中秋節

Sunday is the Chinese Moon Festival or Mid Autumn Festival

It is one of the most important traditions and one of the most significant festivals

in asian countries

In Chinese culture it is a time of reunion.

Gathering together.

Traveling, sometimes great distances, to be home.

With family.

For fellowship and food.

We were in China in 2004 for the Mid Autumn festival.

It was truly wonderful to see the preparations and so many people
moving across the cities and the country to be home.

For many who leave home and work far distances away from family,
this time of reunion is very significant and very sweet.

Here are the symbols for reunion of family - the symbols say a lot!

Lanterns are lit and fireworks echo all night long.  Mooncakes are everywhere!
This was a beautiful mooncake stand in our hotel in Changsha.
All those gold boxes are filled with mooncakes!

During our wait for David, we marked the festival time by sending
 a box of mooncakes to his foster family in Wuhan

and pajamas and socks to the orphanage for the children to have for the upcoming

winter months.

David was then two years old and the report back from his foster mother was,

Wu Yue He like cake....very rich so only eat small bite!"

Believe me....I only ate a small bite, too.  

They are beautiful, but the fillings are quite unusual...

like red bean curd, lotus seed curd, whole aged egg yolks or salted duck eggs.

Much more beautiful than our traditional Christmas fruitcake,
but equally dense and not deserving, really, of the name "cake"

This year was a special celebration for our family.
David's friend Joshua, also from Wuhan City, was adopted by a family in Dallas.
We followed their journey and they followed ours.  We've kept in touch.

When we moved to Texas, Joshua's mommy introduced me via email and facebook to
 another family they had traveled with on another adoption trip to China who lived in Houston...
and another family from Florida that has just moved to Houston from Florida.

Melissa, Carie and I reached out to each other this past summer.

Our three families met at PF Changs tonight.

I love the bond between strangers that is in Christ Jesus.

I love the bond that adoption from China brings, too.
We had a really nice time!

Three beautiful girls!

and a little early birthday celebration to add to the evening's festivities

My kids thought it was funny we were meeting strangers for dinner.

But we all became fast friends and rejoice that God drew us together to celebrate

the beauty of those folded into our families from China.

It is a glimpse of the global church responding to the biblical mandate to care for the orphan.
What a really beautiful thing!

It is so important for our chinese daughters and sons to enjoy and embrace their culture...

and the festivals are a fun and easy way to do this for our family.

Our childrens' story - their life story
 includes being Chinese and we celebrate that!

And it was a joy to celebrate with new friends this evening!

Thankful for the gift of these two beautiful children,
a love for their homeland and its rich history and traditions
and new friends in Texas!

See You At The Pole

Meredith led the charge Wednesday morning

and had the rest of the kids up

bright and early.

It was See You At The Pole Day.....

and she wanted to be there

to join her classmates and schoolmates in praying

for their school

for their city

for their country

All four of them drove off a bit before the sun was fully up

and joined in on this annual National event

with worship and prayer

circled around our flags at Cypress Christian School

The 2012 See You at the Pole theme was

Awaken

and the Scripture is Ephesians 3:14–21—

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father… I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts…And I pray that you… grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and…that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…’”

Student organized.

Student led.

All to glorify God and seek his mercy and blessing.

We are Warriors.  Warriors in prayer!

Awaken, us, dear Lord!

He did it!

David wrote his name today.

All

by

himself!

This, my friends, is a major accomplishment.  

The boy resists coloring, writing or anything in that general category.

But boy was he proud today!

When I arrived at his classroom doorway - he popped up, ran to the door

and yelled, "Mom.....I did it all by myself. D. A. V. I. D"

Isn't it beautiful!?

I cherish little milestones of celebration in a child's life.

Like writing your name by yourself

for the very first time!

Which makes me remember that as soon as Meredith could do this....

she wrote it everywhere -

with a sharpie marker.

on her bed, on her wall, on the bookshelf, on her closet, out the door and on the banister, and all the way down the stairs.  

Practice makes perfect!

Gotcha Day Memories!

September 22, 2004 was a beautiful day.

It was Gotcha Day....the day Yue Hui Ping joined our family forever!

Today we will celebrate Claire.

We will celebrate God's faithfulness in her life.

We will recall His mighty deeds in the life of our family.

We will pray over and bless our precious daughter.

We will cherish memories and share stories.

We will look at photographs from our first trip to China.

And yes, we will have Chinese food - or Tex Mex if she prefers.

We just scrolled through this short summary of Claire's adoption

and her "Gotcha Day"

HERE

We have celebrated 8 "Gotcha Days" -

and I still get teary when I stop and ponder God's goodness to us.

Claire Hui Ping,

You are dearly loved and cherished.

God blessed us BIG when He gave us YOU!

Love to you on this special day!

Happy Gotcha Day to all our Bethany friends, too, who received their daughters at the same time!

These are special "sisters"...sharing a crib room for the first 10 months of their lives.

We love you all!

And our guide Sheyan, Bethany Coordiantor in China, who is assisting our friends

in China right now....8 years later!  

What an amazing ministry she has!

Great to look back and remember!

My heart swells with gratitude and joy!

Precious Ingrid Xingling

Prayer Warriors.....

here is an update from China

(it took several days, but we have a smile!)

and isn't it the cutest smile you've ever seen!?

How wonderful to see Ingrid with her family

(this photo was taken at the orphanage with Ingrid's caretaker)

What a beautiful family!

