She came as a stranger, and left as a daughter....

I think I'm still in denial. It's much easier to float on "cloud oblivion" than to face the fact that "big'e Anja" went home last week.
While we understand that she has a life in Switzerland, we would have loved to keep her here for longer.

She was such a breath of fresh air, and the kids loved her. I loved singing old Sunday school songs  together (we grew up in the same church), gossiping about our relatives, having discussions about faith and family until the wee hours, doing some you-tube surfing (have you seen Obama-girl and Brittney- boy?.... oh my word, they are so funny, although not appropriate for little eyes or ears), and Mike and her played cribbage nightly.  She was a huge help around the house (do I really have to do laundry again???), and we loved her baking.

It was just a wonderful experience. We have had the chance of having these wonderful young people live with us - 5 so far - and I'm curious who God will send next. There is always someone needing a home for a while, and we have been so blessed in the process. 

Now let's all pray for Anja's training success, so we can go cheer for her at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver! Hopp Schwiiz!

On her last night here, we took a funny little "commemorative" video of her and my mother-in-law. When Mike and I got married in 1993, my parents-in-law were able to travel to Switzerland to celebrate with us. They stayed with Anja's parents, and at one point, Anja (five at the time) wanted my mother-in-law to read her a book. After a short while of reading (my mother-in-law does NOT speak German), Anja gave her a disgusted look and said (in Swiss German): "You can't read!" Who would have thought that 14 years later she would come stay with us! And even let Linda read to her again :-))

This was Anja's last trip to the mountains (2 weeks ago). We really wanted to go skiing with her, but since I managed to get a flat tire on our way home from the Ranch, which required some -ahem- work on the brakes besides the new tire, we had to scratch that. But Mike and the kids took her to the mountains nontheless, while Anya and I stayed home and had a girl-day.

And then it was time to take her to the airport. One last drive across the Wild West, but she PROMISED to come back and visit!


PS: I just had to shake up my Blog colors a little bit :-)))