At this time last year, I was getting ready to say goodbye. I was trying to think of a gift that might last as a lifetime reminder of a very special year. The farewell celebration I was planning was for Tsubasa, our Japanese exchange student.

I have to be honest, I didn’t plan on having a foreign student in our household. I had thought about it when I got an email from my son’s school saying they needed families to sponsor exchange students. I wasn’t sure if we should do it and didn’t get to talk to my husband about it before it was too late. 

I was reading an article in Parenting about same-sex parenthood. It got me thinking about my own family and wondering what exactly is normal these days?