American Citizenship----Finally!

Finally the long awaited day arrived and we made our way to the Daly Center in downtown Chicago.  Alicia was dressed in very appropriate red white and blue!  The INS interviewer was from India.  Here he is presenting Alicia with her certificate of citizenship!

We made our way back to Wheeling where we had prepared for the occasion.  Chuck who had been a part of the whole process was invited plus one or two other friends from the apartment building.  I made a cake with strawberries and blueberries to represent an American flag.  We made a banner for her!

 This was a very international gathering of friends--Japanese, Indian and African  to represent our multicultural friendships.  All that was left for us to do now was to get Alicia's social security number and her passport.  Then we would be ready to travel back to Benin with her. Our adoption journey was now complete.  But challenges were just beginning.  There was so much to learn about--Alicia's hair, teaching her about her culture--certainly not African American but how would we teach her about her culture?  How would we connect with her birth family?  How would we handle the many questions we would asked over and over again? Who is her mom? Who is her dad? What happened? Is she your real daughter? What about John is he your real son?  Is he adopted too?  We will share some of these stories with you!