Lisa became our friend, sister and daughter

We are a family in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. We comprise of mom, dad, Cathal, aged 7 1/2, Liadh aged 4/1/2 and Eoghan aged 2 1/2. Our 2nd aupair Lisa arrived to us in early September 2011 from Austria and stayed until June 2012. I will be honest in saying that I was nervous in advance of Lisa's arrival, even though we had regular contact for quite some time before she arrived, but my nerves were not long being put to ease when I met her at the airport.  

After one month, Lisa's English became much better    

Lisa was the smiling, funny, pleasant girl she continued to be for the entire duration of her stay with us. Okay her english wasn't great at the start and it was quite funny when we spoke to her and she smiled and laughed nervously, but we knew that she understood what we were saying that she was only having difficulty with communicating back to us. Within a month, this was all gone and lisa was opening up and chatting confidently with us. We still have some funny memories of when the language barrier got in the way of things but they only make our bond stronger.

We created a bond we would never have imagined before

Within a month we knew that Lisa would be special to us. It was so obvious that she had a natural love and way with children, in fact she was much calmer than I was myself when the arguing started, as is often when there are 3 very independent siblings. We developed a bond that we never imagined we would share with Lisa and even at Christmas we didn't want her to ever leave. When she went home for 2 weeks to spend time with her family, we missed her every day and longed for the time when she would return to us in January.

She became our friend, sister, daughter

Lisa slotted into to our family, as if she was a piece that was always missing, that we were searching for. Nothing was a bother for her, it is as if she understood us and our family and took it as her own. She became a lot more than an aupair to us, she became a friend, sister, daughter and I feel like I have now 4 children, not 3 and am very proud that my adopted austrian daughter is such a special, independant and confident girl.

It was a win-win situation for everyone

With Lisa everything was easy, there was never any fuss. We respected her and treated her like a member of our family and she respected us and treated our children and us in a way that made us all happy. I could always depend on Lisa if I needed her to change her arrangements if something came up at work and alternatively Lisa could depend on us to try and accommodate her wish to travel and spend time with friends. I was a win win situation for everyone.

We will always cherish her time with us

Lisa is a warm, confident, independent girl, who I depended on so much during her stay that I only realised how much when she had gone home. It was an absolute pleasure having her in our house and sharing our family life. In fact she has become the newest member of the Galvin family and we will always cherish her time here.

"Miss 00" will be starting her career as a kindergarten teacher in Austria 

Lisa left in June to go back home to her many friends and loving family members who missed her dearly when she was in Ireland. Lisa will be starting her career as a Kindergarten teacher in Austria in September 2012, a job she is totally made for because she is so good with children. The children who have Miss 00 (as we called her) as their children and very very lucky teacher, as my eldest son cathal said to me recently, god I would love to have Lisa as my teacher.

We are staying in touch with her via e-mail

When Lisa left, truthfully, our family was gutted, especially me as we had built up a very special bond during her stay. We still miss her so much but we have regular contact with her via email and facebook. We hope to see Lisa again in Ireland before the end of the year maybe and even hope to visit her and her family some time in Austria. When it came to look for our next aupair Lisa was a great help, she has spoken to our new aupair a number of times and even though it makes her sad to think that someone else will be taking care of her babies, she has been as helpful as she possibly can.

I found Lisa outside my EasyFind

I should say that, when I was looking for my au pair before Lisa came, she was not in my EasyFind, because she was only 18 years old when she put up her profile, but was 19 when she arrived at our home. I am so very glad that I decided to look outside my EasyFind and search for the perfect aupair. If I hadn't done this we would never have met our much loved Miss 00.