Behind the Blog

In a couple of days I will be traveling half way around the world to see some very important people. They are exchange students who have lived and visited with us the past two years and they are some of the most wonderful girls and boy (can't forget Leo) who I have ever met. It started when I was a junior. Anneloes Berkhout and Theresa (Tessi) Hegger were exchange students at the high school. I had never met them before until Valentine's Day when I went to my boyfriend's house. His mom was their mail carrier and she invited them to watch AMERICAN IDOL and eat pizza. They seemed like two really cool people. A couple of days later they wrote Karen a letter explaining that their host mother was trying to kick them out. They did not want to leave McMinnville because of all of the new friends they had made so she told me what was going on and then I asked my mom if we could help by letting them stay with us. My mom was having a hard time because it had only been 2 months since my grandpa had passed away. She saw this opportunity as a sign of someone new in her life she could take care of. So by the end of the weekend the girls were moving upstairs in our house and my poor brother Ramsey was kicked into my room. Anneloes, Tessi, and I would all room together upstairs. For the next five months I had two more sisters. It was awful when they had to leave but the next summer they came back and Tessi even brought her brother Leo. He was 15 and he stayed with my younger boy cousins. They all had a really good time. I even got the chance to take them to Disney World. As Tessi and I would say "you could feel the 'magic' in the air" lol. Now it is my turn to go and see my foreign family and in just a week my mom, cousin, friend , and myself will be boarding a plane headed for Amsterdam. It is going to be a wonderful adventure!!!!!