Another Birthday Celebration

Hannah celebrates her 9th birthday with her friends at New Day Foster Home!!



What could be more fun than having 2 birthday parties?! Though her birthday was on the 6th, she got to celebrate again at the end of the month when New Day held their monthly birthday party for those having birthdays that month.



Blow hard, Hannah!! It usually takes her several blows to get her candles all blown out.

A Serious Sweet Tooth

Though this isn't the best picture, I just had to show you anyway. Sunday morning all the girls received a basket from us for Easter. While it wasn't by any means full, it had a goodly amount of candy in it--enough to last several days--I would have thought:) But what do I know?!

Anyway, this picture was taken of Jenna only 24 hours later when asked where all her candy went! She laughed and showed us it was all gone already. Can you believe it didn't last more than 24 hours?!! This girl has a VERY serious sweet tooth!!

THEN, when New Day had their Easter egg hunt 2 days later, she received another basket of candy which NONE of it made it home!! I do have to say one thing in her defense though. She did give some of it away, however, most of it she ate that afternoon before returning home:) Sweet things disappear with this girl faster than the blink of an eye!!

Also, the other girls have learned to put theirs up where she can't get it as they tend to space theirs out. They've learned this the hard way. If there is candy ANYWHERE within her reach--hey, it's fair game in her book!!

Celebrating Easter With NDFH

Though the girls were to have the Easter egg hunt at New Day Foster Home on Friday, it up and decided to rain here though it rains very infrequently. Therefore, the egg hunt was postponed until the beginning of this week. They even got to pet some baby ducks and rabbits too:) It was great fun, however, I have to wonder if some of the very little rabbits survived the day! Elizabeth particularly LOVES animals of any kind. She was quite excited to spend some time holding the ducks and bunnies as did all our girls.




Hannah, though, thought the duck's quack was way too loud and annoying!



Spending some time petting the bunnies after hunting for eggs.



The mommy bunny needs some lovin' too!! Right Elizabeth?!!



Jenna and Serena look on as Shawna and Elise pet the cutest little bunny!

Celebrating Easter With NDFH Cont.

Serena seems pretty taken with these little things too!



Jenna looks for more treats! One can never have too much candy you know!!



Hannah is also in search for more.



Shawna, Elise, Serena, and Hannah take time out to pose for a group photo.



Hannah and Serena have become quite the buddies since Hannah began going to school with Serena last month!! They seem to be inseparable at times!

Easter Treats

The girls got up on Easter morning to find a basket of candy waiting for them. Though they didn't know or expect it was to happen, they were delighted upon discovering it!

Coloring Eggs

The Forever Home gets to enjoy holidays twice! They generally have activities at New Day Foster Home and then again at home. They got to color some eggs for Easter which they found to be great fun!



I know I haven't been blogging as often these days. I get busy and sometimes it's just hard to find the time. Then when I have the time, seems like I just want to have a rest instead. Things will slow down a bit more when school's out and I'll have more time for such things. I'll try and do more blogging and perhaps when I do have the time, I can do several posts at one time and then just save them and publish more regularly, how's that sound?!

Coloring Eggs Cont.

Congratulations Brian & Sally!!

It's a wedding of two of our very own New Day staff--Sally & Brian!!



We have watched their relationship build and blossom into something very beautiful! We couldn't be happier for the two of them and we were blessed to have attended their happy occasion. Though their actual wedding ceremony was in the traditional Western white dress and tux, it is also traditional here to change into a different dress and suit for the reception. I know you all have seen hundreds of pictures of the traditional Western attire, so I thought I'd instead show you their beautiful reception clothing. Aren't they beautiful and don't they make just the cutest couple?!!



Here, we've been seated and are waiting for the ceremony to begin. Naturally, with everyone all dressed in their finest, mom has to take a few pictures:) We couldn't have been more pleased as all the girls were one their best behavior and they were all eyes and ears during the ceremony. I didn't ear a word out of them as they all listened and watched intently--whew!!



Then we all went to the reception and enjoyed a meal together along with a nice slide show of childhood pictures of the bride and groom, many times together, and their wedding photos.



Then they gave out these cute little gift boxes filled with candy to each guest as they left--also something very traditional here.



All week, actually more than that, the girls have looked forward to their wedding. For about 3 of our girls, it is their very first wedding and boy, were they excited!! All week, Serena kept telling us she was going to cry 'cause she was so happy. I've been known to cry at a few weddings myself, so I could surely relate. Though, I have to tell you---she never ended up crying. I'm not sure what they expected, but even when it was all over and they walked back down the isle, Hannah said to me "What?! There isn't any more?!!" I assured her it was all over and she seemed disappointed.

Congratulations Brian & Sally Cont.!!

We were able to get a rare family photo!! It's just hard to get everyone altogether at once and then have someone else to actually take the picture for us. I was happy to get a new family photo as our other one is quite old:)



Some of us had to leave early for the wedding to have some cupcakes we baked for the wedding there early so they could construct this cool cupcake tower. So Shawna, Elise, Elizabeth and I brought the cupcakes early and I then had time to take some photos of some of the girls. It is spring here and all the trees have bloomed and many already have leaves. Anyway, it makes for some beautiful pictures.



Later, then when the others came, I took more pictures of the other girls. Darn, I forgot to take a picture of all the girls together and by the time I remembered, it was too late! I guess there's always next time:(
Doesn't Hannah look so beautiful in her nice outfit?!!



Jenna got a new dress for the occasion and she couldn't wait until the wedding to wear it!



Serena also looked beautiful, as all the girls did, in their finest!!

Lunar Market Fun

Next weekend, we have a wedding coming up here at New Day. Needing a few dresses for the occasion, we decided to take all the girls to the lunar market on Saturday morning to see if we could set them up with proper outfits for the wedding. We found pretty much what we needed and a few extra things.



The girls always enjoy some cool balloons when we go and we didn't disappoint them.

Build It High Girls!

The Forever Home was recently blessed with some foam blocks and they decided to put them to good use. After they built it as high as they could and used nearly every block, they called me and dad in to check it out. Awesome job girls!

Hannah Turns 9!!

Yesterday Hannah turned 9!!



Every child looks forward with much anticipation to their birthday each year and Hannah was no exception. Us older people, however, don't tend to do that do we?! Rather, we say something like "oh, it's my birthday AGAIN!"



Hannah got many great gifts. Several of them from the other girls were food items such as some of Hannah's favorite candies or spicy treats that she loves so much! All the girls are so giving and it just touches our hearts as they give from their hearts.



Randy and I got her a mini computer. She was very excited about all her gifts including that. It's an English/Chinese teaching tool and we thought it'd not only be fun, but educational as well. Much of the evening was spent playing on it. She can learn how to say and recognize many things in English as well as Chinese. Things like the alphabet, numbers, counting, basic math (addition and subtraction), as well as all the names of the various fruits, vegetables, people and professions, shapes, colors and soooo much more.