The best experience EVER!

Hello!  Being a host family has been the most wonderful, exciting, fulfilling thing we have done as a family.  My children are currently 21, 11 and 8.  We will be hosting our 3rd PIE student in 2 weeks………Eileen from Norway.  Eileen will become our 3rd child from “other parents”, joining Roberto from Venezuela and Elise from Norway.  We’ve been blessed with our “kids”.  They have fit in as if they were born to belong to us.   We love Roberto and Elise dearly and are looking forward to opening our home and our hearts to Eileen this month.  All you provide is a home and a family.  In return, you get unconditional love and a child forever.   The saddest part is the day you take them to the airport and your heart breaks because you are sending your child away.  My kids always leave with a key to our house in case they ever want to come back home.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity.  It is beyond rewarding.  You are making amazing memories and making a family all over the world!

By Tara H. from Dallas, GA

Poppy’s Going Away Party

Poppy came to stay with us in La Junta, Colorado. She was a joy to have in our home. She was more than an exchange student she was part of our family. This was our first time opening our home and would do it again. We taught eachother.

Poppy came to us from Bangkok, Thailand and I know we will always be apart of each others lives. It was am awesome experience for our entire family. I would encourage anyone thinking about hosting to experience what we did.

By Janice R. (2010-11 host parent to Jittiporn “Poppy” from Thailand)

The truth is…

Hi everybody. My name is Rinata and I am currently living in Wills Point, Texas. Originally I am from Kazakhstan.

I want to share some of my experience with current and future exchange students, host families and PIE stuff.  Before you start reading my post I want to tell than I’m not trying to put myself above all the others and I’m not exaggerating.  Back in summer 2010, it was already the end of July and I was on a vacation with my mom. I still didn’t know any information about the state or host family I was going to live with. It just happened so that I got placed a little bit later than all the other kids.

So, while at the vacation, my brother called me and he was all excited and told me that I was going to TEXAS! I was really excited too, because I live on the border with Siberia, so it gets really cold in winter. I was happy that I would get to be in the state where it’s warm all year long

Then my brother told me about my future host family which was La Juan and Bob Dixon. He told me my mom was a regional manager for PIE and my host dad is a business owner and a writer. It really impressed me.  So as I got home, I sent a mail to my host mom and she told me a little bit about their family. Finally, I got to Texas on August 18th. My mom met me, she looked so young bright and energetic. I just loved her from the very first moment I saw her. Then we went to meet my dad. He was very very very funny and smart.

During these nine months, they both have been really helpful and supportive and whenever I had a problem I knew they would always help me. They would always find the right words to support me. I am very thankful to them for everything they have done for me.  Throughout these nine months, my host parents became a real family to me. I mean not just my mom and dad, I mean the whole family. My host parents’ kids and grandkids and great grand kids. I really feel that I am a little part of their family now. I get to go to all family celebrations through which I got to see and know more about American traditions from inside.  I also got to travel a lot and see lots and lots of different cities and places.

My host parents lived a very colorful bright and interesting life and they have lots of stories to tell. I always enjoy listening to them.  So…the truth is…I’m sorry for saying that, but…you know…it feels to me like I have the best host family ever!  And the truth is…I feel really blessed happy and thankful that I got to have a host family like this.

By Rinata Smagulova, TX (2010-11 FLEX from Kazakhstan)

A New Sister and Daughter

This has been a wonderful experience for my family! We have hosted Lais from Brazil. Lais is a very special girl. She adapted to the USA and our family, as if she had been here her whole life. She fell right into our routines and has truly become a part of the family. We have had many adventures this year. We got to go to Germany for Christmas, to visit my husband who is stationed there with the military. That was a first time experience for all of us. My children, ages 4 and 8, have officially declared Lais is their sister forever. We all love her, and will be so sad when she leaves next month. Her family has invited us to visit Brazil, which we plan to do in the summer of 2013. Lais has said she has learned so much about life since her arrival, and will also miss her little brother and sister terribly. We just want to thank PIE for giving us this opportunity to make a new family member.

By Summer S. in Tennessee, 2010-11 Host Mother for Lais (Brazil)

Well Worth It

I want to encourage any one thinking about hosting an exchange student to do it.  It is the most rewarding thing you and your family will ever do.  We hosted a few years ago not only did we have the best time in the world , but we gained a beautiful daughter in the process.  The one and only thing is, it is very hard to say goodbye at the end of the year, no matter how tough you think you are and how prepared you think you are.  It’s hard to say good bye.  This man man broke down and cried, I did not want my kid to leave.  It was the 2nd hardest thing I ever had to do, but I have a beautiful daughter now thanks to PIE!

By Jeff P. in Joshua, TX

My Beautiful Daughter

My name is Jeff.  Me and my wife Cat from Texas were a host family in 2007-08.  Since then, we gained a daughter Noza from Tajikistan. Its been 3 years now but we talk on the phone and internet all the time.  Noza is in her fourth year of college now and last year got married. Her and her husband want to come to the states to have kids. With a little luck and lots of paper work, we hope that will happen soon. Thank you P I E for my daughter Noza (former exchange student) and NOW my beautiful daughter!

Fun in Florida!

December was full of shopping, family and friends getting together to celebrate the Holidays. To cap off 2010, Nora from Germany was on her way to sunny Florida from snow bound Farmington, MN to perform on New Years Day at the Capital One Bowl Game.  Thank you P.I.E. for the opportunity to host this beautiful young women!

By Nancy S.  in Minnesota, 2010-11 host mom for Nora Sophie (Germany)

Thanksgiving Celebration in MN

Ghadeer A. from Palestine and Leyla N. from Azerbaijan celebrate Thanksgiving with their family and shared turkey in Lakeville, MN.

Our students

My husband and I have hosted many students over the years.  Now I work as a Regional Mgr with PIE.  If you ever just think ‘Do I want to do this?  All we can say is DO IT!   You won’t regret hosting not for one day.   These wonderful teenagers come into your home and for maybe the first day you are strangers, but soon you are a family.  The ties you make carry on even when they return home. There is always room in your heart for more love. Showing them your family customs and sharing your life with them is such a fun thing to do. You see your world through another’s eyes. This year we are host Ana from the country of Georgia and Juno from Brazil. We are four very happy people. It is almost Christmas and I am like a kid decorating and sharing our Christmas with them.

We make our home in Dallas, GA

Teresa

First Time Hosts

This is our first time hosting.  We planned on Mathis from Germany to our home in Georgia, then just before he came, Teresa our PIE Regional Manager, was telling me about Alejandra from Mexico who’s host family backed out at the last minute. We quickly went from being her temporary family to her permanent host family. My husband and I are having a great time with these teens. We have family game nights where SKIPBO has become our favorite and Mathis has been teaching us ballroom dancing that is a tradition in Germany. We are not very good but are having a great time learning! Teresa has been very helpful. Because she and her husband have hosted for years, they had many tips for getting our students involved. One of the best pieces of advice we received was to get our students to help out in the kitchen. Alejandra quickly became a pro at making brownies and Mathis has mastered the grill. We all love having dinner together when ever possible.

From the Frost Family in Georgia