Progress

After 22 years in the U.S. we have finally applied for U.S. citizenship. I am amazed at how fast the response was. I filled out our forms in the beginning of January and I had my interview already last week (April 5th). I have heard from other applicants (mostly co-workers) that their process has taken much longer, even over a year in some cases. So now I do feel really special.
This is such an exciting milestone. It took us so long to come to this decision because we wanted to run the dual-citizenship path. But Germany does not accept dual citizenship, unless you file a petition to keep your German citizenship.
There was extensive paperwork involved in that process and then you have to count that by three for all of us. And it was very expensive, too. But last year, I finally got my act together and filled out all the forms and submitted them to the German consulate in Los Angeles in June. In December we received confirmation for all three of us, that we were granted the life-long approval that we can keep our German citizenship even if we applied for another country's citizenship.
You can't imagine how happy and excited I was to receive these documents which had to be picked up in person. I did  not have much hope that it would be granted at all because I thought our petition was not strong enough.
Well, anyway, I am now waiting for the date for the oath ceremony and can't wait to apply for a passport and register as a voter.  To me it is like a dream come true.