Wednesday, May 2, 2012
A friend of mine named Mindy was in charge of placing exchange students. She let me know she had a student from Denmark for me. I had never told Mindy that I had thought about having an exchange student. I figured with the way Sarah had turned out, I didn’t want to risk messing up someone else’s child.
I was excited about the idea, so I sent Mindy a message back to let her know we would love to have the exchange student stay with us.
Her name was *Mary. She was 15 and would turn 16 in the summer while she was staying with us.
It was Johny’s last year of high school, and he would be going to the same school as Mary.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
I have been so excited for Mary to come stay with us! I got a room all ready for her.
Today, I got to talk to Mary, her mom, and her dad on Messenger. It was fun to talk Danish with them. At the end of our conversation, I asked them if they had any questions. Mary asked me how often we went to church. I told her we went once a week, but she didn’t have to go with us if she didn’t want to. Mary and her family seemed so relieved.
I later found out that when Mary and her family found out she was going to a family in Utah, Mary didn’t want to come. They had heard that people in Utah took in exchange students only to convert them to become Mormons. When Mary’s mom and dad tried to get their money back, they were told it was nonrefundable. That’s why they were so relieved when I told Mary she didn’t need to come to church with us; they knew then I wasn’t going to force our church on her.
Jared and Emma had another boy. I have 3 grandchildren.
I feel so blessed!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Jared’s wife, and 3 kids, my sister, and her 4 daughters all came with us to pick up Mary from the airport.
As soon as I saw Mary, I gave her all the candy lei’s that Laila and I had made for her. I also gave her the balloons I had picked up yesterday.
She is such a sweet girl, and we love her already!
Saturday, August 18, 2012
It was Mary’s birthday a few days after she arrived, so I rented a water slide and invited Jared and his family, as well as my sister and her family, to come over to celebrate. Sarah and a couple of her friends came.
My sister insisted that our mom and her husband come as well. I felt terrible about it and wanted to say, “Absolutely Not!” To keep the peace, I said okay.
As usual, my mom said something rude to me in front of everyone. I ignored her. When the party was over, I told Mary she had to excuse my mom. I was embarrassed by her behavior. It’s hard to explain our relationship to someone. Especially since I don’t even understand it myself. I just really wish it were possible to never have anything to do with her ever again!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Mary has started school and seems to like it.
While she has been here, Laila and I do our nails together with her. I love how she is all girl!
Mary and I hit it off right from the start. I love talking Danish with her. Whenever we go somewhere, people always ask us if she’s my daughter. Or if I am her mother. Since she is so much taller than me, we always say yes and that she takes after her dad, who is really tall. She has the same nutty sense of humor as Laila, and I do, so we laugh a lot whenever we are together.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
A little over a year ago, Richard was called to serve as the Second Counselor in the Bishopric.
Richard stayed late with the first counselor, Scott. They stayed to count up the end-of-the-year tithing.
When Richard came home, he couldn’t stop talking about how much money the people in our ward had donated. He was excited about how much the church had received.
I thought it was odd; he had helped count up the money before, but I had never seen him this excited about it.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
When we got home from church, Richard told me that the tithing that he and Scott had deposited had gone missing. I asked him how that could have happened. He said he didn’t know. He said he had been with Scott when they went to deposit the money. Then had both seen Scott put the money in the bank’s box. When the bank went to get the money, it wasn’t there.
He couldn’t stop talking about the missing money. He said, “The members who paid the money still got the blessings, and the church didn’t need the money since they are so rich.” I thought that was an odd comment to make. Then I figured if he was worried about the missing money, this was a good way to look at it.
Then he said, “There were a lot of checks with the cash. How do you think the person who stole the money is going to cash those checks?” It was as if he wanted me to come up with an answer. I told him I didn’t know. Then I thought, what do you care?!”
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Richard can’t seem to stop talking about the missing money. He used to say it went missing. This time he said, “Scott took it.” I told him not to say that because I was sure Scott would never do something like that! Richard told me that Scott had a business, and it wasn’t doing well. Scott needed the money. I let Richard know, regardless, Scott was not like that.
The way Richard has been talking about the missing tithing, I thought, “Maybe he took it.” Then I felt bad for thinking that.
The money was never found.
June, 2013
While Mary was here, we went to so many places.
During spring break, we went to California. We have been to Disneyland, Scheel’s, the Great Salt Lake, Copper Mind, and many other places.
She loved skiing, so I brought her to Park City a few times.
The school year went by way too fast.
Johny graduated this year.
It’s kinda crazy to me that I have no more kids graduating.
I am so proud of him!
Wednesday, June 27, 2022
When it came time to bring Mary to the airport to go home, it was hard to say goodbye. Both Mary and I cried.
When we got to the airport, there we met up with other families who were also saying goodbye to their exchange student.
Mary and her group went to Washington, so all the students could see the Abraham Lincoln monument and a few other historical sites.
When they got there, Mary called me. She said she was the only student who was still crying. I told her I had a headache since I was still crying as well.
I sure am going to miss her!
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