Living my American Dream!

Imagine a little blond girl, on her little pony with red wheels, cruising thru the kitchen. A strange man comes in and tells her about a spider.She has NO clue what he is talking about because she is Dutch…and Dutch people do not speak English. But she just KNOWS it is a scary thing, a big problem! "Spider" was the very first word she learned in the English language, and there were more to come...

Couple of years later when this little blond girl turned into a taller, skinny blond girl that man showed up again in the kitchen. He turned out to be her dad’s younger brother, and tells her about America…. About the endless roads, the proud mentality, the friendliness of the people, the green pastures and the horses he loves so much.

This blond girl knows what she wants, (read this as: she’s incredibly stubborn and hard headed), and she decided to go to the land of endless possibilities and discover it for herself. And she did, after three months
spending time on her aunt and uncle’s horse farm in Michigan; she came home to the Netherlands and told her mom and dad, “When I grow up I’m going to move to The States!!!

She went to high school, focusing on horses and cows. Went to College, focusing again on horses and cows and finally to University to study Agricultural Economics and to get her teaching degree. She visited America as much as she could during school breaks. Also during this time she worked to get the right papers so she would have a better shot at being able to come to this great country. Her mom was terribly sick, which made it very hard for her dad to run the family operated hog farm and to raise three “little” kids. The family held it together as good as they could but because of the “Swine Fever,” that went all through Europe in 1997, and which ended pig farming for her dad.

Her dad always dreamed of having a dairy farm. When he was a young man himself he wanted to milk cows, but after meeting and marrying her mom they took over the homestead. Her mom just loved her family so she said she would go where ever it would make them happy. Her brother also was very fond of milking cows and everything that had to do with agriculture. He followed his big sister and went to the U.S. to do some practical training sessions for College. The youngest sister in this story didn’t like America at ALL! Even the idea of visiting was outrageous no matter what kind of fairytale stories her big sister would tell…

But in 2003 after the blond girl graduated from University, madly in love with this boy from the northern part of the country, and who she told on the first date: “you better believe it, I’m moving to the States when I got my degree, even if you come or not!” The family and the handsome young man made the decision to sign

some papers with a well known Dutch/American organization, to move to the land where they would live their American dream and milk some cows!

Arghhhh, try to get into this country!!!!

It’s grueling!!! After several years (yes, YEARS) of trying to sell the farmstead, visa denials, moving from one friends to another with only the clothes on your back (because the container with the rest of you belongings is already packed and on a ship). And finally visa approvals, saying goodbye to friends, and the emotional rollercoaster that you are not a resident of you birth land any longer but not quite a resident in the other new land either.

We entered the United States of America on February the 14th of 2006, with our visas and hopes for a better and new future. Except for the younger sister and her boyfriend (of 12 years), they decided to stay in The Netherlands. But they did change their minds about visiting often and America!!!

Construction of the dairy started in November 2006 and on the 20th of November 2007 we milked our first cow, and oh my gosh, IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!! All the planning, hiring people, construction problems, start up problems, documents that needed signed, restrictions, Indiana Department of Environmental Management visits, convincing the public: we are NOT big corporation monsters, just a family who loves being here, was more than worth it!!!

We are truly BLESSED to milk 2200 cows and we love every single day of it!

I have grown up quite a bit. I love my family, friends and all the other people I know very much. I have learned problems are not problems, they are just challenges that you need to overcome. Without learning the word “spin” in English (spider), I would never have had the opportunity to live my American Dream.

Happy Fourth of July!!!
I hope you have a great day!!!


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