"Borowed" Daughter Coming in Days!

I skipped July writing, mostly because I didn't have someone hounding me about needing one. I guess I have slipped into a bad habit, but I will try harder to post regularly. My goal is to post once a month consistently, then build from there. Not a bad goal, right?

Right now our family is hastily preparing for an incoming "borrowed" daughter from over the great ocean. Anita will be spending the school year with us. I mentioned her in my last blog. She is 16 and will be joining our family. We are very excited - even the kids! Hunter (my precocious 8 year old son) informed us that it was fine for her to come, as long as she didn't stay in his room! We could agree to those term. We have purchased a bed and made a very lovely room for her.

Anita - our "borrowed" daughter!

Lately we have been getting quite a few people who are simply awestruck that we would open our home to a stranger. The teacher in me kicks in and I talk about making a difference in peoples lives and changing the world one child at a time, yada yada. But my husband simply says that it is a once in a lifetime experience and if he likes it, he might just do it again. Mostly he tells people that I talked him into it and he agreed. This blows some peoples minds! They actually told us we were crazy! Nuts!

But as I sit here writing this blog, I have to say I am very proud of my kids and my husband. This is a huge risk, agreeing to open our home and our lives to a complete stranger. I thank my husband for being willing to take this risk and broaden our horizons. It will be good for our children to know about life outside the United States. That there are worlds beyond our borders, beyond the city limits. That there are people who have the same dreams, desires, and hopes for the their children and for their own futures.

What convinced me we made the right decision? The day we Skyped with Anita and her dad. He told us we looked like a nice family but he was sending his only daughter to us and we needed to take care of her. He had tears in his eyes. I turned to my husband and said "Aww, he loves his daughter so much." It made me a little teary as well. Because he is right. We are not taking as much a risk as he is, trusting complete strangers to take care of his baby girl for 9+ months in a land thousands of miles away. This is a much bigger risk for him to take versus us. I have to admire him. I don't know if I would be able to do that, to send my child to another country, to live with, for all intensive purposes, complete strangers. Her parents are really trusting us!

To this I say thank you! Thanks for trusting us enough to share your daughter with our family. Over the past several months we have really come to adore this young woman and we are over-the-moon excited to welcome her to our home. I know the community will welcome her as well. What most excites me is the cultural sharing that will happen in my home and family. And someday I hope to make it to Norway to visit, to personally thank her family for sharing her with us.