We saw an article in the Record Herald in August 1995 and we knew hosting was what we wanted to do. We called the phone number listed, which belonged to Mike Helfrich our local AFS volunteer. It was too late to host for that school year but needless to say, we were first on the list for the next year. We filled out an application and enclosed lots of pictures of us and Heath, now a senior at Miami Trace, Stacey at home but working full time, Sonya away from home with Austin 6 and Makenzie 3, and Tony who lives in Columbus. We looked like a nice family and sounded like a nice family. We only hoped the girl we chose would not be afraid of dogs because we have an 84 pound black German Shepherd named Angel in the house, Mickey who is ½ Rotweiler and ½ German Shepherd and Bogey who is a 50 pound Australian Blue Heeler in the yard.
We decided on an Asian girl and that is exactly what we got. We exchanged a few letters and a phone call after we received her application and pictures in the mail. We were so excited after the whole year of waiting! But it was well worth it. Finally, Carol arrived after flying for 22 hours to get here. Heath and Stacey went with us to pick up Carol in Chillicothe early in August. We were instructed to give this stranger a hug and it was not a difficult thing to do. She was a very sweet little girl and that was only the first of many hugs to come. We got her luggage loaded in the van and went to Damon’s for supper. On the way there, we saw a police car with his siren on. Stacey asked Carol what she called them in her language. It sounded like "King Tut" in English. So we all laughed and said we could remember that. We asked her what movies she had seen lately. She did not know the English name for most of them. But it didn’t take us long to decide we had all seen "Forest Gump". The evening went well and we all liked her right away.
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