In case 4 young children wasn't enough we have once again added a teenager into the mix. Heaven forbid we would actually plan for something like this. Not us. We just jump into things at the last minute. Last year it was all my idea and it took some convincing to get Seth to agree to it but with about a week's notice we took in our first exchange student. Killian became one of the family with little effort. After he left it felt like we were always missing someone. But then we had Nash and our house was crazy and crowded and it felt normal.
Two weeks ago we got an email from the director of the exchange program saying they were in desperate need of a host family for a Brazilian student that had arrived the week before. I called Seth "knowing" that he would be my voice of reason and say "absolutely not." Level headed, practical Seth was nowhere to be found. And now life is again crazy and crowded. And of course we love it.
It's been an adjustment, it always is when you add another one to the family but we are so happy to have him with us. Poor kid got to live in a house with 2 other exchange students (1 who is also from Brazil) for the first week and then he was thrown into our house with 4 little kids and no other teenagers in sight. I think it has been more of an adjustment for him than for us.
2 comments:
So how does it work? Does he have his own room? Do you have to tote him all over? Does he speak English? How much do you see him? It sounds a little appealing if we had an extra bedroom.
Janalee,
Not sure if Denise noticed your comment since she is so busy adding new posts! Here are some responses to your questions:
-He has his own room which is also our laundry room (and playroom when we don't have an exchange student).
-We have driven this student more places than the previous one, but it's not bad because there is another exchange student parent who trades off with us. His two exchange students are good friends with ours so they do things together a lot.
-Yes, he speaks English (a requirement for the program).
-We see him a lot although we were worried in the beginning because he spent most of his time in his room. He's been much better since then and he's in the living room with the family almost always until bedtime.
We've enjoyed both students a lot and it is neat to see our kids interact with someone from a foreign country.
-Seth
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