We would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family: Paula Zubiri!

No, we are not legally adopting a 4th daughter. Paula has an amazing family! One of our favorite families since we met them more than 8 years ago when the Zubiri family immigrated from Uruguay.

The Warne-McGraw family and the Zubiri family were destined for friendship before they even walked through the front doors of our church. They had three daughters; we have three daughters. They love sharing Uruguayan food and culture; we love eating meat and learning about other cultures. They talk enthusiastically and laugh loudly; we do too. Fernando and Alicia have raised girls who are brilliant, courageous, engaging, and servant-hearted — equally excelling as music, science and engineering; we share the same hopes for our daughters. The Zubiri family has lived with courage, tenacity, flexibility, humor, authenticity and faith; we aspire to have a similar family culture.

So, two years ago, when we began planning our world adventure, we thought about hiring a nanny to travel with us.  It would be a comfort to have extra set of eyes and hands to make sure all of our kids made it on the next plane, train, or metro. Ryan and I looked forward to sharing a few date nights along the journey. A nanny would be great.

We talked to a friend who works with an au pair agency and she made some really important recommendations. First, she recommended that we change our basic assumptions. Rather than merely hiring an employee, an au pair would become a part of our family. Someone that we could consider our oldest daughter. Someone we could trust to love our daughters as though they were her very own little sisters. Just imagine being able to hand select someone to mentor and “big sister” our daughters on a life-changing trip around the world!

This changed our perspective dramatically. We began listing out the character qualities that we wanted — no ordinary Mary Poppins would fit the bill. She must be a person of honor. She must have a personal faith that guides her life and relationships. She should love an adventure. She should be flexible. She should be fun and interesting, but also comfortable enough with silence to share life with the introverts in our family.  A sense of humor was a nonnegotiable “must have.” And, while we are asking for the moon, wouldn’t it be awesome if she spoke multiple languages; excelled at tutoring in maths and sciences; and intimately understood the dynamics of sister-sibling relationships?

Our long “wish list” rolled out over the course of several days and weeks. And, frequently, as Ryan and I were brainstorming, we would pause to say, “You know, someone like Paula Zubiri.”  Finally this refrain became so frequent that we thought we would do the ridiculous: we would just ask her and her family if they would ever consider letting Paula pause her college career at her dream school, Carnegie Mellon University, to wander the world for one year as the oldest daughter in our family. So, we did.

During the spring of Paula’s senior year of high school, we shared an afternoon together as families and asked if Paula would consider going with us on our world edventure. Thankfully, both Paula and her parents agreed that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Paula and that she was uniquely suited to the task.

Shortly thereafter Paula began intentionally plugging in with our family. Getting to know our daughters more deeply. Dreaming and scheming with us about destinations and adventures. Becoming a part of our family story even before we depart.

We are so thankful Paula has agreed to journey with us, to share her time, her personal space, herself with us! We pray that God would bless her and her family in unimaginable ways throughout her life from the experiences of our year of edventuring together.