Scripture says you can't serve two masters. So if you pray to God, God who is written of in the Bible, God's actual words if one believes the Bible, then you can't also pray to other gods, even make-believe gods. You can't mix/cherrypick who you pray to or ask for help. God will not share His Glory.
Oh, dear. I got into one of my laughing-so-hard-jags-that-you're-crying because of "Tax my tea? How bout I kill you in your sleep on Christmas?"
I think you should get some rest from visa building. I don't understand the visa status. If he came to the U.S. with the intention to settle but wanted to return to his home country eventually, what would be the repercussions for him?
With a 10 year green card my husband could move freely but he cannot stay outside of the USA for more than one consecutive year. I had a friend from Italy who lost her green card due to doing that, which was a problem that has taken her years to fix. Realistically as we have nothing solid in Thailand right now the plan would be to settle in Las Vegas for the forseeable future. Of course since he's not allowed to come here due to refusing vaccines we have to make a new plan anyways...
Thanks, Amy. I didn't realize the restrictions. I'd never heard of a temporary green card. The vaccine or not issue certainly defines our times. I'm sorry Ka and you got caught in its web.
You've probably seen this site, but in case.... Seems to specifically deal with getting around the vaxx requirement. Could something in Ka's past medical history preclude having to take the injection?
Thank you for that link. It explains it very well. I had downloaded the waiver back in 2023 but they told me I could not use it until someone denied my husband's visa. As there are still medical and religious exemptions on paper, why would they deny it at all? At best it is a money grab.
We had considered trying for a medical exemption due to Ka's epilepsy but perhaps due to bad timing we simply could not find a sympathetic doctor at a price point I could afford for it. Google advertised such people for $5000, but beyond not having that much disposable cash to cough up I do not really trust either Google or doctors anymore.
This lays it out in a coherent manner at least so I will be saving it. Thanks!
The winds were reported under 5 miles an hour. Of course, once a fire gets really moving, it creates its own weather & wind. It’s starting to look like Lahaina, all over again. Pretty valuable property burning up. Hmm…
It's been tough on both sides, but I've been reflecting inwards. What Ka has going for him is that this is all abstract in its own way as he has never even been to the USA. We both talked early on about whether he might simply never be able to get here and we even had a time from 2018 through mid 2021 where we were not aggressively pursuing a visa to come to America because we were trying to make a go of it in Phuket. We got pushed into a visa class which I still think is cruel and stupid, that being an immigrant visa whereby you go to theoretically live permanently in a land that you have never even set foot in. How compatible is this prospective immigrant person with the culture, the family, the climate, the food, the social norms and other things in the USA? There is no try before you buy on this one. The system is simply dumb. I like the 10 year green card for my husband more for the option of being able to travel freely than anything else about it.
I am still pondering my next move on this. Several substackers think I should wait until after Trump's inauguration on January 20 because he'll save the day somehow. A few more liberal friends meanwhile think I should absolutely say something now to try to push through on a different visa class before Trump drops the hammer on all immigrants. I have long been critical of how difficult it is to make a legal visa to come to the USA to live with family members. I think these are part and parcel of the same problem: making it impossible for people who should have an interest and even legal entitlement in coming to America simply adds to the pool of indentured servants who then come here with quasi legal status. The bigwigs at the top on both sides of the fence love those people for the cheap labor and indentured servitude.
That said I have been pondering perhaps unfinished business in Thailand. My daughters went back to Michigan yesterday. I have been lonely, depressed and sick and keep on thinking about the coral reef and the happy little beach. It has felt like we have been pushed out of every place we have stayed in Thailand for the past few years which is extremely stressful. But I do my best spiritually when I hear the ocean's waves while I sleep. And Nai Yang has been blessedly filled with a lot of smiles and laughter.
Scripture says you can't serve two masters. So if you pray to God, God who is written of in the Bible, God's actual words if one believes the Bible, then you can't also pray to other gods, even make-believe gods. You can't mix/cherrypick who you pray to or ask for help. God will not share His Glory.
