Today was the big day. We went to get fingerprinted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, better known as USCIS.

We arrived early, which was good because we got through pretty quickly. As directed in our official appointment letters, we arrived with our letters and picture ID in hand, with no cell phones or recording devices, yes, this was the only thing they insisted we not bring. The building is kind of sketchy looking, as Joel said, “if the lights were out I’d think it was abandoned.”

A very nice security guard checked our credentials, handed us yet another short form to fill out, and sent us into the main lobby; a faded, pale blue room decorated with 20 year-old, government issue photos of purple mountains majesty, and other various all-American imagery, florescent lights, and rows and rows of hard, gray, plastic chairs. Everyone there looked very somber. We filled out our form and gave it all back to the nice security guard, who made a few extra marks and sent us into a line at the back of the pale blue room. When we got to the front of the line, another nice, cordial gentleman stamped our forms and gave us a number, and sent us into another, smaller, pale blue room, similarly adorned, to wait for our number to be called. Our numbers were called very quickly and we were again helped by very nice gentlemen. My prints took longer than Joel’s, they kept finding blank spots where the prints didn’t pick up on the computer. When we finished up with that, we were sent on our way. Simple as that.

Overall it was a quick and painless process. The first so far! So, now we wait again, hopefully for no more than a month, for our final document to come home to us. This will mean that our dossier is complete and we are in line for our little one. Whew!