She's Legit

The other day we got the piece of paper in the mail we have been waiting on.  Harper's Certification of Citizenship.  

 I took it out of the envelope, and as I did, I started to laugh at the picture.  I had forgotten this was the picture they would use. 

 If you have been reading along, you'll remember it was on  this day that picture was taken.  Man, just looking at that picture made me want to sweat remembering how hot it was in that building.  Oh the memories!  Hard to believe that's been almost two months now.  

Two months have really flown by and still, she's felt like she's always been part of our family.  So much so, that I sometimes forget when people look at us.  We don't get the stares like we did while we were traveling in China, but we do get a look every now and again that I can tell some people are curious if she is ours or not.  

Just the other day, Harper and I were running errands, and we were in line to check out.  The lady behind the counter noticed Harper right away and started looking around.  I knew what she was doing. She was looking for Harper's mother.  In fact, as she was looking around she muttered "Where did your mom go?"

It makes me laugh every time I see it.  I sometimes let it play out a little before I say "She's mine" or "I'm her mom".  Just to see what they will do.  I'm sure it's mean a little on my part to let it go on for a bit, but it's like an experiment every time it happens.  Will they assume she mine, or won't they? 

One day, I took Harper to meet some friends at the play area in the mall.  There happened to be a group of Chinese ladies right next to us with their kids in the play area, but they left shortly after we had gotten there.  Just as the Chinese ladies were leaving, Harper noticed another little group of white ladies next to us had some food.  Of course being the never full/always hungry kid that she is,  she made a bee line to that group trying to get some of whatever they had.  

One of the mom's of that group looked at Harper and then looked around looking for her mother.  Of course I saw the whole thing going on, so I just sat back for a second to see how it would play out before I let that mom off the hook.  She said something like "Is her mom here?" I wonder if she thought those Chinese ladies left one of their kids behind.  Ha!  I called for Harper before panic really set in on that lady, and also because no one really likes a mooching kid trying to eat your snacks anyway.  

Things like that make me chuckle because I used to be the assuming one.  Adopting someone who is not of the same race as you can really open your eyes in more ways than one.