Xīn Nián Kuài Lè!!

Happy New Year!!

To the Chinese, ushering their new year is the highlight of their year. It's even bigger to them than Christmas is to us. It is a week long celebration. This year we participated in a few activities to give our kids a taste of their cultural heritage.

We started by going to Jody, Lily and Cali's house to have a party for OAKS.

Abbey and her good friend, Lily.

An interesting fact about Lily and Abbey is that they are from the same orphanage in China. When I joined the Yahoo group for Abbey's orphanage, I was amazed to discover that there was a little girl from Abbey's orphanage living so close to us. Even more amazing is those two little personalities are so alike. They discovered how much they enjoyed each other long before they understood they were from the same place in China. Another interesting fact is that Lily has four considerably older siblings, not adopted from China. They also have another younger daughter from China, and are waiting to bring home a precious little 2 yr old girl.  Her mom, Jody, and I have so much in common with our families. I always enjoy getting a chance to spend time with her.  I really believe that instances like this are arranged by God to help us as we walk this journey.

At the party the kids made and decorated lanterns.

After sharing lunch, the kids played and the moms got a chance to visit with each other. Great fun for us all!

They took a red tarp and played like it was a Chinese dragon.

Later that evening, the M family invited us over to make homemade dumplings, Jiǎozi in Chinese. These are often part of traditional Chinese New Year celebrations.

Even Dad made some dumplings

We shared a wonderful meal and had a fantastic time with the Kristi, Ian, Kylie, Caleb, Darcy and Daniel.

The next day we went to the large Chinese New Year's celebration, sponsored by our local Chinese American society.  Tomorrow I'll post all about that adventure.