USCIS Office—Fourth time. Cameron, our five-year-old, is now pointing out the landmarks as we pass the oh-so-familiar-territory of downtown Cleveland. It reminds me of that Chevy Chase scene: “Look kids…Big Ben…Parliament”. Only for us it is “Look Mom…Lake Erie…Key Bank”. But this time, we had our goods in tow: Princess Eliana. It was hard not to thumb our noses at the Disgruntled Government Workers who get paid peanuts to press our fingers onto a small glass surface. “Neener neener neener, you may have dragged us to this building three separate times but pppppphhhhhbbbbttt we have a darling little girl who made the red tape all worth it.” But alas, we just put on our Uber Friendly Personalities because those people carry weapons and we don’t.

On to more important things: Here is the Princess, looking decidedly happy about the whole business:

Eliana is becoming quite the Ham. And I’m not just talking about her Ham Hock legs, either. The other day at the grocery store, I had stepped away from the cart and when I returned—I’m not kidding—there was a circle of people surrounding her. She was smiling and clapping and waving her arms—putting on a great show for her fans. I always knew if we wanted an extrovert in this family, we’d have to adopt one. What a hoot.

She has started scooting. You would think we’d never seen a baby scoot before, but since we have waited So Long for Mobility, we are all Hoots and Hollers over her accomplishment. No wonder she likes to clap as much as she does.

Now back to Cleveland. “Why in the honky-tonk were you getting fingerprinted for a FOURTH time?” I hear you asking. Well, we are out of the starting blocks with our next adoption, this time from Taiwan. We knew a few years back that if we were going to adopt once, we were going to adopt twice. It seems only fair to Eliana that she have a pal to go through therapy with once they’re both adults. Though the process and country are a bit different, the wait is still the same. You can rest assured that there is more moaning and groaning and dorky pictures ahead. Stay tuned for the adventure!