Noah and Samuel's certificates of citizenship (finally!) came today. The emotion I felt when opening them was unexpected. I thought the certificate was just another sheet of paper, but as I looked them over (praying against mistakes) and read the letter from President Bush, I realized a few things.
First and foremost, it is a privilege to be an American citizen. Whether our economy is in the crapper, or we have been at war for too long, or whatever else may be wrong in this country - it is still a great big, huge deal that my boys are eligible for all this country offers. I in no way am saying that I think the US is better than Haiti. In fact, I think there is a level of spirituality and communion with God that we can completely miss in this country because our needs are so readily met. The absolute and pure joy that many Haitians have is unlike anything I've seen here in America. Witnessing the joy of the Lord in Haiti is something I cherish.
As I sit here looking at my smiling boys (all three of them!) I thank God for the journey we have had so far. And I look forward to what lies ahead.
(Side note: Because I didn't know to change our address with USCIS [I thought the updated homestudy took care of that], the original certificates issued were lost in the mail. I've been working on getting these reissued certificates since early October. Nothing, it seems, is easy when it comes to adoption!)
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3 comments:
How do you get the certficates? We never got one for Jeff even though we adopted him in the states.
Kathy, they are automatically issued if your child comes home on an IR3 visa. Not sure how they are issued otherwise.
Thanks. I hadn't met Jeff first so maybe that's why we didn't get one. But we did, of course, adopt him when we got back to the states from England.
Are you readopting to change names?
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