Welcome Dinner Miracle!

Trying to find a venue for 12 families was harder then I thought it would be.   I thought I had a building secured away and then I got bumped out for another even that was discovered had already been booked for that same night.

It took 3 months to find a new venue and it was only a week before the event!  My families were so amazing and so patient to find out where they would be going.  My thanks to Murray Library!

It turned out perfect!

This year is going to be amazing!!!

Welcome to Utah!!!

This year is going to be unbelievable!!  I have been fortunate enough to have placed 14 amazing kids with 12 equally amazing families!!

I have never placed this many before and I hope I can meet all their needs.

Already this has proved to be quite the task as trying to get photos at the airport of each family and student eluded me time and again.  One time the camera didn't actually take the pictures, another my camera died, another time I forgot it all together and then my phone died.  So until I can get pictures from those families I will wait to do my collage.

But here is who Utah welcomed this year!

BRAZIL

Thomas - Tonge Family - Roy,UT

CHINA

Yanwei (Amanda) - Lucas Family - Roy, UT

DENMARK

Sandra - Pedersen Family - West Jordan, UT
Simone - Biggers Family - Lehi, UT
Andreas - Lowry Family - Murray, UT

FINLAND

Ida - Miller-Owen Family - Cottonwood Heights, UT
Hanna - Simon Family - Saratoga Springs, UT
Inka - Our Family - Riverton, UT

GERMANY

Jesper - Smith Family - Riverton, UT
Eli - Tandiman Family - West Jordan, UT

NORWAY

Elise - Miller Family - Alpoine, UT

S. KOREA 

Sumin(Chloe) - Lucas Family - Roy, UT

SWEDEN

Beata - Wilcox Family - Spanish Fork ,UT

THAILAND

Natjeera(Lulu) - Miller Family - Alpine, UT
Boonyisa(Ploy) - Smith Family - West Valley, UT

Family Game Day

Fongo Bongo Games is a new store that opened near my home.  The owners have become good friends and I asked them if they would host a family game day for my host families.  They excitedly agreed.  It was a HUGE hit!!  I think I will do this every year!!

Education for Africa!!!

CETUSA is proud to be working with Explorius who has partnered with AiDucatius.

AiDucatius is involved in providing formal education to children in Ghana and Tanzania.

For each student from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland a child from Ghana or Tanzania will receive an education.

Please join us in this effort!

First Time for Everything!

For the first time since I became a coordinator I will be working with a semester student!  I am SOOOO thrilled!!!  Karen from Germany will be joining the Pedersen Family.  What makes this so wonderful is the Pedersens had chosen a student to come for the fall and due to limited space at Jordan SD they got bumped from having their student.

I am so excited that they will get to have Karen. It was meant to be!


Welcome Karen!

Welcome Dinner

Every year I have a huge welcome dinner in conjunction with the host family/student orientation.

Host families and students come to have a refresher on the rules and regulations as well as learn more about the cultures that are being represented by the kids. We also learn some great communication skills related to  hosting situations.

I also ask each student to bring items with them that represent them so the host families and other students as well as myself can get to know them.  This year I actually remembered to take pictures of the tables!

Welcome 2012 Students!!!

What a great group of kids this year!   What is the most exciting thing for me I think is that 5 of my families are families that have hosted before!  It is so great to know that these families enjoyed the experience so much that they want to do it again and again!

The 2 new families are equally as amazing in their excitement to host.

This is going to be a great year!

This year the countries represented are small but It will be fun to really get to know the cultures in greater depth.

Italy - 1
Germany - 1
Norway - 2
Spain  - 3