When we filled out the one million forms (I am prone to exaggeration, but this is actually pretty close to accurate) to start the adoption process from China, one of the letters we had to write was about why we wanted to adopt from China. In this letter, we had to promise the Chinese government that we would teach Anna about her culture and to appreciate her Chinese heritage. So many other families who have adopted do such a great job with this aspect - I, however, am not quite as industrious. But in order to keep my promise, celebrating Chinese New Year on a small scale seems like a great place to start!
Anna wore her traditional Chinese dress that I bought for in Guangzhou, and we went out to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant by our house after the evening service. I had prepared red envelopes filled with money for each of the boys, thinking that Anna wouldn't really care if she didn't get a present this year. The boys were given instructions, though, that they had to eat their food without complaining, and then they would receive their gift. Unfortunately, that did not exactly happen, so Anna came home with 3 red envelopes of money. While it was a painful lesson to learn, the boys laughed hysterically when they handed Anna her money and she promptly threw it beside her on the floor. This action was repeated about 15 times, so despite a tough loss for the boys, the evening ended well.
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| Anna in her favorite place - in her room with her music toy. |
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| Eggrolls for all! |
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| Thanks for coming, Ms. Laura, and hanging out with all these crazy kids! |
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| So tough to try new food! |
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| At least Anna didn't scream the entire time... |
