I haven't posted for a while since there isn't much to say.  Josie has now been in Spain for a little over 3 months.  She has now moved to her 2nd host family and loves it!  They are teaching her how to cook traditional Spanish foods and they helped her find a running club, so it sounds like they are keeping her busy.

Just a couple of things though I thought I should pass along.  When sending a package keep it light and keep it small.  At Christmas I sent a quite large package ( with gifts for Josie and her host family and a couple of friends) and the package cost me about $60 (I don't recall the weight, maybe 13 -15 pounds).  It got held up in customs for a month and Josie had to pay 30 Euro (I think) to get it out.  The reason:  I had put a high value on it on the customs form (since I wanted to be sure it was insured  in case it got lost or damaged).  So the moral of this story:  always value your packages low.

I just sent a package weighing 2lb 3oz  and it cost me $19.45 to ship.  So . . . keep packages small and light!

Josie just let us know that her school class is going on a senior trip to Italy.  She is very excited!  We don't know if Rotary will allow her to go and what all it will entail, but I will keep you posted.


We did get an e-mail from our travel agent about needing to set her return date on her ticket.  I have to let her know by March 1 what that date will be.  Right now we are thinking the first week of August.  At least then I'll have a date to mark on the calendar of when I'll get to hug my Josie!

Not much else to report.  I'm missing Josie something terrible.  As long as I know she is doing well though, then I am OK.  :)

Three weeks

My Josie girl has been in Spain now for three weeks.  Josie has updated her blog so if you haven't read it, you should.  This will take you to it: http://josiethurmond.blogspot.com/.  Josie did skype with us on Carolyns birthday and we were also able to say hello to Josie's host mom (Paola) and host grandpa (Abuelo) and I feel assured that Josie is in good hands.  They were both so kind and Josie seems to really enjoy living with them.

Josie sent a package from Spain.  It took about a week for it to get here from Spain and it came by UPS.  I sent Josie a package last week and I'm not sure how much it weighed but it only had 2 bags of marshmallows, about 10 pkts of hot cocoa, a shaver (lightweight), and a couple letters and it cost over $29 to ship.  I think the coca pkts weighted down the pkg.  But I'm thinking that when we mail Christmas gifts it will be only lightweight items and as small as possible.  lol

It has been so much fun reading Josie's blog and seeing her pictures.  I'm hoping one day to be able to go back to Spain with Josie and have her show me around.  And it would be great to meet her host family and to thank them in person for caring for my sweet Josie.  Lots of people ask if we are going to go to Spain before Josie comes home and the answer to that is no.  I feel strongly that this is Josie's exchange and her experience and I don't want to take away from that in any way.  Besides, the expense of a trip like that is more than we can handle right now.  Even if it was affordable, I don't think it is our place to intrude on her time.

With Josie being gone, Carolyn has been sleeping in Josie's bed and has pretty much taken over Josie's room.  Carolyn says that she sleeps better in Josie's bed.  :)  It still seems so hard to believe that Josie is so far away.  And it just seems so overwhelming to think about her being gone for 9 more months.  I just can't focus on that.  Right now I focus on updates on Josie's facebook page and blog updates.  Thank you Lord for modern technology!

This is a picture from last year when Josie went to Homecoming.
This is one of my favorite pics with Jo.
I just want to reach over and hug her.
((((HUGS))))