In Japanese - "Ai" means "love" - Jane was always getting involved - we had a Campfire Club & 4H groups - World Exchange was a student exchange program fostering peace and understanding throughout the world. She was a regional coordinator.

One day she got a call - seems there was some difficulty with a student placement in Great Falls… Jane asked if we could take the student in while she found her a new home - I grudgingly agreed - “for a while,” I said… then she brought little Ai into our lives.

What a sweet ray of sunshine - she stayed with us for the rest of that year - and she won our hearts forever. Ai is now a beautiful young woman living in Japan with her darling son Rio - and she is teaching English at a private school near her home town in Japan. Jane was so proud of her… me too.

While staying with us Ai became good friends with another young lady on exchange as well - Rebecca from Hamburg. Rebecca would often sleep over as her host family lived on a ranch several miles from town. So our little (3 bedroom 1 bath) hovel on the prairie went from 2 teenagers to 4 overnight - and we had never had girls in the house - let me repeat myself 4 teens - 1 bathroom - it got interesting.

We had no money - had to make our own fun - it was one of the greatest years ever. So to my “adopted” daughters - thank you for sharing some of your lives with us - it was a happy time I will always remember. Bless you both. To everyone else - if you open your home and heart to an exchange student, you will be richly rewarded.