In the summer of 2005 our family (Okay, it was really just me) decided to host a foreign exchange student. We went on line to the web page that showed the pictures and information about a bunch of students that were desperately looking for host family here in the USA. We wanted an Asian student, since we have an Asian daughter, and we wanted a girl, since I would be taking care of the student the most. We found quite a few students that matched our criteria, but one student stood out to us. Her name was Lynn and she was from Taiwan. We read all about her, and decided she would be perfect for our family. (If she could stand the boys)
Lynn came to live with us on August 26. We picked her up at the SLC airport. I remember how shy and tired she was, dressed in her red foreign exchange student shirt. Her English was really bad, but she did her best to make conversation with us. When we got home, we ate and we suggested that she might like a nap. She really needed one, but she didn't want to be rude, so she stayed up and watched a really dumb movie with us. Well, she stayed up after a fashion. She was up, but she was not awake.
Fast forward to this past April. Lynn is just as much a part of our family as the rest of my children. She was baptized, and is a memeber of the church. Mark and I are getting ready to see her walk down the ilse at Mark's side, while Jared and Grace are the ring boy and flower girl.
Lynn is marrying a really nice guy named Larry. He is an American white bread boy, and in the Air Force. A month after the wedding Lynn came to visit and to tell me that she is expecting a baby! Wow, talk about honeymoon babies.
Fast forward to November 4th, 2008 at 4:00 AM. I am sleeping, or course, and the phone starts to ring. I was so out of it, I did not realize at first what the noise was. When I picked up the phone, Larry said, "Lynn has had the baby and everything is great!" I was truely excited for them, but I was really out of it too. We talked for a few mintues, but then I had to get off the phone and go down and tell Mark that we are Grandparents (kind of).
Lynn has always called us Mom and Dad, and I couldn't love her any more if she were my own child. I wish so much that I could come out and help them with their first little girl, but money is tight, and I have to work and do all the mom things for my kids here. It was a great feeling though, to think that this girl that I helped to raise now has her own little daughter, baby Audrey, that she and her husband will be raising. Kind of a big circle of life moment. LOL
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