Gung Hay Fat Choy...from our family to yours!!

Gung Hay Fat Choy...which means "Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and Happy New Year."

We got together last weekend with our Chinese Adoption group to celebrate the beginning of The Year of the Ox. It was a lot of fun and the children all had a wonderful time celebrating their heritage.

A few years ago I had a friend attend a Chinese New Year party with us and she was so moved. She said that she was almost jealous for her own biological child because they didn't have a celebration like this where we all could come together to celebrate our children and the rich culture and history that they all came from.

Chinese New Year is one of the many amazing opportunities we have to keep our beautiful daughters heritage alive for them. It is also a wonderful opportunity to celebrate THEM and reflect on how blessed we as parents are to have them in our lives!!!

The children (and adults) all had fun eating a delicious array of pot luck Chinese foods...listening to wonderful music, dancing, playing games, doing crafts and just enjoying each others friendships!! Then they all hit the playground just had some plain ole fun together!!

Aly working on her dragon mask

Lili wanted to see if she could scare Ms. Robin with her Dragon


Feel the love...I always dreamed of pictures like this of my beautiful daughters!

My beautiful China Angel...

Wow...I have TWO beautiful Chinese Angels!!


Lili got to participate in the Ribbon Dance. Sorry it is blurry...she just moves too fast for the camera!

Aly with the older girls doing their chopsticks dance

Always the ham!!

Aly on the swings...

There's Lili at the top of the ladder!!

Here are all the kids posing for a group shot.

Big Celebration at our House Last Night!!!!

Last night I asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me from all the sins I ever committed and ever will!
Last night was a special night for me. I asked Jesus into my heart and it was a very very special night. In Heaven the Angels were having a party for me and God wrote my name in the Book of Life.
That night was a very very special night because now I have been adopted two times. Once by my Mommy and Daddy and now by God!!
Love,
Aly
(Note from Mommy...if you would like to leave a comment for Aly, we will be glad to read them all to her and save them for her!! Thank you. Blessings ~Shelley)

Goodbye lovely little gingerbread house...

This is a picture of the Gingerbread house that the girls and I made for Christmas.


Last week on trash day I finally bit the bullet and threw it away. I was hoping that Lili wouldn't be too devastated since she sat and looked at it almost daily.

It wasn't pretty!!!

I told them what I was doing, and let them say goodbye to the lovely little house. Poor Lili! She hit the roof!!! A meltdown of Dramatic proportion ...it was Oscar worthy! I tried to console her, but she would have no part of it. She came running back into the living room, told my Dad I was throwing away the Gingerbread house and then threw herself onto the couch. She folded up her little arms and yelled, "I'm never celebrating Christmas again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"...as only a three year old with major acting skills can do!!
My Dad and Aly were there and I didn't know which one of us was going to bust out laughing first. Thankfully we all managed to keep a straight face.
Ahhhhhh......the drama. I can't wait until she turns 13. Pray for us.

I've been tagged!!

Okay...so I have a huge holiday catch up post to do, but it's not ready yet...so I will indulge my friend Jenny and give in to her tag!! Love ya Jen!!!

So here goes...I have been "tasked" to open the 4th photo folder on my computer and then post the 4th picture in the folder and describe what's pictured.

Here it is...

OMG!!!! Is that not the cutest thing ever!!!!! One of my favorite things that Aly did when she was little was to rub those beautiful eyes with her chubby little fists and just melt anyone nearby who saw it. Something about the WAY she twisted her hands...I don't know...she could just suck you in every time she did it!!! The first time I ever saw it was on the way back up to our hotel room in Nanchang not more than 30 minutes or so after she was placed in our arms for the very first time. I am so thankful that we have that moment on video and I dearly treasure it!!! It is so precious and so vunerable and so...well, so Aly!!!

This photo was taken in early August of 2005...so Aly was about 19 months old. It must have been later in the day because as you can see by her hair sticking up, we had just taken down her "whale spouts". She had been a busy little girl, as usual, and she was pretty tired. I love that David always seems to be able to capture the most amazing moments in time with both of the girls. He has a special gift!

Okay...so time to "tag" some others for your viewing enjoyment.

How about

David

Lisa

Dusty

TonguMomma

and Val

Okay guys...don't let me down. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!!!!

Thanks Jen for letting me take a moment to go down memory lane!!!!

In HIS Mighty Grip