Evendays

Several of us are going to read together Yancey’s new book on prayer. We’d love to have you join in with us. Just click here for an explanation.

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In some countries, just being born within their hallowed borders makes you a citizen of that country. You may have to jump through a few administrative hoops to get it, but if you’ve got the valid birth certificate, there is generally not a problem.

All 3 of our children were born in Lausanne. Used to be, you had to be worthy to be naturalized, meaning you had to take tests, pass through an interview process, pay a large portion of your yearly salary, and then WAIT. They’d even interview your neighors and go through your garbage. Now people laugh about it, and there is simplified naturalization. It’s for 3rd generation foreigners who have done their schooling here and are rather well integrated.

Son 1 started the process a few years ago, just before everything got simplified. He had an oral exam and filled out all kinds of forms. A little later, after simplification, Son 2 and Daughter decided to do the same. We recently received news that they had been accepted as Swiss citizens by the city, canton and the Feds. They’ll be sworn in sometime next Spring. Son 1 is still waiting. Patiently.

We all love the USA and consider ourselves Americans. But the dual nationality will provide the children with opportunities on two continents. Doors will always be open here and there to serve God and live out their faith where ever God is leading them. That’s the plan, anyway, until we get to our real country.

Thanks for stopping by.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 28th, 2006 at 10:18 am and is filed under Switzerland, Living in Switzerland, Our children. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.