julia's senior pictures

We just didn't have our act together in time to get a picture of Julia to the school for the yearbook. The deadline was November and we were still getting settled then. When I got my new photography equipment, I had the idea to take her pictures. At least if she couldn't get them into the yearbook, she could print them out and give them to her friends.

Julia is our adorable Swedish foreign exchange student. So when I approached her about getting her picture taken, she was less than enthusiastic.

I told her that besides having nice pictures of the way she looked at 17, it was a big deal to have your pictures made when you are a senior.  I told her that my birthday present would be allowing me take her pictures - with no sass. Meaning, I could take as many pictures as I wanted with no grumbling. She agreed.

Jackie came over and did her hair and makeup and she looked amazing. Her eyes lite up when she saw herself in the mirror.

She loves to do origami. She told me that she sent 1,000 cranes to a sick girl in Japan, believing that she would get a wish. She is always folding paper into some of the cutest little creatures.

She's been studying karate for quite some time and is a avid Xena fan. She is a brown belt and studies karate at a studio here in Saline.

I got down my Xena sword and she was in love.  She kept wanting to be-head my Santa. 

I'm making some props for a Xena pose It's not completed yet - but she's modeling one of the wrist guards. It has the word "Courage" on it, in Japanese.

Next weekend - the big Xena shoot. Can't wait! In the meantime, I'm really proud of how well she adapted to being in front of the camera.

She sure is a sweet heart - and we love having her.

Julia's choir concert

Julia loves Choir and especially loves her music teacher, Ms. Sarah Price - who I have to admit is pretty wonderful. Julia was very excited and anxiously awaiting the Veteran's Day Tribute concert at Saline High School.

She had to buy some new shoes for the concert. Her outfit requirements were black shoes, black pants, black shirt, and black blazer. My daughter Jenny and her are about the same size, so Jenny lent her the blazer. It's looks nice!

Here's the outside the school, the performance arts entrance.

The Choir had a bake sale to help send the Choir to Carnegie Hall in April. Everyone chipped in and brought baked goods to contribute to sell. Julia made Swedish chocolate balls made with some ingredients that her parents sent from Sweden.

The line started to form outside the auditorium.

The auditorium has 3 levels inside it.

And the lower level where the Saline New Horizons band was already on stage.

I tried several times to get a closer view of the choir and band together, but my camera just is so bad. Every picture turned out blurry. Julia spent extra time learning all the patriotic songs that we all learned from birth. 

The show was very nice. Inspirational and brought a tear to my eye several times with the patriotic melodies and the tributes to our veterans. Here's Ms. Price singing "America the Beautiful". Her voice is just amazing. I really wish my camera was nicer....

Here's the artwork for the concert that was distributed around town.

And here's the link from the Saline Post covering the concert. Thanks Tran!

http://thesalinepost.com/photo-gallery/new-horizons-band-saline-school-choirs-pay-tribute-veterans

Michigan Ren Fest!

If Aunt Dottie was still with us, she would love love love going to the Renaissance Festival in Holly, MI. I can imagine her repeating, "Neat!" as she walked around.

We haven't been in a few years because it's gotten so huge and usually packed with people, but because of Julia's arrival and I had a feeling she would love it - we set out first thing in the morning.

It's also fun for me to say things like - "Holly, we're in Holly!" Or seeing, Holly Area Schools, or Holly Foods. I love how they made the O into a heart. I literally could go on ... but I'll stop.

OK - one more.

Julia's eyes lit up as we entered the land of Ren Fest. She's a HUGE Xena fan and I told Julia that Xena may just be there.

We started to make our way through the crowd and sat down for the Jousting match.

Our Knight was Tyler, the "ladies man". Shoot! Why didn't I get a picture of Tyler? He lost .... beaten down as the crowd yelled, "Walk it off!".

We took a little trip through Mermaid lagoon. It was packed with people. The trail was filled with mermaid themed art like this....

And then at the end was a real life mermaid! And ... she works on tips!

All and all it was a very nice day, sunny but not too hot. As the afternoon drew around, it became even more crowded which was our clue to exit. But not after stopping at McDonald's for Julia's first double cheeseburger.

the julia adventure

Although I don't think Aunt Dottie had a foreign exchange student, she did take in and mother lots of kids during her life. Since I had 2 bedrooms open in our house, and Holly has a passion for Sweden - it just seemed like the right thing to do.

I contacted ASSE, which apparently is out of the norm. Usually they are begging people to take students, so if you have love in your heart and a spare room - give them a call.

We read over the profiles of all the kids from all over the world and knew Julia was the right person for us with her love of languages and books. We began communication with Julia and her mom and sent almost daily emails back for forth for about 1 month.

The big day was finally here! The airports website said to park in the short term lot and go into the terminal to pick up International travelers. Holly and I left in plenty of time to pick her up with rush hour traffic and the stop for gas.

We finally found the parking garage and went inside Detroit Metro. Still early ... we paused for hot chocolate and coffee.

We checked the sign and found her flight - 15 minutes before the flight landed. We imagined the pilot coming on ...."Ladies and Gentlemen, we are preparing for landing at Detroit Metro. We will arriving in 15 mins."  And how wonderful that might be when you've been in the air for about 10 hours. And then it happened - the sign reflected it.

We moved towards the doorway where the passengers would come through. Someone said it would be awhile before they came through - they still needed to gather their luggage and clear customs. So we waited.

And every time the door opened, our heart skipped a beat. Was that her? She said she would have jeans and a striped shirt on. Soooo excited and sooooo nervous!

Nope, Julia doesn't have blond hair. We soon noticed the family next to us. They had a sign and flowers and I heard them say several times, "is that her?" Their sign was great!Turns out they lived in Saline too and were waiting for their foreign exchange student from China.

Sigh ....I didn't get the memo on the sign and flowers. This was ours.

Yep .... lame, but effective. And then ... there she was. And so ... our adventure begins ... with Julia from Sweden.