Claudia's Farewell

When we enrolled Alicia in Manhattan High in August 2005, we were amazed at how many international students were also enrolled. Alicia and I talked about it for awhile and we thought it would be a cool idea to host a student. Of course, it was too late then. So in the spring of 2006 when a fellow parishioner at church asked me if I would be interested in hosting, of course, I jumped on that bandwagon. Alicia and I looked through the various girls who were looking to be placed.

What an odd experience to pick a host daughter from bio's! It was like catalog shopping. Pictures look pretty but you don't know what you really are going to get. After making a list of what we were looking for in a student, and throwing out those who obviously weren't good candidates for our home (like non animal lovers), we had it narrowed down to two girls. One from Germany, one from Paraguay. I let Alicia decide and she chose Claudia from Paraguay.

It's kind of a messed up system in the fact that we get to pick but the international students have no veto power. So they get stuck with us!!

Claudia joined the family in August 2006. It has been a great year!! She has done everything we have, plus lots of other things. She joined CYO, Cross Country, Track and the AFS Club. She went to Arkansas for Christmas (with us) to meet Ryan and Kathy: Columbus OH with Alicia to NCYC; New York and Washington DC for Spring Break; Oklahoma to visit JR; and all over Kansas. She also experienced all sorts of weather! Her first snow storm, ice storm, no electicity! What fun

Having an AFS student requires us to participate in AFS projects, like the annual Garage Sale; a monthly get together so the students can make presentations on their countries and other gatherings. This is great because we get to know the other kids also and develop a bond with them. Quite a fun bunch!!!

But yesterday we had to say goodbye. We had a party for her on Saturday evening. Lots of kids, food, and fun. They played frisbee, sat and talked and hit on a pinata! What a blast. Then Sunday she spent the afternoon packing. She had a lot of stuff. We have already sent home six boxes of clothes and stuff. She packed two full suitcases and we have another box to send.

We left the house at 5:20 am Monday morning and headed to Wichita. We made a side stop at JR's mom and continued down. We were supposed to be there between 8:00-9:00, we got there at 9:03! But we weren't the last ones, so I don't care. We weighed her luggage in. She was under the 50 lb limit per bag. Another girl was unloading stuff because her bags were too heavy.

Then we hung out in a building as they did last minute instructions. Then came the goodbyes. How tough! Not only did we say goodbye to Claudia but the other international students that we got to know. After a tearful goodbye we left.

That was hard leaving Claudia. I know she is going home to her mom and dad, grandparents and family. I know that we will keep in touch often. But it's like sending a child off to college but knowing that it will be a very long time before you see them again. I miss her. And I always will but she knows she always has a home with us, and she will always be our daughter