Guus Bosman

Together with about 80 others from 24 countries I became a US citizen today at the USCIS offices in Fairfax.

It was a beautiful naturalization ceremony, but efficient. We started at 2.00 pm and were done before 3.00 pm. Eric, Ginny and Judy were my guests and afterwards we had a slice of mocha cake at home.

When I came to the United States in 2003, I was working using an H1B visa. I applied for my green card in June of 2007, and we received the green cards about a year later.

Sasha became a U.S. citizen in September last year. Around the same time I went for my biometrics and then in December I had the formal interview.

Tomorrow I'll become a US citizen and I'm very happy about that.

I first came to the United States in the summer of 1998, where Sasha and I met. We worked in Antonio's, a resort in Tannersville in upstate New York.

Six years later, in November 2004, I came to the US to start working at a small consultancy firm in Rosslyn, while Sasha worked at the World Bank. Leaving the Netherlands was not easy -- I miss my family and friends -- but it is a move I don't regret.

America has been very welcoming to us, and it is a great place for our family. I look forward to the ceremony tomorrow very much.

We’re preparing to welcome a fourth and fifth member to our little family!

Two boys are expected to make their appearance in the near future and we're looking forward to meeting them.

The age difference with their big sister Nora will be about three years. She is very interested and "has babies her belly" also. "Lots of them!".

An important aspect of learning Dutch is memorizing the gender of the words. "De" for most words, but "het" for a significant amount. So Nora is learning this also and I correct her mistakes.

Sometimes she tries to find the easy way out with "een", haha.

"Papa, papagaaitje-leef-je-nog zit op de zadel van het paard!"
"Het zadel, Nora, het zadel"
"Een zadel!"

I didn't think the snow would be bad enough to stay home for, but Sasha's work recommended it and on Twitter I saw various reports of bad traffic.

Well, I'm glad we stayed home for sure. When checking my email, I heard a loud bang on Lynnbrook -- a driver lost control and hit the parked car of our neighbor, sliding down. When Nora and I went to clear the deck of snow, we walked around the neighborhood. A minivan in front of the YMCA was spinning its wheels and getting stuck, and just as we walked down we heard another loud noise and later saw four cars bumped into each other on the slope of 13th St, going down from Johnson to Kirkwood. A little down Kirkwood two drivers were exchanging insurance information for another fender bender. What a mess.

A school bus was stuck on 14th Street -- it couldn't get up the hill -- and the driver had blocked the road (which explained the extra traffic on Lynnbrook).

On the bright side, Nora showed great enthusiasm for clearing the snow on our deck.