Referrals!!!

It’s been a long wait, but we have been prayerful and patient. There is peace in knowing that God knows exactly who our host daughter is. We are in no hurry.

  

Kim contacted us to ask if we would be open to considering other Spanish speaking countries outside of Mexico and Spain. This is part of that e-mail from her:

“…I have been working with AFS and looking at new students. A lot of students applications have come in. Unfortunately, they have had very few Spanish girls...only 1 or 2 so far. AFS did advise me that there are no Mexican girls. They only have Mexican boys and do not anticipate any more Mexican students.

…I know you were focused on Spain but truly this country does not send a lot of students. My experience with both Paraguay and Argentina is that they have sent very warm friendly students. We hosted a girl from Paraguay and she was an ideal AFS student…The students I have met from Paraguay have been awesome.”

In response to this message we looked into Paraguay and Argentina a little further and felt very comfortable with opening our options to consider a daughter from Paraguay.

Today, we received our first referral!!!

Her name is Sarita. We are not allowed to see any photos of the students before we decide, so we do not know what she looks like. We are only to read a letter from her and one from her Mother. Both letters have given us a good idea of who she is.

She sounds SO sweet. She is 15 years old, a good student (top in her class), loves swimming, handball, and tennis. She is the middle child of two other siblings. She gets along with them well. She loves her parents and views them as her greatest guides and counselors. She writes that she likes to read, listen to music and watch movies. She is interested in studying Biochemistry. She likes fashion and creates her own clothing (which Greg is very excited about). She also wrote that she likes to camp because she likes fresh air.

Her Mother shares that she is very responsible and independent, a good sibling friend, and is not only her daughter but also her friend.

She has only been away from her home for a four day summer camp experience and otherwise enjoys spending time at home, weekends with family visiting, etc…
I hate to jump the gun and just say we love her and want her, being that she is the first student we have looked at… but quite frankly, we love her and want her.
We are waiting for a Spanish student who is on hold with another family. If the family does not choose her then we will have a hold placed on her for three days. We will know this before our hold on Sara is expired (so informal and strange).
I’m sure the Spanish girl is lovely, however, I would be sad to lose Sarita right now, so I can’t imagine us choosing the Spanish student either way. 
We’ll see!!!
It’s all so exciting!!!