The picture is the USCIS office for fingerprinting in Charlotte, NC.
Oh brother, what a day we had. We went for our fingerprint appointment and by chance a family we had met at an adoption workshop is also going through the process to adopt their second. So we met them there, their appointment was right after ours.
They brought their baby because the sitter wasn’t around today. She is 19 months old and as cute as a button. So we all sat and talked for awhile and played with the baby. She and Jeff seemed to be having a great time, giggling and so forth. Jeff and I had already got our prints done. We were waiting for their turn to go so we could all go eat lunch afterwards.
So when it was their turn, they called both mom and dad in at the same time. (5 print machines at the facility).They left the baby with us!!!!!!!!!!!! You can imagine where this is leading….. as this was the first time we had ever met her.
She and I were walking around looking at the pictures on the walls, when she realized her mom was gone. It took about 30 seconds for her to realize that she did not know me and she DID NOT LIKE IT that she didn’t know me.
So the screaming began in a room with 70 people. Jeff motions to me to take her up near the front where she can somewhat see her mom. So I did that, and must have crossed some imaginary forbidden line, because the woman at the desk is yelling at me “ARE YOU NEXT??? IT IS NOT YOUR TURN, YOU NEED TO STEP BACK!!!”.
At this point I’m totally bewildered and trying to calm her down. So I back-up and then that woman starts pointing her finger at me to come back to the desk. In my naïve mind I thought she was going to let me go in the room where her mother was. OH NO, she tells me I have to leave and take the baby outside or go in the bathroom, because she is screaming bloody murder.
It is weird, you know how it is annoying when you are somewhere and a baby is screaming and the parents seem to be oblivious. LET ME TELL YOU THE LAST THING ON YOUR MIND IS THAT IT MIGHT BOTHER SOMEONE ELSE.
I was dumbfounded, I sort of sulked back to the bathroom, everyone in the room was staring at us!! In the bathroom, I tried playing with the water, playing with the soap machine, playing with paper towels, singing…. Nothing was going to make her happy at this point.
At one point she put both her hands around my neck. I think she just wanted to strangle me, then she laid her head down and just sobbed. And I was about ready to start sobbing too. Women in the bathroom were trying to console both of us. Finally her dad got finished and came and knocked on the bathroom door.
I swear by the time he came, Both she and I were shaking, I didn’t think I could walk. I collapsed in my seat next to Jeff, my legs were shaking, my stomach was shaking and I felt my insides shaking. Of course, Jeff has this silly smile on his face and said, “You notice I didn’t jump in and help you. I figured it was good experience!”. He did tell me later, there was nothing I could have done to fix that situation!
Chuck, her daddy, also thought it was good experience! He said, "Expect it for the first 72 hours in China!!!!"
