Little Sis' Readoption Day

On Wednesday, Steve and I completed Little Sis' readoption. She became a U.S. citizen as soon as the plane touched U.S. soil in April 2007, but we did the readoption so that she can obtain an Ohio birth certificate. The only birth certificate she had was a Chinese one, written in Chinese and everyone we spoke with encouraged us to readopt in the USA.

We readopted Big Sis back in 2005 (you have to wait until you've been home at least 6 months). With Big Sis, it was no big deal. You paid $135, filled out paperwork and the magistrate stamped the documents and that was it. We didn't even bring Big Sis with us during any of it.

With Little Sis we were assigned a different magistrate who really got into the whole experience. He required that we bring Little Sis and our camera. We had to go to an actual courtroom. It was a much nicer experience, and more memorable. Little Sis charmed the magistrate by singing the Barney theme song ("I love you, you love me") and showing off her moon tattoo on her arm. The magistrate said that readoptions are the best part of his job. He even got a volunteer to take photos of all of us together afterwards.

All in all, a very special experience. The best part is that we are now done with adoption-related paperwork! The only thing left to do is order an Ohio birth certificate for Little Sis, but there's no rush. In fact, I still haven't ordered Big Sis' yet and we readopted her more than 3 years ago!