We are big on signs...

On Tuesday, I was starting to pack up our Christmas decorations.  I asked Debra if we were going to get another exchange student in the fall, if not I was going to use the guest room's closet for Christmas decorations instead of the attic...   She was undecided.  About 40 minute later we got a call from AFS, asking us if we would be interested in hosting an exchange student for the spring, starting on January 16 (Mariana).     We took this as a sign, and had them send us the information..

We liked her from the beginning of reading her information.    She seemed sweet and able to blend in well with our family.    So we told them we were interested..

Kids.

Meagan and Gavin were excited about the prospect and definitely wanted us to go forward.

Grant was a bit more hesitant.  What about Jess..  He said if Jess said it was OK, he would be fine with it..

But..

There was another family. that had never hosted before, who were also interested.  Although we liked Mary, from what we read, we did not want to deprive someone else from the hosting experience.

As it turns out the other family was not sure they wanted a student and still needed time and with only a week left,  we were chosen as her host parents.  Yeah!

A little about her..

Mariana is from Antofagasta in Northern Chile.   Right next to the water, from pictures the water looks beautiful - not sure what she will think of the Galveston beach.  The other exchange we knew from South America (Guilia from Argentina) was so sweet we had long-ago agreed we would want an student from South America.   

Her long term goal is to be a chef.  And although we do not want to take advantage of her, we would be more than willing to let her practice on us :).

She is big into using MSN and Facebook, so we will be able to communicate with her before she gets her and keep up with her once she leaves.

She has close friends in Chile and we worried we would miss them and want to go back after a couple of weeks.  But she had a sister who also came to America for a semester so she knew what she was getting into.

What about Jess..

Since Jess was such a great experience and part of our family, having another exchange student is weird.  Like we are replacing her, there is a certain amount of guilt.  We have called it "Jess's room" for so long it will feel weird calling it "Mary's room",  we still have the New Zealand map in the corner.    Grant feels and expresses this guilt more than anyone...

I also feel there is no way I will love her like I loved Jess, like she was part of the family.  But I expect we felt the same way when we only had Meagan and brought Grant home, that we would not love the next kid as much.  But our hearts have so much room for love.

We had so few problems with Jess (after the first couple of weeks), that we may be holding Mariana to too high a standard.   But I expect each person is different and we will learn to appreciate Mariana for he strengths as well.

I expect Jess will be a great resource for Mary, telling her about our family, Texas, the high school, the joy/pain of  leaving a southern hemisphere summer for a Texas Winter, and what to expect from the whole experience.  Between Facebook, IM and email the world is a smaller place.

Frantic Prep

With Jess we had a couple of months to prepare and she was to be with us for a week before school starts.   With Mary, she is coming in a little over a week (Next Friday) and she starts school the following Tuesday.   So much to do.   

Jess's Mary's room has been turned into a little bit of a storage room.   The drawers and closets full of stuff that we could not find other places for.   We have to clean up the room a bit for the arrival.  

We have to get her pre-registered her next week, and then register her for classes on the day she arrives - so she knows where to go on Tuesday.

We are a bit more emotionally prepared this time.   We know what to expect a bit more.   Again we worry about what we are going to feed this girl, but since her goal is to be chef - maybe she can help us cook for her. 

We are excited.    I hope it will again be a good experience for us and our Mary..