Try serving just one master once you're married.
😹
Oh, dear. I got into one of my laughing-so-hard-jags-that-you're-crying because of "Tax my tea? How bout I kill you in your sleep on Christmas?"
I think you should get some rest from visa building. I don't understand the visa status. If he came to the U.S. with the intention to settle but wanted to return to his home country eventually, what would be the repercussions for him?
With a 10 year green card my husband could move freely but he cannot stay outside of the USA for more than one consecutive year. I had a friend from Italy who lost her green card due to doing that, which was a problem that has taken her years to fix. Realistically as we have nothing solid in Thailand right now the plan would be to settle in Las Vegas for the forseeable future. Of course since he's not allowed to come here due to refusing vaccines we have to make a new plan anyways...
Thanks, Amy. I didn't realize the restrictions. I'd never heard of a temporary green card. The vaccine or not issue certainly defines our times. I'm sorry Ka and you got caught in its web.
You've probably seen this site, but in case.... Seems to specifically deal with getting around the vaxx requirement. Could something in Ka's past medical history preclude having to take the injection?
https://vaclib.org/legal/immigration.htm
Thank you for that link. It explains it very well. I had downloaded the waiver back in 2023 but they told me I could not use it until someone denied my husband's visa. As there are still medical and religious exemptions on paper, why would they deny it at all? At best it is a money grab.
We had considered trying for a medical exemption due to Ka's epilepsy but perhaps due to bad timing we simply could not find a sympathetic doctor at a price point I could afford for it. Google advertised such people for $5000, but beyond not having that much disposable cash to cough up I do not really trust either Google or doctors anymore.
This lays it out in a coherent manner at least so I will be saving it. Thanks!
Except there weren’t high winds today.
The winds were reported under 5 miles an hour. Of course, once a fire gets really moving, it creates its own weather & wind. It’s starting to look like Lahaina, all over again. Pretty valuable property burning up. Hmm…
Thinking of you and Ka and wondering, how is he feeling about the latest delay----how are his spirits, and how are yours?
It's been tough on both sides, but I've been reflecting inwards. What Ka has going for him is that this is all abstract in its own way as he has never even been to the USA. We both talked early on about whether he might simply never be able to get here and we even had a time from 2018 through mid 2021 where we were not aggressively pursuing a visa to come to America because we were trying to make a go of it in Phuket. We got pushed into a visa class which I still think is cruel and stupid, that being an immigrant visa whereby you go to theoretically live permanently in a land that you have never even set foot in. How compatible is this prospective immigrant person with the culture, the family, the climate, the food, the social norms and other things in the USA? There is no try before you buy on this one. The system is simply dumb. I like the 10 year green card for my husband more for the option of being able to travel freely than anything else about it.
I am still pondering my next move on this. Several substackers think I should wait until after Trump's inauguration on January 20 because he'll save the day somehow. A few more liberal friends meanwhile think I should absolutely say something now to try to push through on a different visa class before Trump drops the hammer on all immigrants. I have long been critical of how difficult it is to make a legal visa to come to the USA to live with family members. I think these are part and parcel of the same problem: making it impossible for people who should have an interest and even legal entitlement in coming to America simply adds to the pool of indentured servants who then come here with quasi legal status. The bigwigs at the top on both sides of the fence love those people for the cheap labor and indentured servitude.
That said I have been pondering perhaps unfinished business in Thailand. My daughters went back to Michigan yesterday. I have been lonely, depressed and sick and keep on thinking about the coral reef and the happy little beach. It has felt like we have been pushed out of every place we have stayed in Thailand for the past few years which is extremely stressful. But I do my best spiritually when I hear the ocean's waves while I sleep. And Nai Yang has been blessedly filled with a lot of smiles and laughter.
Perhaps there is a way to pull this one out...
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Interesting map, divided into "kingdoms"----does make me wonder if it's a coincidence, Trump wanting Canada and Greenland as part of the U.S.