Oh What a Feeling!

A 16 year old Brazilian boy. Did we know what to expect? Not really. Do we love him and the outcome? So much so that it is a bit amazing actually.

In August of 2008 my wonderful husband, once again, agreed to one of my crazy ideas and we decided to get an exchange student from Brazil... for a whole school year. It was all a bit of a whirlwind. We were asked about hosting a student on a Friday and the following Friday we decided to go forward and within another few weeks we had a teenager! What exactly brought me to the conclusion that we needed a 16 year old from another country living with us, while I was finishing 2 college classes, working full time (plus some), Mike was getting ready to sit for his PE, being an assistant coach for a HS wrestling team and working full time, I can still not definitively say. I know it had a lot to do with the general reaction that I received from my friends and family in that week that we were thinking about it. Most of the reactions were some version of disbelief or doubt. I don't take kindly to people doubting me. Call it a flaw, but I like to prove people wrong when they doubt my choices. I can still hear Mike saying in a high pitched and tentative voice, "Well honey, if you think we can do this, okay then." If anything, I think I can confidently say that my husband will always have a new adventure as long as I am still kicking.

And so a tall lanky Felipe Ferreira Lisboa Luz joined the Keenan ranks on our little farm in St Johns. Neither of us had lived with a teenager before, (besides when we actually were teenagers!) So, we knew we had a challenge ahead of us, but we had no idea what kind of challenge it would be. Funny as it sounds now, we sat down before our new son arrived and made some rules together. Curfew, chores and the like. All very reasonable items to consider and we wanted to have a united approach to what we were about to tackle. It always happens in situations like this that you are prepared... but not for what is really about to come. And it was the same in this case. We were prepared for a teenager, but not the one we got.

We couldn't have had a better experience together. Mike, myself and Felipe all learned so much from each other. And somewhere along the way of trying to find rides and figure out how to get him to go out with his friends more often... we became a family. The time flew by and after lots of trips and adventures we suddenly, to our dismay, were at the end. June was upon us and we once again had no idea what to do. We all struggled through our goodbyes and our Brazilian son was gone. Our Felipeson was gone.

For several months it was a weird thing. It was only a short period of time, less than a year that he lived with us, but it felt like there was a large gaping hole in our house. Why did it take so long to re-adjust after Mike and I had been together so long and Felipe been with us such a short time? I believe it is because it doesn't really matter how long you have known someone... if you put your whole heart into a relationship that is what you'll get back. And we did, our hearts are bigger now because they have our son Felipe in there.

Yesterday, as I was ironing and watching TV we got an email from him. The shirt I was ironing got more than a few tear drops. It was amazing to hear from our Felipeson that he had the exact some feeling about us as we did about him. Oh what a feeling! He thanked us for all we did for his time in the US and for making him a part of our family. I thank him as well, for becoming a part of our family.