Armed for Battle

Today's mission: Acquire a Social Security Number for Jaden

Required Documents:

• Application Form
• Travel Visa from Korea
• Green Card
• Certified Copy of Adoption Decree
• Jaden's Passport
• Jaden's Birth Certificate
• Allison's Passport
• Dustin's Passport

Destination: The nearest (40 minute drive) Social Security Administration building.

Summary of Anticipated Events: Based upon prior experiences with government agencies (and we've had our fair share) I fully expected to show up to a less than friendly environment. I had hoped to wait to be called to a window for about 45 minutes in which time I could wrestle with Jaden in a cramped room with strangers glaring at us the whole time. When finally called up to meet with the Super Friendly Person at the counter, I really wished they would tell me that while I had all of the documents listed above, that I still needed a stool sample from Jaden taken 24 hours before arriving in the United States. She would tell me that this requirement was clearly marked in Subsection X on page 32 of the instruction booklet. Then, the SF Person would "smile" at me and tell me to come back when I was fully prepared. I would then collapse into tears of frustration, leave my purse at the counter and not realize it until three days later when I wanted to buy bananas at the grocery store. Needless to say, I was prepared for the worst.

Summary of Actual Events: We (Dustin, Jaden and I) arrived at the office and the security officers joked with us as we went through the metal dectectors. This meant, right away, that some of the staff at this agency had a sense of humor. We were off to a good start. We signed in electronically and were called to a window within 5 minutes of arriving. The woman who helped me was unbelievably cordial, and complimented me on my preparedness. She even said, "This all looks really good." She processed the paperwork within 10 minutes, in which time she even spared a few moments for a little banter about parenting. In the end, she gave us all of the precious paperwork back and said Jaden would have a card within 2 weeks. On top of all of this, she didn't ask for any money. I practically skipped out of the agency (with my purse) and came very close to hugging the security officer on the way out (who told ANOTHER joke as we left.)

Either we entered a parallel universe this morning, or the Social Security Administration is the most efficient government agency we have in the US right now. You be the judge.

Mission accomplished.