新年快乐 {Happy New Year!}

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

We celebrated the Chinese New Year yesterday!
 2013 is the Year of the Snake.

While we do not believe in the zodiac or "luck", we do want to preserve some of Brielle's rich heritage and culture. Alex and I loved our time in China and tried to soak in the beauty and mystery of Brielle's native land. We pray we can take all of our girls back some day to experience it!

The Chinese celebrate the new year in a big way! They gather for a big feast with their families, let off fireworks to "scare away evil spirits", clean their homes to sweep away the old year, give their children gifts of money in red envelopes, and light the entrance of the new year with a Lantern Festival. Everything is decorated in red and gold and poems of good fortune are hung through their houses.  They greet one another with "Gung hay fat choy" which means "Wishing you prosperity!"

Standing under their lanterns with their red envelopes.

Brielle with her red envelope. It says "Good luck" on it.

These pictures are poor- but the girls were so excited to dress their babies in silks too. :)

I am a stickler for seatbelts/carseats. They are sitting in the garage here so please don't think I let them leave like this! :)

These are the new books they've been reading.  They also love watching the youtube clips of the Four Golden Princesses.

After church, we had to go celebrate!

I just love this little girl!!

Sassiness, right here! Brynna tried to get in the photo but Brielle shoved her
out of the way and then flashed mommy a cheesy grin!

Cinderella pose

The girls performed a dance, sang a New Year's song written by Braylee, and finished with a Lantern Festival parade.

Here's Braylee's song:

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone.
Xin Nian Kuai Le to everyone.
Pop, pop, pop! Hear the firecrackers!
Ahh! See the Lion!
Get your lanterns and go outside,
Rahh! the dragon!
Happy Chinese New Year to everyone.

The Chinese zodiac animals were chosen based on the myth that Buddha invited all the animals to come to him and these were the first (or only) 12 that arrived.  Based on their beliefs, the year in which one is born has an affect on one's personality. Braylee was born in the Year of the Monkey, Brynna in the Year of the Dog, and Brielle in the Year of the Tiger.  While it's just all in fun, I do think these fit my girls well. :)

Blessing of Adoption

I used to read Kelly's Korner blog faithfully until we started our adoption journey. Now I keep busy reading adoption blogs and just pop in there when I get the chance.  I saw that Kelly was hosting a link up for adoptive families this week though so I had to join in!

Courtesy of Kenedi Wren Photography

We adopted our youngest daughter Brielle from Jiangxi, China in April 2012. The journey of adoption has blessed our family in so many ways. We have come to rely on His faithfulness in a bigger way. It has opened our hearts to possibilities we hadn't imagined. The joy we have experienced loving our daughter has given us a new perspective on how much God loves us as His adopted children!  Sure, there are adjustments and challenges that come along with adoption but I will forever be grateful that He called us to adoption!

Brielle was adopted through the Waiting Child program, which is basically for special needs or older children. Our daughter was born with two holes in her heart, which remain open but do not cause her any problems. She is a healthy, cheerful, and independent little girl! If you have any questions about adoption (specifically from China), I'd be happy to help! You can email me at
tera_leann at hotmail.

To the right, there is a link to our adoption video and also photos from our time in China. To read more about our journey, click HERE or HERE.

 

January {My least favorite month}

Without a doubt, January is my least favorite month.  There are some good things in there-- a few family birthdays and some good Indiana high school basketball-- but for the most part, I could skip over January and not mind a bit. It's cold, dreary, and well...simply not my favorite.

Thankfully, I have some sweet little girls to make it a little brighter and more cheerful!

Brielle loves to "color" which really means write. She can make circles and the letter B.
She knows her shapes now so I often get asked to make diamonds, squares, and hearts for her.

One evening, I gave her a bowl of yogurt while I was cleaning up the kitchen.
I heard, "I yike mommy!" I turned to see her smearing it all over her face- like she sees me do with lotion at night!

She was a mess but she sure was having fun!

Brynna's American Girl doll is the Hawaiian girl with hair almost to her ankles.
Anyone who owns an AG doll can tell you how awful the long hair is! Ugh!
So...we cut it!

So much better!!

More writing-- you can tell this was the night she smeared yogurt in her hair!

Pointing to her B.

Brielle is currently obsessed with ballerinas and princesses.
She wants to go to "dance cwass" with Brynna.

She especially loves Cinderella. She wants to meet Cinderella and asks if she can "go 'morrow see cinderewa."
She also asks to "watch movie pince charming and cinderewa hold hands."

Here she is getting her Cinderella fix one morning- looking at a photobook of her sisters at the castle.

Brynna was looking extra cute one morning before church so I had to snap a picture. :)
And for those who knew Brynna as a 2yr old, doesn't Brielle look like Brynna in this picture?!

Best big sister of all- Braylee reading Princess Bedtime Stories to her little sisters.

The End of 2012

The last week of 2012, we spent time celebrating cousin Ella's 4th birthday- first with a night out at our favorite Mexican place and then at her Camp Ella party!

Aunt Mandi is super creative when it comes to parties!
She had a little smores station set up for dessert.

Brielle had her own idea of how to roast her marshmallow! She is such a funny girl!

Happy #4 Ella Nyah-Marie!

Brielle and Kate- just 4 months apart. Can you see Kate saying, "cheese?!" :)

The Sunday after Christmas, Brielle made her singing debut at church.
The girls sang Jesus Loves the Little Children, including the second verse that we recently learned...
"Jesus died for all the children, all the children of the world.
Every color, every race. All are covered by His grace.
Jesus died for the all the children of the world."

We were getting ready to leave on New Year's Eve,
 and the girls decided mommy needed to wear a tiara for the picture too.

Our church rents the bowling alley every year.
This was Brielle's 1st time bowling. She loved it!

She got a little carried away and landed on her toosh!

Love this one-- watching her ball with Daddy by her side, rubbing her sore bottom!

We missed our usual "countdown" friends because the Yoders were home sick. :(

Happy New Year!

Brielle spells her name

In case you didn't see it on FB, here is Brielle spelling her name on Christmas.

The Blizzard of 2012

I don't really know what constitutes a blizzard.  The snow we had after Christmas didn't seem to fit the description it had been given, but we enjoyed it none the less! It was enough to keep Daddy at home for the day which was fun!

Heading out... We didn't last long the first time because it was so windy!

I wish Braylee would have made it in this shot.  You can see our dog Leila in the bottom corner, Brynna is making an angel and Brielle is on her first sled ride.

Reminiscent of her China days with all the layers on. :)
You can see both of the girls in the background.
 

 

 

The next day, they went over to Gramma & Pappy's house.
Alex and his dad helped them build a huge igloo.

We enjoyed the snow but I'm ready for it to be gone so our dog can enjoy the yard again.