Saori- A new addition to our family!

No we have not adopted a baby, but this is probably the closest we'll get to international adoption for the time being.

While on vacation this summer visiting Tim's parents, my mom called and mentioned that she received an email from a friend of hers, who helps students from Japan find host families to stay with, and that there was a student coming at the end of August who was needing a host family. I asked Tim (while my mom was on hold) if he would be interested in hosting an exchange student. He asked for the phone, and said without much thought, that yes, we would host this student. We didn't know anything about the student at that point, other than that she was female. Once home we got an email with a bit more limited information.


We had a few weeks to prepare a room for her to stay in. We decided clean out our office and put things in storage, and a computer in our family room so that she would have a place to stay. Then at the end of August, I went to pick our student up from the airport.

Saori became a member of the church in 2009 and then served a full time mission in Japan till March of this year. On the ride home, I learned that she was less than a year younger than myself. She has a degree in Psychology from a university in Japan, and wants to attend graduate school here in the US. In order to do this, she needs to improve her English (which she is already quite good at speaking- we communicate just fine- but not to the level necessary for grad school). She is attending an international school in our city for her English studies.

After only a few days in our home, it was crazy to think that she hadn't been living with us all along. She is a great friend, helps with chores, enjoys playing with and engaging our children, and has even cooked a few delicious Japanese meals for our family.

Home with us for two days, needing a picture of her host family to send her family back in Japan.

The kids waiting patiently at Walmart while we got Saori hooked up with a pay as you go cell phone.

Amelia and Saori decorating each other's hair with flowers.

Delicious Japanese fried rice!

More girl time outside.

Another meal, this one- prepared as part of my birthday dinner. The kids, especially Amelia, all enjoyed eating it.

Another outside picture of Amelia, Saori took while they were spending time outside.

Saori with two of my nieces at a family birthday party.

Showing off the boys to a friend on skype. (Really, they wouldn't leave her alone and instead of getting frustrated, included them in what she was doing.)

We have loved having this new addition to our family. She enjoys calling me her "host mom" even though i feel like we have more of a sister relationship than a mother-daughter relationship. (Remember, we are alike 10 months apart.) Unlike others who have host/ed teen exchange students, I don't need to remind her about chores, homework, etc, which is great.
Its been great fun having a continuous taste of another culture in our home. We are just waiting for our amazon order of chopsticks to come so we can implement those in our daily eating. And I'm sure with time/weather changing, we will also adopt the use of the house slippers.