The Beginning

WARNING: for your own safety, do not read this blog if you will faint if a grammatical error occurs because I am not a professional writer.

I decided to start this blog to be able to have a place to record my experiences hosting a foreign exchange student. 

You may wonder or ask how my husband, Ben and I decided to become a host family. Well, our first experience being a host family was the summer of 2014 when the Selnate program was looking for last minute host families to host Japanese students for about 10 days.

My Grandparents, Opa and Ome, hosted exchange students when their children were in High School and it was a positive experience for their family. My Uncle Bobby actually ended up marrying one of the girls they hosted who is from Belgium, now my Aunt Michele. They got involved with hosting because my Opa is a member of the International Rotary Club. I always thought this would be a neat experience SOMEDAY, but that is where my thoughts ended. I have also always had an interest in Japan since my Dad served a religious mission in Japan for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

Our son wasn't even a year old but it sounded like a neat experience to host so Ben and I decided to go for it once we felt peace about the decision. We had an incredibly positive experience with our Japanese student, Nori. He was kind, polite, and easy-going. Even though he was here for a short time, we grew to love him like a Son and when it was time for him to leave I was completely heartbroken and cried my eyes out.



Our Japanese exchange student, Nori and us at the goodbye party!

A year later the CIEE program was looking for host families to host for the entire school year! At this time our family consisted of my husband, Ben (27 years) and I (Heather, 25 years), and our two sons, Monte (23 months) and Samuel (2 months). I had my worries about the student having a positive experience since our children are so young, our age, and the length of the commitment.  After much thought, consideration, and a long process we had peace about the decision of hosting a 14 year old girl from Spain named Sara.