F for Foreign Exchange Student

F is for Foreign Exchange Student.  Chief and I decided to add to our family.  We are taking on a foreign exchange student next year.  He comes two weeks before the next school year starts.  His name is Dominick.  I am so excited about this, but also a little nervous.  He will be a sophomore, and Little Man will be a freshman.  Dominick is also an only child, so I think he and Little Man will love the fact that they all of a sudden have a brother when they both have lived so long without one.

Let me tell you, this has been quite the process.  It isn’t as easy as just signing up.  They had to interview me on the phone, then they had to come to the house.  They took pictures of every single room in the house, and needed pictures of the family. I felt like I was adopting a child!  Before they came, I cleaned the house from top to bottom making sure my floors were mopped and vacuumed.  This happened to be a busy night for us.  Little Man had wrestling practice and didn’t get home until 7:50.  When I got home with him I sent him up to shower quickly.  She arrived at about 8:00.  She sits with Chief and I at the kitchen table and begins the interview process.  She starts asking about what our typical routine is and the kind of things we do as a family.  I explained to her that for the most part, we sit together every evening and eat together.  I told her Little Man is in bed by 9 on a school night. So we are sitting at the table, answering the questions as Little Man comes down stairs.  He sits at the table and joins in the conversation (really he just listens).  At this point it is about 8:30.  She then starts to question him about how he feels about a foreign exchange student.  He expresses his excitement.  They chat for a while, then she turns and talks to Chief.  Little Man then turns to me and quietly asks if he could have dinner.  Excellent. 8:40 and my kid is asking for dinner, when I just told her we eat dinner together as a family most nights and he is in bed by nine.  I jump up as if an 8:40 dinner was my plan all along.  I frantically search for something to feed him.  At this point I am already screwed so I figure I might as well show my true colors.  I pull out the most nutritious meal I can get my hands on.  Pizza rolls. Parent of the year award.  I am so good at showing my fabulous side.         

After the process of them getting all of our information, and us passing all the tests...we finally got to sit down with a bunch of profiles.  The fun part was picking the kid.  There were so many to choose from!! I am really excited about our choice.  Dominick is from Germany!