It's a Girl!

After years of wishing and waiting and begging, Erika finally has a sister.

Vivien's first night in the USA

It began a couple of years ago when my cousin asked us to host an exchange student. The timing wasn't right in our family and to be honest we never thought it would be to add another teenager to the mix. Then we were asked to host for the International Dance Festival which we thought we could handle for a week but they had only given us 2 weeks notice and we couldn't clear the entire week to commit to just the dancers so we turned the offer away with a "maybe next year" response. We went to the opening night of the International Dance Festival and afterward spent time on the field with the dancers and other host families and committed that next year we would host, making sure that we could clear a week to just party with the dancers.

That was Saturday night.

On Sunday, after church, LeRoy saw that he had another text from my cousin concerning hosting an exchange student. It was the third time he had asked this year. LeRoy called to tell him it still wasn't a good time but while they were on the phone the thought came to my mind, "trust me". I paused just long enough to hear it again and then wrote down a bunch of questions for LeRoy to ask about hosting. After nearly an hour on the phone we told him we would talk to the kids and get back with him that night.

The kids were immediately excited. They probably thought hosting would be a constant party like we had had on the field the night before so we discussed the realities of adding another teenager for the whole school year. In reality, we had no idea what we were in for. We had a family prayer then called my cousin back to have him send us the profiles of the students, with the commitment that we would be a "welcome family" which meant we would pick up the student at the airport and keep them until a permanent host family could be found. At the most we were looking at about 2 months.

We read through 8 different profiles, all girls as we had requested. They were from a variety of countries, had a variety of religious preferences, some liked animals, some didn't, all were from small families, most from split families. We went through a bundle of personal letters from the students and their parents trying to pick a student that we thought would blend best with our family.

After reading all eight profiles on my own I narrowed the list down to three, but I felt very strongly about one girl in particular. I gave those three profiles to Derek and Justin and asked who they would choose. It didn't take them long and they chose the same girl that I had. After Erika got home from her friend's house I gave her the three profiles and she too chose the same girl. Later that night LeRoy and I read through those three together, with me trying to keep my personal preference to myself and he also chose the same girl. The next day we contacted my cousin again and told him that we would like to invite Vivien to stay with us. His e-mail back was just the confirmation we needed. "When I kept contacting you to host, this is the exact girl that I had in mind. I think it will be a perfect match." He even tried to bet us that we would end up keeping her for the whole year instead of just being the welcome family. We were still unsure.

Over the next 2 weeks we "met" Vivien through e-mail and even more pictures. She made her flight plans and arrangements to leave home for 10 months. We reorganized the guest room to be her room and went through a bit of training to know the school policies and ICES rules for hosting a student.

And then August 20th was here. The day we were to meet our new (temporary) family member.

Erika was very antsy as we waited at the Idaho Falls airport. We had decided to just have Erika and I pick her up since she didn't have any brothers and was from a small family. After 24 hours of travel and an 8 hour time difference we didn't want to overwhelm her from the start. I had to hold back tears as we recognized Vivien through the sliding doors and Erika went right up to her and gave her a hug. She looked exhausted, with a touch of excitement. The trip from Idaho Falls was rather quiet. Vivien was unsure of the language. We were unsure what questions to ask or information to give. She was surprised at the size of the school as we drove past it and even more surprised when we got to our house and suddenly she had 5 brothers.

It took us a couple of weeks to get acquainted. There have been some jealousy issues from our kids, some homesickness from Vivien, some awkward moments, days of crying and uncertainty and all of that has turned into a whole lot of laughter, friendly banter among all the kids, and so many wonderful memories.

The struggles we had overcome during the first two weeks had molded us together as a family and we couldn't imagine her being anywhere but with us. We officially changed our status from welcome family to host family, also changing Vivien's status from temporary family member to life long family member. It will be a very sad day when she boards a plane to go back to Slovakia but in the mean time we will live it up and enjoy the 10 months that we have together. It turns out that hosting IS a constant party. Wackee Six, Apples to Apples, the Tootsie Roll Game, Farkle, In a Pickle, and even Saturday chore time all give us hours of entertainment, side slitting laughter, practice with colors, numbers, vocabulary, story telling and finding that working together can actually be fun.

The best way to relax and laugh without any language barriers during the first week was to play Wackee Six. Vivien got so good at it that she beat us nearly every time.

Even doing homework together has become a party. It's good to see the kids rally around Vivien to help her with US Government, English, Health, Adult Roles, and even practicing lines for Drama.

Another School Year

August 2011

Nathan is ready for kindergarten!!

Nathan has been so excited for school to start. During the month before school started he often requested in his prayers, "please let time go fast so I can go to school and learn everything." He has come a long way from the socially shy little boy that couldn't leave his mama's side and didn't seem to have an ounce of anxiety as I dropped him off with his class. He was even excited for the daily bus ride, loving the 15 minutes of social time with all the neighbor kids.

Waiting for the kindergarten carpool. He was pretending to be pouty because it was taking so long for his ride to come.

Justin is starting 7th grade. This year the 7th grade was moved from the Middle School to the new Jr. High (the old high school building) so preteen Justin is being thrown in with all the teenager hormones of the 8th and 9th graders. Yikes!

Before school started we spent a day at the High School getting Vivien registered and helping Vivien and Derek get acquainted with the layout of the school.

