The Unexpected

Well, I’d love to say that the process of choosing a Foreign Exchange program has gone smoothly, but sometimes we have to be willing to move things around to allow God’s Way in our lives.
After meeting with Deb and hearing about the direction, standard, and goals for their host students we were not feeling entirely comfortable. We did not expect anything like that to happen, but we prayed about it and stayed open to whatever may come.

We happened to have the number of another representative named Kim, from a company called AFS, and we decided to give her a call to hear more about their program.

We felt like this may be a better fit for us, and so we explained what we had been through in the process with the first company and moved forward cautiously with Kim.
We thanked Deb for her time and effort and excused ourselves from the first process altogether.

Last night we had a meeting with Kim and we both feel VERY good about AFS. They have been in service for 54 years and it seems that because of that experience they really have an excellent program. They really look out for the students and their host families.

One of the things that Kim asked in our interview last night was how we felt Ezekiel might respond to having another child in the house. He seemed to be minding his business coloring at the table next to us. He popped his head up and said, almost as if offended, “I will handle it PERFECTLY!” We all laughed. Kim even asked him if he would like having a host sister for the school year. He was very smiley and happy about it. He is so excited, which is not really anything we expected either.

We are grateful to be out of the mud and back on the road in this journey.
Next stop, REFERRAL!!! J

Clean Freak

We have our home study tomorrow afternoon. Today, I have cleaned the house nice for Deb, and tomorrow I will not clean up for her arrival. I know that they do not want to see things looking unusually perfect. It’s difficult not to want everything to look extra clean and ready for us to welcome our student into our home!

Everyday we think of “next year” when we will be sharing in all of our activities with her. We wonder if she will like football with us? How she will enjoy our favorite restaurants and TV shows, our weather, and past times. How we will speak in her language more and more, cook with her recipes, and listen to her music and stories.

Everyday it is more exciting, dreaming of the coming year!

Moving Along

So, we’ve completed and sent over our paperwork, family essay, photographs and references to Deb. 

We have our home study scheduled for next week. It will be in the afternoon since they want the whole family home. It will be interesting because of Zeek’s sleep schedule. The meeting is scheduled right through his melt down hour. Should be fun!

On Monday we were out to eat at a restaurant Zeek has never been to. In the middle of the meal he looked up and declared, “This is delicious! We will have to take our foreign exchange student here when she comes. She will LOVE this place!” 

We started a list of things that we are looking forward to doing, showing and sharing with her when she comes.

So much fun to dream about! 

Yeah!

We got our paperwork today with all that we need to fill out and complete in order to move forward. There is a lot more than I remember from the last time, and it’s all so exciting!!!

We get to put together a little family packet with an essay and pictures of our home and the three of us together.

After our background checks and references are investigated we will schedule a home study. So much fun!

It's Official!

We’ve decided that we are absolutely going to host a Foreign Exchange Student for next school year, and I am SO excited about it!!!

I am fondly remembering so many things about Isabel five years ago, our relationship with her, how she taught us and changed us, and how we were able to influence her life. So beautiful that God would Bless us again this way!

I contacted the schools this morning and spoke with some counselors and district representatives to learn more about the best way to go about it this time around.

I learned that our school district does not effect the placement of Foreign Exchange Students, so we are free to select a regional representative of our choice.

I contacted Deb, a woman who was referred to me by Joe W. of BP High School. Joe has worked with Deb in the placement of FES not only through the school but personally, as well. Joe spoke highly of Deb and made me comfortable with contacting her as a starting point.

I got a hold of Deb on her cell phone. She is on vacation out of state but made time to talk with me a bit about the program. She is very nice. I e-mailed her our information and she is sending us our applications and contacting us again on Thursday!!!

SO awesome!