the month (it was raining and got too cold for them) to ask for the AC in the car. They had a wonderful time.
• Eliacin just got back from Philadelphia, where he joined other new conspirators and ate several philly cheesesteak sandwiches.
• Ricci is picking up her research for her blog – The Revolution Starts at Home – plus she is looking forward to do more hiking with the family.
• West became a mole and dug a huge hole necessary for the construction of a new room in the house. He is also enjoying lots of summer reading outside. 

• As we you know we are looking for new communitarians at the Mustard Seed House - read more about it here . For the last month or so we have received emails from friends from close and far interested in exploring live in intentional community. We are now having time to hang out and meet with the interested friends. Our process is a relational and prayerful one. We are still open to more interested people, so if you are interested or know some who might, pass the word around. Take a look at this blog to get a sense of who we are and then shoot us an email.