Erika Jo is a senior. Senior-itis hit when she was a freshman so this could be a long year for her. Derek is a sophomore. This will be his first year in the new High School and he seems most excited for his building and science classes. Vivien is registered as a senior so that she can take advantage of all the senior activities and experience crossing stage as a graduate even though her year here will not count towards any of her schooling in Slovakia.

Erika, Derek and Vivien rode the bus on the first day of school mostly because Vivien was excited to ride the big American yellow school bus. One morning was enough experience and now they ride with Erika's friend Ali every morning. After school Derek and Vivien still ride the bus home even though it is, according to Vivien, "crowded and loud". Erika usually wanders her way home with a friend.

And what does Hyrum do while the others, more specifically, his buddy Nathan, is at school?

After running errands with Mom, eating lunch and reading stories there's always time for a nap with Harrison.

Blown But Not Beaten

August 2011

We have lived in this house for three years now and the outdoor garbage can has been in the same place all three of those years. Mr. Wind seemed to have quite an attitude this summer, nearly taking our trampoline to the neighbors yard, knocking in part of the playhouse, blowing our electrical dump pile all over the fields around us, ripping several shingles off our roof (which the boys didn't mind at all replacing), and he seemed to have some trashy vendetta against our garbage can. Several times he blew it over while it innocently waited by the road for the garbage man to come, but even more annoying than that was when he dumped our garbage can into the window well, not only once but three times! He couldn't ever do it on a Wednesday after the garbage had been picked up. Nope, he always chose a Sunday or Monday when it was chuck full.

Big Blue now lives in the garage.

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Getting a we've-been-in-an-accident-and-I-need-a-phone-number phone call leaves plenty of room for panic. Luckily, the one to call was LeRoy, not an officer, and he quickly told me that he and Derek were okay but couldn't give me details right then. It was a long 2 1/2 hours before I got the full story and could see both of my boys to know they were for sure doing alright.

LeRoy was pulling a rented mini excavator home after a day's work, moving slowly because of the winds. Even with all his caution the trailer carrying the mini started fish tailing. The area that he was in had a drop off on one side so he did his best to control the truck to the opposite side of the road and told Derek to hold on as the trailer and mini went on it's side first, pulling the truck over as well. The trailer and mini continued rolling, crushing the cab of the mini and destroying all it's controllers.

This experience could have turned out so differently and as I think back on the finer details it is obvious that the blessings far outweigh any hardships that came from this. Sure, we were without a truck, we were suddenly in an insurance battle over the repairs of the mini, the truck was eventually labeled "totalled" and we had to find and make purchasing arrangements for a new truck before the whole thing was settled BUT

1) they didn't go over the side of the mountain.

2) There were no major injuries - Derek did have sore knees from being thrown into the dash and a seat belt burn from hanging in his belt until LeRoy could climb over him and out the passenger window - they didn't want Derek to go out first in case he fell on LeRoy while trying to get out.

3) I was so grateful to be fighting the insurance, or rather, having LeRoy make all those necessary phone calls with the insurance and attorneys, instead of me making major medical decisions or funeral arrangements without LeRoy.

3) The mini only had minor damage to it so the cost to us was minimal. Certainly not cheap but it could have been a whole lot more.

4) Our insurance reimbursed us enough for our truck to pay off the mini and still set us up to get another truck that left us with a lower loan balance and monthly payment.

5) Derek drives with a caution that I have yet to see from my other teen drivers. He doesn't drive with fear but with awareness, knowing full well how quickly something can happen.

It's still a mystery how LeRoy walked away with no injuries. His window was knocked out as it hit the road but his head did not hit the window or the road. Even with the shattered glass around him he did not have one cut. The driver's side dash and floor area was compressed into an A and yet LeRoy's hands, legs and feet were unaffected. Our biggest concern was his back. He did feel a little sore and we weren't sure if it was a new injury or just from being jarred around and then climbing out the window like a contortionist. After an MRI scan we were relieved to find that his back is in a lot better shape than any of the previous scans before his three surgeries.

Two weeks later:

LeRoy's Birthday Highlights

Happy 44th Birthday

August 3, 2011

With a ping pong table in the basement LeRoy has become quite a competitive ping pong player. Of course, pool still holds the number one spot for his favorite game but ping pong is a close second. When Erika and I were in Chicago we went to the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant and as soon as Erika saw these she knew that's what she would do for her Dad's birthday. They had watched Forrest Gump earlier in the year so it was like sealing a memory for them.

I wanted to give LeRoy a couple of pictures of myself. He has one on his nightstand but it's from 10 years ago and he had hinted that he needed an updated one. I went all out . . . way out of my comfort zone. I called Michelle, my photographer girlfriend, and arranged to have some pictures done. I think he liked them, even though I hadn't made the time yet to get frames (it gave us something new to do on a date).

The first one got an "ohhhh" reaction. It was a nice picture, the more quiet side of Kimber.

The second one got a big old "ooh, la, la" reaction. The kids and I were a little embarrassed.

I have never don't usually pose like this but Michelle made me do it. It was worth a lot of good teenager-ish, yeah-I'm-pretending-I'm-hot laughs, a fun afternoon with my friend and sister, and it did get the reaction from LeRoy that Michelle had promised. Just the boost I needed as my biological clock ticks awfully close to 40.

I did peanut butter cupcakes (peanut butter is his favorite) and decorated them as pool balls. For the pool rack I shaped no-bake peanut butter cookie dough and framed it around the "balls".

After each of us ate a section of rack and a ball we headed to the basement to play ping pong and pool. I'd like to say that we let him win since it was his birthday but in reality he creamed us as usual.