I’ve been working on a couple of projects related to hosting. One of them is a paper chain. There is a link for each night’s sleep she will take in our care. She will remove one each night and it will help her understand how long she has left with us. 67 little links.

“What if that’s difficult for her?,” one person asked.

So, inside each link is something I want her to know. About half are bible verses and half are affirmations. Things like “L is a joy to be around.” or John 3:16.

The very first she will open is “L is brave”. I wrote this in her welcome letter, which she’ll receive on the plane, too, “you are brave.” I wrote that we know she’ll be tired and maybe a bit scared. That’s okay. She’s brave. To leave her friends and her country and get on a plane to spend a summer with strangers, that requires bravery. I want her to know, right away, that we know she will have hard feelings and those are okay, too.

It’s hard to believe that she’ll be here on Friday, but we’re almost ready and super excited!