You Are Here.: Jenna&Brandon

As a 15 year old vegetarian, dread-locked, bratty little teenager I thought it be fun to spend a high school year abroad. At first I thought New Zealand would be fun, but when I considered my choice I realized it was mostly because I really, really wanted to see a kiwi bird and I thought maybe that wasn't quite enough to spend a year in said country. So New Zealand was out.

My second choice was Canada. I thought it'd be great to spend a year on some massive lake fishing, after all I had never fished before. Canada it was.

I went through the application process and then I waited. And then I waited some more. About two weeks before my scheduled departure date I still didn't have a family willing to take me in. Blame it on the dreadlocks or the fact that I listed rats as my favorite animals.

Right about that time Debbie got a desperate call from her local exchange program coordinator in Milk River, AB. Apparently there were a few very nice future exchange students looking for families willing to take them in for a year. They just happen to like rats and things...maybe she'd be open to just take a look at a few and think about it.

So Debbie brought some applications home, not thinking they would actually take one in. After all the house was full with Debbie and Alan and their own kids Julie and Greg and Jenna. And they had Julie's best friend Kelly already staying with them as well. Except then the application of a vegetarian, dread-locked, bratty little Austrian was in front of them and they paused. Alan's father immigrated from Austria. And while I was in Austria waiting for someone to take me in for just a year, Debbie and Alan and Julie and Greg and Jenna decided to give it a shot - even though I liked rats.

I never got to go fishing on a massive lake, but what I got instead was a new appreciation for steak and another family. Towards the end of my stay in Alberta my parents came to visit, and they gained a few more family members as well.

This weekend Jenna married Brendan and so the family grew bigger again.

Jenna, you were a beautiful bride and I am beyond thankful to have you and your family in my life!