[This is part of my mini-series sharing the challenges of hosting. You can read Part 1 here.]

I shared a few of weeks ago about how we’re really doing. It’s the number one question we’re asked. Last week, I read this post from Incourage about how the answer can be “Oh, I’m so blessed!” and ““I’m ready to be done with all of this. It’s harder than I thought it would be.” at the same time. It really resonated with me. Living in the reality that you can be blessed AND things can be hard.

The truth is things are good. I’m NOT ready for hosting to be over. I think when August 27th rolls around, I’ll be a tiny bit relieved to have my life back to “normal”, but mostly I’ll be incredibly sad to see her go home. I’ll be worried about sending her back to a country which is currently unstable, although her particular part of the country is still safe. I’ll pray that she doesn’t lose the confidence and language and joy that I’ve seen her gain while she is here.

So, my completely honest answer would be “Things are great. I’m so blessed, but there are many hard and frustrating moments, too.”

Things are FAR from perfect. I mentioned before that one of our biggest challenges was the language barrier. That’s still very real, but it’s getting better and better by the day. We use Google Translate less and less and are beginning to communicate using English for everyday things. She is talking in English more and more, particularly with Reed, Lena and Gus. I sometimes overhear her talking with them when they’re playing upstairs and I downstairs. I understand being more confident with kids and I’m very glad she’s trying.

The other challenge I mentioned at the beginning of July is entertaining her. This is still a real challenge. We are awaiting some more books in her language, which will help quite a bit. There’s just a lot of time to fill each day and we’ve gone through most of the craft type of things already.

We’ve also started running into some sibling type of fights. Almost entirely between Big L and Reed. I think this is related to keeping everyone entertained– when they’re bored or have spent too much time together, they start to get into nitpicky fighting and doing things to annoy each other. This doesn’t concern me, as Reed and Lena do it to each other as well.

I hate to even mention these things, because they’re tiny when looking at the bigger picture. She’s a great kid and we’re all having a fun time. I find her attitude and outlook on life, happy in spite of all she’s been through, to be totally inspiring. Love this kid.

We got home from our family fun to many surprises. We found that my friend Danae had stopped by…

I blurred out Big L’s name. This is the view from her window right now.

We went to the county fair together with Danae and her family.

Danae and her family are like family to us. And, we’re also certain that those two on the left will get married someday, so we can legally be family, too. Except we’ll be the kind of in-laws who love spending time together.

Big L got her first taste of being in the Midwest. Posing on farm equipment and watching a tractor pull.

Watching the tractor pull, in gorgeous light.

Danae said, “she’s going to think [our state] is crazy!” Yes, yes, she is. Although, it might be the right kind of crazy for her, considering she was posing with farm equipment and sheep within her first week. Her choice.

She also pretty much hit it off with Danae, which makes me happy, too. Two awesome people.

So, we hung out at the fair all evening. The kids even rode a few rides.

Actually, Gus and Reed rode this one 3 times. Yup, 3 times. Reed also ran into his best friend from school and got to go on it with him, which made Reed pretty happy.

Lena tried it once and was not too sure.

Big L wanted to go on the tilt-a-whirl, but none of us really had the stomach to go on with her. So, Danae volunteered her husband, which worked out perfectly!

We had such a fun night. Thank you to Danae for treating the kids to some extra rides. It was a blast!

This huge family reunion is a two day affair. Day two involves splitting off into smaller branches.

But, we start our morning off with breakfast with my immediate family– my sister and her family, plus my mom of course.

Then, we head out to another farm. Also gorgeous.

This day was harder. It meant saying goodbye to my sister and her family who Big L has grown close to over the past few weeks. Of course, for my kids, it also meant saying goodbye to their cousins and for me, it meant saying goodbye to my sister, niece and nephews. That’s an awful lot of goodbyes to people we love a whole lot.

Big L wanted pictures with both my sister and her husband. They have spent quite a bit of time with her and been wonderful with her.

Big L has really enjoyed her time with my two oldest nephews. The younger one is just a few months younger than her and the older is a few years older.

They’re great boys and I’m a dorky, proud aunt.

The girls on the left– my niece, and my two Ls. And on the right, Lena and my oldest nephew. It was too sweet not to share.

Fortunately, Big L will get to see them again just before she goes “home” at the end of August, just for about a day. We are missing these folks a lot!