Introducing America's Newest Citizen

Sandra and I awoke at 7am this morning, determined to get out the door at 7:30am in order to catch the bus to Sianna’s citizenship appointment. Of course, the kids wanted to sleep in so we let them.

At 7:25 I woke Schäfer. Usually he’s zero to 60 in half a second when he wakes up. However, this morning, he took his time to get his clothes on, eat a danish, and get out the door. Thankfully, the bus only took twenty minutes to get to the Homeland Security office.

We walked right in, were ushered to a waiting area (no one else waiting), and sat. Schäfer played a little, drank copious amounts of water from the fountain, and sang VBS songs with Sandra. Finally, 20 minutes later, a lady came out and said, “Come with me.” She had heard us out in the hall and came to get us. With two children, I am surprised we were that quiet!

Inside, she asked for the remainder of our paperwork. Then Sandra and I raised our right hands to solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We both did. (Though it seemed a little abrupt to end without the “…so help you God” part, but anyway…) I signed a document and a couple of photos. We were told to wait outside in the hall again.

That was it.

The only question in the interview was, “Did we get physical custody of Sianna on January 24th?” “Yes.”

So back to the waiting area to sing songs and keep the kids entertained. I let Sianna play with our passport satchel zipper while Schäfer just let off energy.

Ten minutes passed when a very happy lady came out with a yellow folder and two papers.

She had me come over to a table to sign the papers, which looked very official, and then we were done!

On July 16th, 9:32am (Hawaii time) Sianna became an American Citizen, with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities thereof!

Congratulations Sianna!

(Schäfer was a little sad because he shut his fingers in a door while exiting our waiting area.)

Sianna’s about to attack Schäfer’s hair!

After this, we raced to the Federal building just across the street and down the block in order to submit her passport documents. As we were entering security, the guard asked if we had our identification.

Of course we-

Uh oh.

I raced back to the Homeland Security office. Thankfully an officer turned in or passport satchel to the front desk. I can’t believe we accidentally left all of our passports sitting on a chair! Guess we were celebrating!

Back at the Federal Building, I filled out the paperwork while Sandra chatted with the guard. It turned out that because we are staying in the States for longer than two weeks, then we no longer qualified for 3-day expedited passport status. (To receive a passport in three days, you must show proof of an international plane ticket exiting the country within 14 days.)

The guard was very polite and gave us a list of places we could apply for a passport. Since we were on foot, he suggested the library. Schäfer was immediately excited.

We walked down the street to the Honolulu Library and submitted the passport application there for a 7-10 day expedited passport. This still works within our Hawaii time frame.

Bless this government employee’s heart. She had to pull out “the manual” more than once to figure out how to process Sianna. I even checked the manual to make sure we had everything in order.

However, I needed to get a money order (when was the last time I wrote a check? 2004?) from the post office. Meanwhile, Sandra read books to the kids in the children’s section. Boy, do we love a library! And this library was quite nice! We may have to pay another visit…

Honolulu Public Library

Sianna worked hard at puzzles and reading.

Schäfer reads a pile of Thomas the Train books.

Occasionally, Sianna joined Schäfer.

Mostly, Sianna wanted to pull up.

She loves to pull up on Mommy’s legs

When I was done, I joined them.

Sianna loved her first trip to the library!

When we came out of the library, we heard a concert by the Royal Hawaiian Orchestra. Schäfer loved seeing all the instruments.

Sianna was tired and so snugly in the Ergo.

On our way out, we stopped for a moment to look at the adjoining ‘Iolani Palace, which is the only royal palace in the United States and the last official residence of the kings and queens who ruled Hawaii.

On our way back, we stopped by Jamba Juice for some lunch. We haven’t had Jamba Juice since 2004 and the Peach Pleasure seems even better now. Did you know that they have steel cut oatmeal? Hmmm…breakfast tomorrow?

Sandra took the kids back to the hotel to get them settled down for a much needed nap. I trekked back a couple blocks to a “Healthy Mexican Food” bus in a parking lot. All food home-cooked and served out of a bus window yields high expectations. Unfortunately, it was a great disappointment. The food tasted bland and was not made as fresh as it could have been.

After the kids woke up at 4:30, we went back down to Waikiki beach.

Just fantastic!

Sianna put toys in and out of her bucket.

Then, she dumped sand on her head.

Such a happy girl.

Today, she ate a considerable amount of sand.

She crawled around a bit more than yesterday.

Schäfer asked to be made into a “mountain” again.

Mt. Schäfer

I buried Sianna. Once the kids were both contained, we headed into the water for a romantic swim. Kidding.

Sianna loved being buried.

Sand doesn’t bother her at all.

Schäfer loved burying Sianna.

Come on Sand Baby, let’s go wash you off.

Even though Schäfer enjoyed the water, he still loves to play in the sand.

Sianna enjoys crawling through our legs.

Sand goatee.

Swimming with Papa is fun!

By the look on her face, I’d say Sianna had a great time swimming.

Schäfer played in the waves.

In fact, we played at the beach until the sun went down.
Today was a good day.