Well this was a pleasant surprise...

At the end of last week we found out the the arrangements for an exchange student visiting from Okinawa Japan had fallen through and they were looking for a "new home".

We became that home.

For the next 11 days we will have a "new daughter", she is 16, and her name is Yumika.


Yup, I now have 4 teenage daughters under my roof... the crowd of people who think I am a silly old man continues to grow.

My first thought when I met her was how brave she is, to be thousands of miles from home, away from her family in a house of strangers, and surrounded by people who speak a language she barely understands.

Yesterday we hooked the computer up to our TV, ran Google Earth, and watched her eyes light up when we found her home, her grandparents home, and her school.

They lit up again today when we dangled a live Maine lobster a foot in front of her face.

;)

We have been spending a good deal of time trying to show her our life, our culture, and learn about hers too.

Today she presented us with some beautiful gifts from her home, a small statue of Japanese deities, booklets about her home, chopsticks, and other very cool things.

We are having a great time and are hoping to give her the experience of a lifetime.

(clicking on any image will open it larger and in a new window)





So the point of this post is to share with you something very unexpected and wonderful that has happened to us and to let you know that posting to the blog has the potential of being somewhat sporadic for the next 11 days, so please be patient.