Lilli arrived yesterday afternoon, started to unpack and within a short time we had to leave. I don't think she wanted to leave with her room partially unpacked but we had a appointment at the school to set her schedule. We took care of that, picked up the kids and drove a hour to watch Maddie play volleyball. We didn't get home until 9:30 so Lilli's first day was busy. She gets to sleep in this morning because she doesn't start school until Monday. Tonight she rides the fan bus to Ironwood to watch our Varsity Football team who are undefeated!
I told Chad last night he is going to have to beat the boys off with a stick-there were random boys walking up to me to talk who never have before....hmmmm, pretty sure it wasn't for me ;0
The exciting news is that she gets to go to Prom! We didn't want her to go in as a Junior because then you have 3 days of required testing so we registered her as a Sophomore but really wanted her to go to Prom, so the counselor called the Prom Coordinator and they said yes, she could go!!!
We are looking forward to our year with Lilli and feel honored to have her here!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
We have a new addition to the family!
We have some exciting news in the Rice house! We are hosting a foreign exchange student starting tomorrow! Lilli is 16 and from Germany! It wasn't in our plans for this school year but God had another plan :) Here is our story:
I asked Chad this summer if we could host a student and he said we needed to wait until the kids were older so I decided not to push it and dropped the subject. The girls were devastated because they REALLY wanted the opportunity to host.
My friend Jen has a little girl adopted from China who is 5. She is working for a company that places exchange students and is hosting a girl from China as well. We made plans to go the the Parade of Nations where every country is represented, then afterwards we were going to have some Chinese food. A few days before this Jen called to ask if I minded if she brought along another girl from Germany that was with another host family. Of course we wouldn't say no :) Chad was going to meet us later in the afternoon. When he met us we introduced him to the girls. They stood for a long time and talked. He worried about Lilli because the situation she was living in was not great. There was a lot of fighting going on and she wasn't comfortable. By the end of the day he was telling me that we should offer for her to stay with us. Really? This is the guy who told me no several months ago???
We got the call on Monday that they were willing to place Lilli with us if we wanted to take her. Ummm.....yes! She will arrive tomorrow morning and we are all THRILLED! She is very chatty. She has a good sense of humor and has figured Chad out, and gives it right back to him! The kids love her :) We are looking forward to her company and learning what we can from her about Germany and are looking forward to helping her out with her English. We believe she will enjoy the school here and fit right in.
I have had the opportunity to "chat" with her parents on FB and they are as sweet as she is. I can't imagine how hard it must be to let your child go half way around the world to live with a strange family in a foreign land but we are willing to take great care of her. We look forward to meeting them in June :)
Ryan asked if he was being replaced tonight-we told him NEVER and he always has a room when he wants to come home to visit. We are looking forward to this adventure with our new family member. I'm hoping it will make me keep up with the blog better too! We will post photos soon!
I asked Chad this summer if we could host a student and he said we needed to wait until the kids were older so I decided not to push it and dropped the subject. The girls were devastated because they REALLY wanted the opportunity to host.
My friend Jen has a little girl adopted from China who is 5. She is working for a company that places exchange students and is hosting a girl from China as well. We made plans to go the the Parade of Nations where every country is represented, then afterwards we were going to have some Chinese food. A few days before this Jen called to ask if I minded if she brought along another girl from Germany that was with another host family. Of course we wouldn't say no :) Chad was going to meet us later in the afternoon. When he met us we introduced him to the girls. They stood for a long time and talked. He worried about Lilli because the situation she was living in was not great. There was a lot of fighting going on and she wasn't comfortable. By the end of the day he was telling me that we should offer for her to stay with us. Really? This is the guy who told me no several months ago???
We got the call on Monday that they were willing to place Lilli with us if we wanted to take her. Ummm.....yes! She will arrive tomorrow morning and we are all THRILLED! She is very chatty. She has a good sense of humor and has figured Chad out, and gives it right back to him! The kids love her :) We are looking forward to her company and learning what we can from her about Germany and are looking forward to helping her out with her English. We believe she will enjoy the school here and fit right in.
I have had the opportunity to "chat" with her parents on FB and they are as sweet as she is. I can't imagine how hard it must be to let your child go half way around the world to live with a strange family in a foreign land but we are willing to take great care of her. We look forward to meeting them in June :)
Ryan asked if he was being replaced tonight-we told him NEVER and he always has a room when he wants to come home to visit. We are looking forward to this adventure with our new family member. I'm hoping it will make me keep up with the blog better too! We will post photos soon!
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