Families with Children from China CNY event

Yesterday was a special day.  It was our last chance to celebrate the new Year of the Horse.  It was a day to make new friends and enjoy Chinese culture.

Katie and Hannah started off with some coloring.  The girl helping Katie lives here in town and goes to Sam's school.  My bigger kids, Eli & Brianna, had fun hanging out with her, and some of the older kids.

 Coloring horses.  It was so nice to see other families like ours, with a mix of white and Chinese kids.

These 3 kids did a sword dance.  Very cool.

Sam photobombed the picture I was trying to take of Luke.

Jack looks on while Sam and Eli try out the dancers' swords.

Brianna showed off her Chinese yo yo skills.  She asked me to bring her one of these from China when we adopted Hannah.  Even though she has her own, she doesn't play with it very often, until she comes across one in a social setting like this one.

Fortunately, it seems she hasn't lost her touch!

The kids got to make dumplings.

And eat candy.  Somehow I missed getting any pictures of the lunch, which was awesome.  Eli and I could eat chow mien almost every day and not get tired of it.  In fact, when we got in the van to leave, Katie said, "I love noodles."  Me too, baby girl.  Me too.

Sam got a little bored during the performances.

Personally, I really enjoyed them.  There was a violinist, an accordion player, some traditional Chinese instruments, and even a dancer!  I wish I could have gotten better pictures.

The Chinese food and Chinese music makes ME homesick for China.  I can only wonder how the kids are reacting on the inside.  Is it just a fun day?  Or does it stir up memories, echos of another life?

And the ever popular "group shot."  My big boys were off and playing, so they're not included, although they were welcome, which I appreciate.  There are about half a dozen white kids in the picture.

I commented to another mom, "Reminds me of the Red Couch pictures."  (You'd have to be a China AP to get the reference.)  She said, "Yeah, there's always one screaming."  Whoops, that was Luke.  I handed him to Brianna, and he did a little better.

See the little girl in the red shirt in front of Brianna?  SEVEN YEARS her parents waited for her.  They were LID before Hannah was even born, and they came home a month after we brought home Katie and Luke.  I cannot even imagine.  One year made me crazy enough, thank you very much.

The girls stenciled some bookmarks with characters.  I helped Hannah by outlining hers, then letting her color them in.  There are a lot of brushstrokes on some characters!

Luke likes Paul's mustache.  Paul usually checks to make sure Luke's hand is dry before letting him do this.  Luke was starting to lose it by this time, and we ended up leaving because he was screaming.

Okay, see the little girl with the blue dress and pink bow on the other side of Hannah?  She's close to Katie's age, and her hands are also affected by ABS, or amniotic banding.  We had the coolest moment where Katie and this little girl were checking out each other's hands.  It was very sweet.  I love giving Katie a sense of community that includes other kids like her in more ways than one.

It was a lovely day with other adoptive families.  I hope that our FCC group becomes more active.  I think most of my kids (not just the littles) would enjoy more events like these.


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