and one more makes 8

We were getting a little bored with just 7 kids so we decided to host a Japanese student for a week to liven things up a little bit around here.

Meet Yuya, our newest son.
He is from Hyogo, Japan and is 15 years old. He doesn't speak much English, but he sure got good at saying "nice to meet you," as he had to say it 9 times as he met and shook hands with each member of his new family. I think he was a little overwhelmed at the sheer number of us.

Apparently, most of these kids really want to eat an American hamburger. We were happy to oblige. We headed to Smashburger and treated him to a generous portion of greasy goodness. He gave us the thumbs up. We then took him to Krispy Kremes for some donut factory action. It was at this point that Ethan started to feel sick, not from the food, but burning up with a fever. Sick, how nice.

One of Yuya's favorite things to do was be outside jumping on the tramp with the boys. He told us that he goes to school for 8 hours a day with a 2 hour train ride, six days a week. My kids were floored. So I really think he liked just playing and being a boy.

And we know how to do that well around these parts.


The kids spent hours playing baseball, football, and basketball. There did not seem to be much of a communication barrier when they were playing. He was just one of the boys.
And I think he was in heaven.

This cute boy had been waiting and saving for quite some time for his first trip to America. One week was all we had to help him experience it. I took this very seriously. We had brainstormed and tried to think of what we should do, what the best American foods were and how to possibly fit it all in. We wanted to give him the best overall experience. We did fit in so many things, but one thing he enjoyed and wanted to do was watch and be a part of typical family life in America, so we had to plan some down time so he could just watch us "be." One night he sat at the table and wrote everyone's name in Japanese.

Almost every night he would come downstairs with something from his suitcase to do or show to the kids. They could hardly talk to each other, but they definitely bonded.

One night it was these string hand games. One night oragami (he actually brought us all a pack of origami paper and then taught the kids how to fold them). One night it was Japanese chess. He gave the kids Japanese money and candy and cookies and pens and books (Meanwhile, Ethan was sequestered in our bedroom behind closed doors, still totally sick. So Yuya met him that first night and then really didn't see him again until 4 days later. He was probably like, "Where in the heck did this one come from?").

At the end of the week, we asked a Japanese translator to ask Yuya what his favorite thing had been out of the whole week.
His answer: Laser tag.

We took him to Cornbelly's to experience the whole Halloween/fall stuff. We had a blast. We did a corn maze, played pumpkin tetherball, played in a giant corn kernel pit, and jumped on a huge trampoline. Oh, and we took him through some spook alleys like that giant monster in the picture. I don't think they have anything like giant scary monster guts in Japan. Aren't we wonderful hosts?

He was flying out really early on Halloween morning and we wanted to show him how the costume trick or treat thing worked, so we took him to the Riverwoods where they were celebrating a little early. He quickly learned how to say trick or treat.

Like I said, we tried to come up with classic American foods to feed him during the week. We ate hot dogs, corn on the cob, apple pie, tacos, soup in a bread bowl, spaghetti, hot chocolate, pancakes, sugary cold cereal, and anything else we could think of. The only 2 things he gagged on were black olives and oatmeal. He really didn't like those, but was still very polite about it. On Saturday night he asked me if he could make lunch for us the next day (hmmm was that a hint?). And so, on Sunday afternoon he made us some traditional Japanese soup he had brought from home (think top ramen). My kids loved watching him and gobbled it right up.

On Sunday night, his last night with us, we introduced him to the fine art of pumpkin carving. He loved it. We roasted him up some pumpkin seeds, lit up all the jack-o-lanterns and then showered him with gifts to take home to his family.

We didn't want him to go.

There is a law that you can't proselyte to these kids. But, they knew before they came that they were coming to religious families. We were told we could do everything we normally did and they could join in. And that's just what we did. Yuya knelt with us every morning and night for family prayer. He prayed with us before each meal. He read the Book of Mormon with us each night (he can read the English language very well), he went to mutual with the teens, and he spent 3 hours with us at church. We didn't proselyte, but we hope he felt the Spirit, we hope he liked what he saw, and we hope he takes a little of that home with him to Japan.

I think he had a good time. I think he liked Utah. I think he liked being 1 of 8 kids. There was never really a dull moment. We were all exhausted. But he left with a smile on his face and a tear in his eye and a whole week's worth of American memories.

We won't ever forget him.

We miss you Yuya!