Adding to Our Family

Sometimes you decide to throw all rational thought to the wind and choose to add a little more chaos to your life.  I still can't believe it myself, but Dave and I are welcoming a 4th child.....

I made the kids a nice breakfast on Sunday (dutch babies).  Once everyone was served, I asked how they would feel if we added to the family.  The kids got excited.  They asked the following:

A baby? No. 
A pet? No. 
Adopt?  No. 
Foster? Not quite.

How about an exchange student from Korea?  Linus' responded, "Oh, JLS? Sure." 

JLS Academy is a homestay program.  Kids in 4th - 6th grade come from Korea to my school anywhere from 2 months to a year.  That's right 9 and 10 year olds pack up and leave for a foreign country for a year, barely speaking the language.  It's been a great experience for both the American and Korean kids.  As a part of the program, they need to do a homestay with a family. 

Meet Yoon.

Yoon came to America last December.  Yoon is in my homeroom class this year.  He is a sweet, polite kid who needed a family to stay with in order to stay at my school.  Dave and I talked about it a lot over the course of several nights.  We went from "no way", to "maybe but it's just too complicated/too much", to "I think we really could do it," to "Yes, lets do this."

We have a guest room with a bed.  I drive a minivan.  It's only for three months.  We have a lot of love to give.  We can do this!

It was interesting telling Yoon.  I think he was pretty shocked, that I, his teacher, had volunteered to house him.  Luckily, the other boys in the class acted like it was pretty cool, especially once they heard about what gaming/electronic devices we owned and the fact we have a tree house.  The boys in my class are already asking for playdates and sleepovers...

Today I emailed all the parents to let them know that Yoon would be living with me in case they wanted their kids to hang out with him.  It's hard to do that when the students live in a boarding house with guardians.  I signed him up for the 6th grade boys basketball team.  Several parents already offered to helped with carpool!  I even got Yoon his own YMCA card.  I think parents were also pretty shocked, that I the mom of three younger kids and also a teacher, would sign up to host an exchange student.  I like to think of it as leading by example?

Yoon joined us tonight. The kids have been so excited for him to arrive.  Dave and Linus picked him up from the boarding house after Linus' soccer practice.  After a brief tour of the house, we celebrated with brownies and vanilla ice cream.

Robin had a lot to say to Yoon.  I can only imagine how hard it was to take it all in.  Unbeknownst to me, Robin taped some of his art work in Yoon's room that he spent hours (yes hours) working on.  Robin followed Yoon upstairs while he was unpacking and said, "If you want to look at pictures, I hung up two pictures for you."

Dying of sweetness.  It will be interesting to see how goes once the adjustment period is over.  Linus is excited for more boys.  Eileen likes to caretake.  Robin likes to have people to talk to.

I hope we don't accidentally ruin Yoon.  After he took a shower, he asked, "Can I do my homework?"  Absolutely.  Please Yoon.  Please rub off on my children.