J is Here!

Yesterday, was the big day. We were up late Friday night. Not because of J's arrival the following day, but because L's cousin is here finishing our solar hot water system, and we were visiting with him. The following morning came quick to say the least. I had everything done for J's arrival, but there was running around to get ourselves ready to go. We had a long drive to pick up J, who was at the University of Delaware. We left our house about noon and was on our way.

The drive to the University wasn't bad. There was traffic outside of Philly, but that was headed in the other direction. We made it there in a little over three hours which we thought was good. The only glitch came in that we weren't told where on campus they were. I figured they must be putting out signs if they have told us, and that University must be on the smaller side. Shouldn't be hard to find them. Well, for my NJ readers, the campus is like Rutgers. Here we are on a large campus and have no idea where to go. Luckily, we thought to bring our rep's cell number, and he led us to the location.

Once we got there, T needed to be changed. Since we were going into a common dorm area, I figured it would be best to change T in the car. I was pretty sure that they were going to be changing tables in the restroom, and it turns out my hunch was correct. We went into the recreation room where the kids were, and I spotted J in the back staring at the door. He was waiting for us to walk into the room. We got there and got our picture taken in front of the German flag. Spoke to a couple of AFS volunteers, and then, we had the nice ride home. We stopped at Friday's to get something to eat. J commented about the portion size in American restaurants because you get small portions in Germany. During the drive home, we learned that there are no billboards in Germany, so that it was interesting to him to see them on the highways here. We also just shared family stories, and got to know one another better. When we got home, L's cousin was here finishing up our hot water heater, and he also spent the night. It was nice visiting with him.

Today, there isn't much to report because our small chance of rain has turned into an all day rain event. J unpacked his things, and also gave us some very nice gifts. I now have a very nice German cookbook that has many recipes that I will try. L got a huge beer stein. T got a stuffed giraffe that he loves. J also bought him a wonderful utensil set for when T gets a little older. So far, we are having a wonderful time with J, and I really think that it will be a great year. Once we get some more pictures, I will post a few.