Our Chinese New Year

We realized that Chinese New Year will mean so much more to our family from now on.  We asked our Chinese friends a lot about it, although it was a little hard for them to explain because we don't have anything like it here (the closest comparison is Christmas, they say).  It is a festival, the celebrations last about two weeks, there are fireworks, there are lanterns, they give gifts, and they don't work during it.  We have one friend who went home to China this month and she is going to take a lot of pictures for us to show us when she comes back.  Can't wait to see.

We didn't do much at our house this year, but enough to help us think about our little son.  It is Sunday, our day of rest, so we worshiped the Lord this morning and were again reminded of our own stinky sin and the abundant grace that covers it because of Jesus.  Need that reminder.  Every Sunday.

Here are some pictures from our day:

 We made lanterns to hang over our dining room table.

 Sweet Molly

 We ate dumplings,

 crab ragoons, and

 chicken/veggies.

 Leah made a book (because she loves making books right now).

We need to work on spelling, but I love that she is excited about it. :)

The girls danced while we watched NC State play basketball (and won - yay!).

And we put together some pieces on a certain Chinese puzzle, too.  (Puzzle update coming soon.)

I wonder what Chinese New Year might look like for us in the future.  It makes me smile to think about it.

We hope that we can have our son home before the next Chinese New Year.
hope, hope, hope!