After we got back from camping, we finally got our notice in the mail for our appointment to pick up Boo's Certificate of Citizenship in Chicago. We applied for this back in November, right before Thanksgiving. To clarify, Boo has been an American citizen since we finalized his adoption at the beginning of November and he got issued his Illinois birth certificate. But he was still considered a permanent resident by the government until/unless he obtained this Certificate of Citizenship. This means, if we did not get Boo's certificate and he has his passport stolen while traveling outside of the US, it may be more difficult for him to prove his American citizenship. Scary, huh?? Because of this, we felt that it was never an option not to get this important piece of paperwork for our son.
So in the middle of August, nine months from our application date, we drove up to Chicago and met a good friend of Chris' for lunch, who took this great picture of our family before proceeding to our appointment:
Once we got to the federal building for the appointment, Chris couldn't come inside with us. He had automatically put his pocketknife in his pocket that morning like he does every morning, not thinking about the fact that we would have to go through a metal detector and, of course, you can't bring a knife, no matter how small, into a federal building! So Boo and I went in and, after being directed to the wrong floor along with another family, finally made it to the correct window after about 20 minutes. We then waited...and waited...and waited. We probably sat there for about 45 minutes before getting our paperwork. It really wasn't that bad, but I was expecting about a 10-15 minute wait after hearing about other family's experiences. We did very briefly get to meet another family I "know" from the online adoption community who was there picking up their daughter's Certificate of Citizenship as well. In the meantime, poor Chris had been told that he couldn't even wait in the air-conditioned lobby, that he would have to go outside, in the 90 degree weather, to wait for us. There is no cell phone use in the building either, so we couldn't even let each other know what the other was doing. Regardless, Boo and I got his paperwork, but no picture in front of the federal and state seals to commemorate the day; he was close to a meltdown and wouldn't stand still for me, so we went out to find Daddy and show him the certificate.
He looked so handsome (as always!) and sooo grown up!!
What a special day for a special little boy!
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