A Dane and cold cereal.

I just came down from putting Sam in his crib.

Sam's nap-time ritual is me singing John Denver's "Annie's Song."  Whenever he hears it, he buries his head in my neck and goes completely still.  After I finished singing to him today, he put his ear up to my mouth, still as can be.  I whispered to him over and over again, "I love this sweet baby, I love this sweet, good baby..."  It was so, so precious.

I am glad these past few days are over.  Too much to do.  Deadlines and meetings.  All jumbled together.

But the most interesting adventure as of late is this: we are going to be a host family to a 16 year-old girl, Sophie, from Denmark.  For a few months.

Surprise, I know.

My friend, for reasons beyond her control, couldn't keep Sophie at her home anymore.  She asked if we would do it.  Oh boy.  I wasn't quite sure what to think.  My heart said yes, no question.  Then my reason sank in and I realized how little I knew about the situation.

I'm nervous.  I'm excited.  It's an adventure.  It's a sacrifice.  However, the more I thought about it and talked it over with Ben, the more I knew that the "pros" of this experience outweighed the "cons."  I was not going to let my fear/anxiety keep me from experiencing something potentially awesome. 

So, here we go.  Monday she comes to our home.  That is, if our background check comes out clean.  No hardened criminals here, unless you count a few speeding tickets and a few mini-shoplifters of gum and other assorted candies.  But hey, those are in the past.  We have fully repented of our crimes.  We are INNOCENT.

I keep having one recurring, disturbing thought: cold cereal for dinner!  Well, THAT and if she walked out of her bedroom naked in front of Ben, or something:).  My biggest worry is MEALS.  When someone's staying with you, you've got to keep it together, you must have food!  When it's just your family, you can let things slip sometimes and they'll still love you.  Cold cereal for dinner is one of those moments.

I've fallen out of the habit of making my menus and grocery shopping based on my list.  It's been a couple of months since I've really planned.  These days it's more go-to-the-store-for-bread-milk-eggs-and-produce, creating dinner an hour before it's time to sit down.  Not good.  I need to get back on track.  Having Sophie stay with us is just what I need.

We may very well be a family of nine soon.  That's including Sophie and the baby chicks (of course!).  This is what I call a "blended" family.