Yes, my friends, it has been about a year since I last uploaded pictures from my camera! And here are some from last summer when we hosted a foreign exchange student from Shanghai, China. His name is Yang, but we call him Sam. Each student was given an “American” name to use while they were here. Our neighbor hosted a girl from China, and we called her Linda. 
Both Sam and Linda were very sweet and respectful. They both really loved playing with our children. We loved getting to know them both, but of course we had developed a special affection for Sam. By the time they left to go back home it was heartbreaking. Sam felt like one of our children. In fact, one weekend when his class had gone to visit some theme parks in Orlando, Sam became separated from the group and was lost in the parking lot. He called us to ask for help, but his cell phone battery died. That was terrifying for us…I’m sure it caused Sam a little anxiety as well. We called his group leader to let her know all that Sam was able to communicate to us about his location. Then Josh and I just prayed…what else was there for us to do? A little while later we heard back that his group leader that they had found him and he was fine. Praise God!
Sam came to church with us. He sat down at the piano with our sweet friend, Hannah, and she was showing him how to pay. We played board games and puzzles almost every night together. Sam beat Josh and Monopoly one night. That was great! 
Josh taught Sam how to play chess. He picked it up very quickly. He gave Sam his chess set the night he left to go back to China. We watched a 3-D movie together and had a popcorn party, played baseball, did yard work (Sam had never mowed a lawn before and wanted to give it a try…he did a great job!), and just generally had a wonderful time with him. Josh was even able to take off from work early one afternoon to go bowling with Sam and his class. That was fun! I wish I had pictures of that!!
Our dear neighbor and friend, Ms. Gloria, took Sam and Linda to pick up the bus that would take them to the airport. It was so sad to say goodbye. We have kept in touch with Sam, though not as well as I would like. Most of which is my own fault. Sam emailed and said that he was hoping to come to college here. I believe he said he was speaking to a school in Connecticut.
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