Proud to be an American

I was going to write about the haylage harvest that started today but all that I wrote so far is just plain boring. So I will wait a few more days to smell the fresh cut alfalfa , to see the trucks pulling in and  out and all the excitement that comes with it, to get my inspiration and will write about it next week. By then we are done with the first cutting I hope. 

So todays blog will be about being proud to be an American 

When we moved to the United States in the late nineties we had a visa that had to be renewed every five years so as soon as we met all the regulations we applied for a permanent residents card or green card. I still don't know why that thing is called a green card because its main color is a yellow/beige and the only green you find on it is a small green stripe on the back of the card. After 5 years of being a permanent resident you can change your citizenship and become an American citizen. Well first you need to send in paperwork and a check . Yep also that costs money. Then in February we had to go to Detroit to be fingerprinted. There we got a book called "Learn  About the United States. Quick Civics Lessons for the Naturalization Test" It includes 100 questions with the correct answers and a list of words that you need to be able to read and/or write. In the last few months we had some fun with studying the questions and even more with quizzing our American friends , who a lot of times failed miserably to give the right answers.

I challenge you to go to the website yourself and see how you do on the test !

( www.uscis.goc/citizenshiptest)

It also got the dialogue started how cool it was that we are doing this , or, depending on who we where talking with, not always understanding why you would want to give up your Dutch citizenship. 

For me it just feels like the right thing to do. If  I think and talk  about "home" I think and talk about our home in Marlette Mi , where we live, with the kids , and yes the dog . I think about all those acquaintances  that became best friends over the years and family that became family true the hart and not by blood. Being an American Citizen , I hope it shows people even more that I came here for the long haul, and that I therefore care for my farm; the animals and the people , the environment and the community.This is where I raised my children and where I hope they will settle themselves.

The Netherlands is the place of the past, to reminisce about, good memories , the United States is the place for the future and years to come.

Last week we went to Detroit again to meet with an Federal Agent to take the test, read and write . Thank the Lord we all passed!

So this monday morning we had to be at the Federal Court Building to take the Oath, get the certificate of Naturalization out of the hand of Judge Sean Cox , say the Pledge of Allegiance  , and take a picture to prove we did it! 

Having all of this said the real test will be during the world soccer games, or the Winter Olympics. Who will I root for, the USA soccer team or the Dutch speed-skater? It is a good thing both events are not coming up soon, that gives me time to figure it all out.