Friday, July 25, 2008

citizen

on monday i pledged allegiance to the United States and formally became a citizen of this country.  it is a solemn and wonderful thing and this act sits firmly at the heart of my commitment to be a missionary in this place.  i am aspiring to the kind of proud patriotism offered by wendell berry (among others) who has taught me that fierce loyalty to and love for this country can (and often must) involve dissent.  i am very excited about voting this year and exercising my new rights and privileges.  thank you to all you wonderful US citizens who have made this step an easy one and thank you to you aussies and other foreigners for not taking your anti-americanism out on me :) 

here we are at the courthouse (in Ashland, Kentucky - the far eastern edge of my state).

citizen

8 comments:

WITWATW said...

This is a great thing. Congrats to you all. xxxx

backyardmissionary said...

Congratulations guys. I know what a huge thing that is for you!

We were talking about you today as we were driving in the car and listening to 'sea monsters' - love thos e kids songs!

d-wain said...

I feel like any congratulations I offer should include an expletive and a reference to Old Glory and manifest destiny, but I don't have it in me.

So happy for you (in a paradoxical way), and hope to see you soon!

Dan Lowe said...

Hello friends, congrats Geoff; I miss you all dearly. Give each other hugs for me. I love you all.

geoff and sherry said...

thanks sis. you are our missionary heroes

thanks hamo...we're glad we can sing along to the same great songs half a world away. wish we could visit and drink your coffee...we miss you.

dwain, the paradox is always there. thanks for your good wishes and we're excited for your mediterranean adventures. please blog about it so we can join in.

dan, we're missing you...should have caught a lift with the dear montana folk..they are treasures and we're loving our time with them this week.


the first test of my new allegiance will be the olympic swimming....it's going to be near impossible to barrack for the yanks against the aussie swimming stars. i might have to live my way into this USA thing over several olympics.

Neal_Taylor said...

Congratulations mate! Hope you're keeping the Aussie citizenship up and running too mate! ;)

geoff and sherry said...

hey neal,
they do let me keep both aussie and US passports. isaac and i are both dual citizens which is nice.
hope you and your family are well.
geoff

Neal_Taylor said...

Hmmm so now we need to get Sherry an Aussie citizenship! Hehe! We're all well and pray you guys are too!