Our Farewell to hosting International Students

Before I knew how full my weekend was going to be otherwise, I signed up to host a group of international students as our farewell to the program. For the past three years, we have hosted students from around the world in our home for meals, evenings, and special occasions. It has been a great way for us to show hospitality to strangers (Hebrews 13:2), it has brought international cuisine to our kitchen, and it has given us friends from a variety of nationalities, all of which are excellent reasons to host international students.

Sometimes we try to do fun things and have taken some of them to Longwood Gardens.

We enjoyed introducing them to our holiday traditions. In the picture below, we took them with us to my sister's place for Thanksgiving. They brought along a Turkish soup to accompany our traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

One afternoon we went apple picking at an orchard during an apple festival where our friends got to taste apple sauce, apple butter, and cider for the first time in their lives.

Once, we attended the graduation of three of our students (and were unaware until we got there that it was a china plate, goblet, and cloth napkin affair which wasn't what we expected when we included our toddler and baby. The white-shirted waiter cleared Tyler's plate before he was quite finished with it and Tyler talked for weeks about the "man who grabbed my plate.")

One of our students delighted us to no end by calling months after he was done with the program to say he was about to return to Indonesia and wanted us to meet his wife and daughter. They came over for lunch and brought an Indonesian meal along with them.

Many of our students have met us for coffee at Panera Bread within walking distance of their apartments or have invited us over to their houses for a meal or Arabic coffee and dates. Others have come to our house for a game of croquet and a meal or just to chat in our living room.

Here is a list of countries we have friends in:

• Brazil
• South Korea
• Indonesia
• Turkey
• Saudi Arabia
• Cambodia
• Bahrain
• Venezuela
• Syria
• Iraq
• Japan

The majority of our students have been studying English at the University of Delaware and have signed up for an American host. Having an American host means that once or twice a month, they get to spend time with an American family, practice their English, and learn some American culture. We, in turn, love seeing pictures of their families, hearing stories of their homelands, and tasting foods they prepare.

So, as our "farewell for now" to hosting, we signed up to host four students who only are in the program for three weeks before moving on to colleges across the States. We met them at a park for supper and sat around the picnic table talking until it grew dusky and time to reluctantly pack our stuff up. Only then did I think of a group picture which resulted in terrible lighting and a quick cell-phone picture.

If you are interested in getting involved with international students, contact a college near you to see if they have many international students or a program that teaches English as a second language. If they don't have a host program, you might be able to start one or at least make contacts to befriend students on your own.

International students are so appreciative and friendly. Some of them have few American friends and love getting a chance to visit an American home. So, go out and befriend them. Here's your chance to be blessed.

A Picnic with Paddington Bear

Someone gave us a jar of jam that looked for all the world like Paddington's chunky golden marmalade. I saved it so we could have a picnic in celebration of Book Lover's Day. Last year on Book Lover's Day we spent a fun morning with Little Bear, which you can see more of here.

With our picnic in mind, I baked a miniature loaf of bread and Tyler helped Paddington pack his little suitcase. Tyler knew the story well enough to bring a penny, a picture of his family, and marmalade, all items the "real" Paddington had in his suitcase when he came from "darkest Peru." I added the bread and some Paddington Bear coloring pages.

We spread a blanket in the yard of 32 Windsor Gardens (of course, of course) and had a little picnic of bread and marmalade.

We read two books about Paddington, taking time to laugh again at Paddington's little paw print he added to his list of nice things of being a bear who gets to live with the Brown family.

The children loved coloring their pictures and then we relaxed on our backs under the tree, watching a butterfly flutter by. We talked about a great many things, including whether Sophia is Judy, Paddington's 'sister,' or Mr. Brown, Sophia's personal choice.

And then, since we don't live in London where we could visit the actual Paddington Station,  our delightful hour with Paddington ended.

Gigantic Bubbles

After I stumbled across gigantic bubbles and was as excited about my discovery as if I had invented them myself, I learned they were old hat for some of my friends (including the ones who said they used to make them in their bathroom).  But they were new to us, and our little family has had loads of fun with the biggest bubbles I have ever seen in my life.  Like gigantic amoebas, the bubbles ooze off of our wand, then morph themselves into irresistible, shimmering circles, so delightful to make and so fun for children to burst. Just in case you haven't tried them yourself, I'll share our favorite recipe with you.

Giant Bubbles that WORK:
24 oz. Dawn dish-washing detergent (Hypoallergenic works best, they say; we used regular.)
1 T. J-Lube  (a powdered, veterinarian need; can be purchased at farm supply stores.)
3 T. Baking Powder (optional, but it makes the bubbles last longer)
3 gallons water (some say distilled water; we used pure drinking water)

Dump the dish soap into a clean container.  Stir in the J-Lube and baking powder until it becomes a thick slime and the J-Lube is dissolved.  Add in one gallon of water, pouring carefully against the side of the container to avoid creating bubbles. Add remaining water. (FYI: I found the recipe here.)

We tried other recipes but this is the only one that worked well for us consistently. To make our wand, we used two dowel rods, a length of yarn (braiding the yarn makes a thicker wand that holds more bubbles, but braiding it isn't necessary), and a washer to help hold the yarn open. Our wand looks like this:

Tips for Success:

• Several recipes say that the mixture works best if left set overnight.  We use ours immediately with great success, but if you are having issues, you could try letting it rest overnight.
• Use cotton string for your wand. 
• Wind is one of your bubbles' worst enemies.
• Bubble size is limited by wand size, so don't be shy in making a big wand, much bigger than our child-friendly version. The guy in the video where I got the recipe uses something that looks like fishing poles and creates bubbles big enough to happily swallow our bed mattress. Magnificent, of course, but much larger than we needed to be wowed.

Pictures of Success: