Over the weekend we invited somebody new into our family for the year. Meet Tony! A 17 year old student from Taiwan!
Tony is part of the foreign exchange program that I'm sure you've heard about somewhere at sometime. We were nervous at first about having somebody new in the house, but we were able to meet Tony a couple of times beforehand and fell in love with him instantly. He's very friendly, gets along with the girls wonderfully, and VERY helpful around the house with the dishes and cleaning. He expressed an interest in learning to cook and bake, so he helped make some "Smashed Potato Soup" and "No bake chocolate cookies" over the weekend.
We're excited about the opportunity we can give Tony. The family he was staying at previously was living in Skull Valley, which was about 30 minutes out of town. A lot of the opportunities available to him weren't feasible, due to the long drives times. Now he's 2 minutes from the bus stop, and we live about 10 minutes away from the High School. On Friday he was able to stay late to go to the football game, then we picked him up and took him home.
We look forward to what we can learn from him and his culture, as well as being able to "pay it forward." I remember back in college when I was able to spend a couple of summers in France doing volunteer work with a missions organization. I had such a wonderful time and learned so much. However, I wouldn't have been able to do it without a family warm enough to open up their home to me.
So here's to Tony and all the new adventures our family will have!
