Hosting Through P143: An Update after Week 2

We are about half way through our summer hosting experience through P143, and things are going really well!  Although we have hosted twice before, both experiences were during the cold Minnesota winter, so it has been really great to have the opportunity to do so many fun things outside this summer.  Our girls love the beaches of Lake Superior as much as we do, and they are great at scrambling around a good creek too!  There are multiple neighborhood bike rides each day and lots of games played.  Although boredom can sometimes be an issue during hosting for some families, we have been super blessed.  With six kids around, there has been hardly any boredom on anyone’s part because they are all really creative people who find something to do even during the more relaxed times.  I love seeing the interesting things everyone thinks up each day.

Our girls do not like Minnesota thunderstorms at all, but on a clear night, they had a wonderful time sleeping outside in a backyard tent with The Banana.  There were giggles, games and flashlight book reading, and miraculously they did actually get some sleep, although the trio was a bit tired the next day.

One of our girls has an amazing ability to find sea glass on the beach.  She’s found five really big pieces!  She loves rocks, too, and is always searching for especially interesting ones.

A couple of days ago we went to the dentist.  When the girls were here in the winter the dentist detected several cavities in permanent teeth for our oldest host daughter, and they were unable to be fixed during that hosting trip.  They were also unable to be fixed in her home country because she was on a waiting list, so I had made an appointment for dental work here.  She was very brave and did great, and now the cavities are filled in and her teeth look good and will be healthy again.  We were super blessed that at the end the dentist looked over at me and said that she would not charge for the services, that she was happy to help out.  The bill would have been very, very large.  It was SO kind of her.

There are hard moments here and there, but we are really enjoying our long and fun filled summer days.  Everyone is really having a good time, and I am so proud of my family for working hard at being flexible.