So last Saturday, January 30th, Liv became an American citizen! Yay! I was so happy - mostly because that means we're ALL DONE! Some have asked why, now that she's 2 1/2, is she just now becoming a citizen. It's because we had to send in all the paperwork for the application and we're slow :). We sent it in last May before we left to go overseas. Then they sent it back wanting us to resubmit some things. I sent that the end of August and for months heard nothing. Just recently I had been wondering if she was just a citizen, and I needed to check or if it got rejected and they didn't tell us or if it still wasn't processed... But then we got a notice that the ceremony was coming up. It was held in a rotunda at the Mall of America. People have also asked why there?!? The only thing I can guess is that the immigration office isn't too far away, and there isn't enough room there to have it. They had multiple ceremonies that day. Ours was just for kids - there were 20ish or so that became citizens, most of them adopted. A woman sang the national anthem, a judge precided over the ceremony and said a few words, they said the pleadge of allegiance, and then they called each child up (with parents) to get their certificate. All in all about a half hour. But I was so excited!
Here we are! And they gave her a little flag...
Uncle Cory, Aunt Cindy, and cousin Cai came over for the fun.
Cai not having as much fun...
What better way to say, "Go America!" than a ginormous flag!
I love this picture :).
Here's our certificate. Thousands of dollars wrapped up in that piece of paper, but the results are absolutely priceless!
They called everyone up front for a picture at the end. Lots of chaos.
So there's the big day!
And in other news, Liv went poopy on the potty the day before! A weekend full of memorable moments :).
3 comments:
Congratulations to Liv! How exciting! Maybe she's' too young to remember it, but you guys will remember, and it's a big deal. So congrats to you all!
Heather, thanks for saying "no" to the tiny moustache Brian was talking about - I hadn't known he was contemplating it, so it's nice to have support from outside the spousal unit! :-)
Praying for you guys!
Love,
Karen (and Brian)
Awesome. It was a very special moment when my Mom became a citizen. haha. I remember how nervous she was to take the test and how many items on her practice test most Americans wouldn't know.
It was neat looking around the room at how many nationalities were represented in her ceremony...most of them older in our case.
And...I love that Livee also went poopy on the potty, and how truly both of these events are kind of monumental. :)
It has been so great to read about your journey with Liv! Colton & Calvin have quite a few friends that have been adopted from China because they are in a Chinese Immersion program. Calvin's 'girlfriend' is adopted from China and just got a baby sister from China over Christmas. I never realised how complicated the adoption process is. Love reading about Liv, she is adorable!!!
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