Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Chinese New Year!

You're probably sick of hearing about how God has knocked our socks off throughout our adoption processes, but tonight we enjoyed one more gigantic blessing - there's Utah Valley group of China adoptive families! That's right, our very own white bread Utah County, where few can even pronounce, "Kazakhstan," is home to several dozen kiddos from China! We found out about this group just this week and were fortunate enough to attend the Chinese New Year party tonight.

We had a great evening making crafts and watching ribbon dances and parading around the room in dragon hats and trading red envelopes and (of course) eating plenty of Chinese food. But the best part was knowing that WanYing will have opportunities to make friends with life stories a whole lot like hers. We even met a family whose four-year-old daughter has ABS-affected hands a lot like WanYing's - that means that she can have a friend who not only shares her social and ethnic story but even understands what it's like to have hands that don't quite blend in!  What a gift.

Tonight was a wonderful first Chinese New Year for our family, and we sure look forward to celebrating a lifetime's more of them.

Ben participates in the "Lion Dance" - I'm fairly sure this is a girls' hat, but he still wears it well.

Sam plays a the role of the "dragon's butt" compellingly in the Lion Dance.  Oh, and after reading the Wikipedia article, I guess this he's a "lion butt" not a dragon butt... such an embarrassing snafu

We attempt to take a kid pic.  For some reason, the children all decide to pose as "thinkers"

The mystery of who taught Sasha to cross her eyes on command is solved.

Happy Chinese New Year!

She has her Mommy's flair for spelling

It's so hard to decide what I love most about these photos! Is it:

1. Sasha's exuberant joy at showing off her newly created word?

2. The awesome outfit that includes tights, socks, and sneakers?  (I can't help but think of an elementary school nurse when I see her dressed like this)

3. Or the fact that Sasha and Sam share a love for letter magnets and Mommy's flair for creative spelling! (photo circa 2003)

Good Snow, Great Friends

Last week our precious friends the Thomases came for an all-too-short trip back to Utah. We made the most of our time together on the slopes!

Xander, Zack, Ben, and Sam pause (briefly) for a pic at the base

Oh my goodness, when did our boys get old enough to ride the lift together unaccompanied?!?

Cindy and Jamie in our annual girls' ski lift-ride pose

Post girls' ski, we let the guys come along.

We had some beautiful days in one of my favorite places with so many of my favorite people!

This may be one of my favorite pics of Steve and me

And in case you're wondering what giant "campfire size" marshmallows look like in my Ben's posession, now you know.