You've got mail

Jake received his first piece of mail Monday, and it was anything but junk mail — it was his certificate of citizenship, effective Oct. 16, 2008! Yep, in the eyes of the government, Jake officially is an American, and we have the paper to prove it (which is always a necessity when it comes to the government ;)
He also got a form letter from the president congratulating him on becoming a citizen of the United States. It was a nice touch.
When he landed in America, we knew the moment he touched feet on the ground .. er, floor ... he would be an American. It would be a special moment, and we guess immigration thought so, too, because there were no pictures allowed! There will be no lollygagging to celebrate citizenship, no sirree!
We thought about holding him from the ground (which was silly, we know, but darn it ... it was our symbolism) until we could get somewhere to snap a photo, but we weren't sure where that was and standing in line holding him to wait to enter the U.S. was enough. We made a big show of setting him down so we would always remember, and we will.
Since we don't have a photo of the moment, here is a random photo in which Jake is practicing his freedom of expression: