Jersey Girl!

For all my New Jersey friends and family out there: you're gonna love this one!  When you are adopted or immigrate to a new country, even though you get sworn in as an American in your country of origin, you are not an American until you hit U.S. soil.  When we landed at Newark Airport on Friday the 1st,  she and I were escorted to the Immigration Department where we handed in a brown envelope we had received in Guangzhou with all of her citizenship information  that was only to be opened by the immigration officers.  It went very quickly and within a few minutes, they waved us out and said we were done. As a side note, I think the least the government could have done was hand us a welcome packet or a little flag, but is just my opinion.  I was a little emotional walking out of immigration knowing our girl was officially an American now.  After seeing where she came from, the lifestyle there, and the lack of freedom, it made me realize how much it means to be an American.  My citizenship is something that has always been there and I take it for granted. 

Now for the fun part!  With all my business in packing and preparing for the trip, I didn't realize until about a day before we left that this citizenship was going to take place in New Jersey, where I was born and raised!  Since my father in law loves to tease me about "NJ people" and constantly cracking on New Jersey, I was highly motivated to buy this t-shirt in Newark on the way out to China.  She is now officially a "Jersey Girl" just like her Mom!