It's a New Year ...

Uh, ok, I'm a few days late. Chinese New Year ended on February 6th this year. So, officially, I'm not all that late. And it is another way show off pictures of the two princesses inhabiting (destroying?) our home! Back to the destroying comment later. But first, Happy New Year !@#$%%^^&**&#*$%)#^_)$# (That's my fireworks, shame on you for thinking I was using bad words here!).

This year, the Athens Chapter of Families with Children from China celebrated CNY at our church, Isom's Chapel. We were very glad to be able to host this event for our friends in Athens FCC. Many thanks to everyone at Athens FCC who helped out in making this a wonderful event! I hope everyone had a good meal and a good time. And we had the added benefit of hosting a baby shower for Tim and Tina - yet another Alabama family swooping into China to claim one of its little treasures! This was by far the most attended Athens FCC event ever. I don't know the total count, but it had to be over 150 people! There were so many, that we filled the gym with tables and chairs for the dinner (and then played Upward Basketball less than 12 hours later!). We even had an official photographer for the event. We really enjoyed getting to see everyone, especially our new friends who came to their first Athens FCC event. Check out all the kidos who came out for CNY!






Here's the definition of CNY from Wikipedia, in case you're in need of an update. "Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often called the Lunar New Year, especially by people in mainland China and Taiwan. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve". "



Continuing from Wikipedia ... "Celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, and formerly the Japanese before 1873. In Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and other countries or regions with significant Han Chinese populations, Chinese New Year is also celebrated, and has, to varying degrees, become part of the traditional culture of these countries. In Canada, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Canada Post issues New Year's themed stamps in domestic and international rates." If you're not sure the Chinese are serious about CNY, consider that our friends who are in China right now, in the very province where Lia Faith was born, were delayed unexpectedly two days in receiving their little angel while the Chinese finished celebrating? Aimee and Carlton, if you're reading this, we love you and cannot wait til you get to come home.





An Obstinate Year

Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. The cycle repeats every 12 years, with 2009 being the year of the ox. The cycle actually begins with the rat, who tricked the cat into missing the meeting and who rode on the back of the ox to get there first. When they got close, the rat jumped off the back of the ox and scurried to the front of the line so he got the first year! Buddha announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. Those born in ox years tend to be painters, engineers, and architects. They are stable, fearless, obstinate, hard-working and friendly. Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, Walt Disney, and Anthony Hopkins were all born in the year of the ox.





Anyway, Happy CNY! Next year, we hope to have an even more exciting celebration, complete with a real Dragon - ok, ok, maybe a dragon with a couple of dads serving as the legs will do.





Oh, about that "destroying" comment earlier. They don't really destroy anything, they just render it temporarily (for a long time maybe) unusable. Connie calls them the traveling tornados. Shock and awe come to mind each time they come through. When they breeze through a room, it is left tattered and torn, inside out and upside down, what was up is now down and what was down is now up, ... you get the picture. These two princesses have more energy than an afternoon experiment at Brownsferry Nuclear Plant. But that's ok, we just follow behind rebuilding and reclaiming the wreckage. We've asked FEMA for the guidelines on declaring disaster areas in case we need federal assistance! My new laptop has taken to closing its lid whenever he sees them coming!

Putting all that aside, though, it is the greatest blessing watching these two become the sisters that God had planned them to be. They love each other more than I can tell you with mere words. They hug and kiss every night before bed and share everything with each other. I think part of their nighttime ritual of crying is because they don't want to be apart for too long. It is truly amazing to see how rapidly Lia Faith has come to understand that she can share without fear of never being shared with. She gives things up freely now whereas when she first came home, removing things from her possession created an international incident. And Lily Grace is slowly but surely becoming the big sister, watching out for Mei Mei and reporting on her whereabouts and goings on to mama and daddy. Check out the pictures of the two "traveling tornados."




And both of them absolutely love their guh guh. Austin can talk to Lia Faith and understand a little of what she says in Chinese. I think that has really helped her adjust. As far as her language skills at this point, they are coming along nicely. I would say, however, that her utterances could best be described as Chinglesh. Sometimes Chinese, sometimes English, sometimes Babblespeak. When she doesn't know how to express herself about something, that's not a problem to her. She just makes up words and points and gestures until we get the picture. Lily usually gets it first, probably a result of spending all day with her. Connie and I just nod and agree, not knowing what we have just agreed to usually, but the smile on Lia's face is all we need to see. And the unspoken language of the the occasional glance our way, just to make sure we're still there, is perfectly understood by us all. God is truly amazing. And His two little princesses are the blessing of a lifetime.

Serving a truly awesome God,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, and Lia Faith
Green, Party of Five