I miss my Sabrina.
Remember back in March when Julia-from-Germany came to stay with us? Sabrina is participating in the German Exchange program, and they matched Julia with our family. What a lovely, sweet girl Julia was (is)!
She and Bean were great friends right from the start. (Thanks to modern technology, they had gotten to know each other over Skype visits and Facebook.) One of the cutest things about Julia was that when she found out Sabrina's nickname is "Bean," she always called her that – and in a very serious tone. (We all just sort of bark it out at her: "BEAN! HEY BEAN! GO CLEAN YOUR ROOM, BEAN!") Julia would say quietly, "Bean?" and then ask her a question. (I tried speaking quietly to Bean like that for a while, but she never seemed to hear me when it came to the cleaning her room part.)
Five days ago, it was Sabrina's turn to visit Julia's family. The exchange group (I believe there are about 20 of them, plus chaperones) arrived at the airport, and Sabrina and her best friend Katie were extremely excited.
Since Sabrina had packed so many gifts for her host family (including a 1-pound bag of Reese's Pieces for Julia, which she requested), she was 4 pounds over the weight limit for her suitcase. Since Katie was 2 pounds under the limit, they did what all besties do and switched over some things to Katie's suitcase. 🙂
Here's part of the group looking over their itineraries…
Bye, Dad!
Bye, Sophie!
Breanna was at home, but Sabrina said that when she crept into Brea's room early that morning to say goodbye, Brea grabbed her and hugged her warmly and told Sabrina she loved her. This almost caused us all to have to skip the airport and take Brea to the ER. After all, my girls are no different than any other quarreling, snippetting sisters on any given day.
The group was ready to leave, and Katie and Bean were the last ones to say goodbye. I lost count of how many hugs I got from my girl!
And then she was off…
The last time she was at this airport, it was to pick up a new friend…
This time, it was to visit an "old" one…
We'll miss you so much, Sabrina! Come back to us with lots of souvenirs soon!
12 Comments
Katrina
Hope she has a wonderful time! Germany is gorgeous this time of year :-).
Margaret
Hope Sabrina has a great time! Isn’t it a weird feeling seeing your daughter off to a foreign country on her own? I’ve done that twice now!
LaDonna
This reminded me of our French exchange student we hosted about five summers ago. Vincent arrived and before I knew it we felt as if we had four boys and when we dropped him off at the airport I felt as if I was letting my own child go. We still keep in touch with him and a few others from his trip that our oldest son got to know since he was closest in age to them. It is a wonderful experience that I highly recommend to anyone contemplating it.
joann in tx
just what i love to see…. all the comforts of home going on that trip to germany…can’t get any better than lugging around your own pillow!
bean… a girl after my own heart!
she will have a great time and will be home long before you know it! what a great experience! thanks for sharing it with us!
Rebecca Moore
What a great experience. Thanks for sharing. It brings back memories of when I was an exchange student to France in high school. Din’t have the internet back then, just air mail, how much better it must be now. Don’t worry the time will actually go pretty fast, it always seem to when you are of having the fun.
I can’t believe how much they look like sisters…that is Sabrina and your bean.
Littlebit
I guess I am getting sentimental. I got teary-eyed watching dad’s Bean go off like such a young lady. I cannot get over how much she looks like you. I’m glad we were overseas so you didn’t have to do any exchange. I could not have let you go! LoL! Heck..you STILL cannot go! But then, after 13 years overseas, you don’t NEED to go and should not want to be away from me..oh, shoot..I forgot I’m on your blog! 🙂 LLLY Miss Beana!
nadia
bienvenue en europe sabrina!!
terri -terriboog
Sabrina will have a great time! Can’t wait to hear all about it when she returns!
michele
How wonderful that you found the strength to let her go on such a marvelous adventure! I hope I can be so strong someday! I hope she takes lots of pictures to share!
Catherine
What a great time she will have!! Looking forward to hearing about all of her adventures!
Claulem
Hope Sabrina will have a great time here in Europe!
Hillery
What a fabulous adventure. I hope you’re doing okay. My children are both under 2 years of age, but I know if one of them were away from me for a day, I would be sad?, lonely?, scared?,… I do hope she has a wonderful time. It’s a great opportunity. I wish I would have done something like it. Great for her.