HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Xin nian kuai le!

In approximately 2 hours and 13 minutes it will be 2008 and 2 years since we signed our adoption contract with Faithful Adoption.

We started our Christmas with a 4AM webchat with Kai Wei and Sarah Grace! What could be better?! We were somewhat disappointed, as it did not seem that they'd received the cute little stockings that we'd sent. :-( But they both appeared well and excited that we had sent presents. While we talked to them we also showed them the elf yourself website with them dancing with their siblings. They both really laughed and smiled. Kai Wei was shocked at first to see himself, but quickly seemed to understand how it was done. Sarah Grace, on the other hand, was rather confused--she mustn't be quite as techno-savvy as Kai Wei.

The rest of our Christmas day was very full. We opened gifts at home and then traveled about 4 hours to spend a couple of days with my family. So much fun. Especially since this will probably be the last Christmas at my childhood home, as my parents have their house on the market and are planning to move to a retirement community near us. Yay!
My mom was so sweet. She had a copy of a picture she has of my sisters and I all at age 2 in the same dress made for each of us, as well as a picture of our house with the backyard in all 4 seasons. I feel so blessed to have had such a happy and fun and safe childhood. I think this is one reason I've always wanted to adopt.

We were glad after Christmas to hear that our friends from the Chinese Cultural Institute had made it to Jonah House the next day with the children's main presents--a Nintendo DS for Kai Wei and cellphone walkie talkie's for Sarah Grace--as per their requests! Above is a picture of them figuring out the cell phones.