Summer is coming to an end.

Way too soon-summer never feels long enough, especially when the weather had been so strange this year. I keep waiting for summer to get here and stay. So as I have been irritated with the Wisconsin weather and wondering why I live here, my eyes were open in an unexpected way. This past weekend we hosted a college student from Japan. We picked her up at the airport on Friday night, after a very long trip. She stayed with us for the weekend and I helped her move into the dorms on Monday morning. Talk about courage, she is a 19-year-old girl leaving home for the first time and going to a new country all alone not knowing anybody. I thought it was hard to leave home and go to college 2 hours away. She fit in very well at our house, the boys really liked her and she enjoyed them as well. She is adorable and so sweet. There were so many things in 3 days that she experienced for the first time. She had never seen a lawn mower in person before, she wanted to try it so she got to mow a little of the yard, she had also never raked before so she helped the boys and I do that. Things I do not really enjoy doing she was having fun with. We took her to the drive-in movie and she was amazed. She could not figure out what I was talking about as I tried to explain it to her but she enjoyed it. When the movie was over, she stepped out of the van and looked up and was completely breath taken by all of the stars in the sky. She said she had never seen anything like that before. The sad part is, I never would have noticed that. She said many times how beautiful Wisconsin is, I will see if she still feels that way in January. She has only seen snow one time and asked me if it is true that the temperature gets below zero. She is in for a big surprise. She is looking forward to experiencing winter and winter activities. I have decided that my boys cannot go to college because it will be too hard on me. I almost cried leaving her at the dorms and I just met her. She is planning on being here for 4 years so we are so excited to spend time with her and continue to build on the relationships we have begun. One more thing that was funny, the food that she liked the best that I served her was a turkey sandwich, again something I take for granted and get quite bored with. All of this has changed my perspective on Wisconsin and it's weather, it is a beautiful place to live!! She is going to love the fall.

Attached is a picture of her and Carter.