9 years ago....

During our family celebration at Easter nine years, the Polack and I had some exciting news to share with our family. It was joyful, although a bit unexpected, therefore we pondered how to "present" the news to everyone. As the hosts of our annual Easter dinner, we decided to incorporate the news in the annual Easter egg hunt. (Although there were no children at the time, as adults, we still had Easter egg hunts.)

We spelled out our news on the Easter eggs - a four letter sentence with one letter on each egg (with four different egg colors, one color per word). After finding the eggs, our family worked to put together the puzzle. With some hints, they were able to spell out our message:

We're having a baby.

Some squealed with delights, others stared at us in disbelief. The Polack and I had only been married for nine months and no one was expecting a grandchild/niece/nephew from us so... so... so quickly. But life is funny that way. Nicklas was born seven months later.

This Easter, we had news to share once again. We thought about hosting another Easter egg but decided against. Rather, Nicklas announced to the adults, "Guess what? I'm getting a new sister!" No delighted squeals, just more stares of disbelief and lots of questions. After watching the adults flounder a bit, we announced that this fall we're opening our home to an exchange student.

The Polack and I have been discussing this for the past several weeks and while we have always been interested in the possibility, we thought it might be better to wait until our kids are bit older.

But like I said, life is funny sometimes. I've been talking to other host families and learning more about the program. My mother hosted a French student for a month when I was in high school. It was a great experience for me and my family.

This is something that feels so right to me and knowing how passionate I felt, the Polack quickly jumped on board with the idea.

After scouring the host organizations website, we decided on a country and we've been looking at profiles of the female students. We've even picked one out. And I'm super excited.

This next school year will be a huge adjustment for us. We're opening our lives to a complete stranger, a teenager no less, and it will be an experience of a lifetime.