Keep praying, friends!

Ingrid is doing well, but she is grieving oh so hard.

This is such a good sign that she is expressing it...all a part of attaching to her new family.

But so hard for the boys...and for tired parents living out of suitcases in a far away country!

She is very attached to Matt 

(quite common as her caretakers have all been female and so that is the source of rejection)

She scrams when Kris so much as looks at her.

What a patient mamma my friend is being.

Tenderly loving her new daughter in her husbands arms.

Whispering her heartfelt affection into her ear as she sleeps.

Tending to her every need through tears and clinging to Matt.

While Kris knows this is common and healthy and will slowly subside,

it breaks a mother's heart 

especially when you've anticipated holding your baby for 18 months!

They travel to Guanzhou today, the last leg of this God ordained journey.

It is a beautiful city.

They will enjoy it greatly!

May each new day bring healing to Ingrid's heart

and may our God, who knew before the beginning of time, that Xinling

would be the precious daughter of this family-

and brought it all to pass....

knit their hearts together

help them to savor the amazing memories they have made

and bring them safely home.

All praise to Him - THIS is a great thing He has done!!!

CCS Football Meets HRB

Meredith invited her senior varsity football friends (and her brother)  to come to her

Pas de Deux class tonight as they are very short on male dancers to partner with.

(Actually, she bribed them with homemade brownies at lunch last week)

Surprisingly, they accepted the challenge and showed up after football practice!

Everyone, including Ballet Mistress Barbara thought it was great fun!

Look at the concentration as Miss Barbara gives instructions.

Peter sure looks confident out there!

A little sideline coaching for the defensive line players!

They certainly recognized quickly how hard it is.

Peter marvels at Dan's perfect shoulder sit!

He's the man!

It was, according to all involved, ridiculously fun.

Miss Barbara invited them all back....

and she got verbal commitments from all of them!

Meredith is going to have to make more brownies I think!

Austin Road Trip

The Warrior football team traveled to Austin, Texas

this weekend for a dual match against Regents Christian School.

Varsity played on Friday night.

JV played Saturday at noon.

Ian took Meredith and Charlotte - I hung back with the littles.

Wish I could have seen Peter play, though.

He did a great job.

And the team did a great job.

They won 38 to 13.

Varsity Coach Spenn got to see the JV team in action

and coached Peter throughout the game!

The seniors served as water boys for the game....this is Meredith's friend Paul

sneaking into the sibling shot.

Coach Spenn had some nice things to say to the team

and to Peter....he got one of the game balls today!

As the JV team was getting ready for the game,

the two varsity teams shared a breakfast and prayer time together.

It is an annual tradition for these two teams whose coaches are good friends!

Road trippin' for Friday night lights.

Yep.  We're Texans now!

I heart Texas!

Really I do.

The Soup Pot

It is turning fall.

Slowly but surely it is cooling ever so slightly

here in Houston.

And I am in full anticipation of sweatshirts, stadium blankets 

and fires in the fireplace!

And when the weather starts to turn toward fall. . .

my mind turns toward fall food.

Namely - soups!

I love to make soup.

There are no photos or links to recipes for some of my favorites

like grandma's vegetable beef soup or

my mom's potage crecy (carrot soup)

Ron's Chicken Corn Chowder or

Sara's Spicy Sausage and Lentil Soup

These are old favorites scratched out on food stained cards

that I cherish and turn to time and time again!  

There are a few of our tried favorites available on the internet

and some new finds I cannot wait to make -

Our all time family favorite is Ina Garten's Chicken Chili

It is loaded with chicken and red and yellow peppers.

We love it with all sorts of toppings and tortilla chips!

Photo and Recipe from HERE

Another family favorite is Chicken Tortilla Soup

from Pioneer Woman

Photo and Recipe from HERE

While you're over at Ree's site, check out her recipe for

Roasted Vegetable Minestrone Soup

By far the best minestrone EVER!

Photo and Recipe found HERE

Here are a few new recipes that I want to try in the coming weeks:

Smoky Corn Chowder with Shrimp

from Bev Cooks

Photo and Recipe is HERE

I found this lovely looking recipe for White Bean Chowder

at An Edible Mosaic

Photo and Recipe found HERE

Lastly, I've been on the hunt for a decent homemake 

wonton soup recipe.

I don't know if Martha is the best source for asian,

but her recipe looks clean and simple....so I'm gonna give it a try!

The kids love making wontons!

Photo and Recipe found HERE

Simply scrolling through these beautiful photographs made me hungry for soup!

And I think we are due for more rain today. .

so guess what we're having for dinner!?

Question is. . .which one!?

Four Brothers and a Little Sister

Ingrid Xinling Anderson -

Precious darling

Child of God

is coming home!!!

God has provided for her.  And surely she has received decent care in

the orphanage in China.  But her family, our dear friends from Minnesota, leave tomorrow

to be united with her forever. . .and bring her home!

Yes.  God is good.

How my heart aches for every child to know the love of a family.

Ingrid won't be starving for affection

with these four brothers looking out for her....

Noah, Bjorn, Isaac and Oskar....

She's gonna make a darling little Swede!

This family is in our fervent prayers and they journey to China

and fold Ingrid into their hearts and arms and lives.

If God should bring them to your mind,

join me in praying for them the next 12 days....

To God be honor and praise and great thanksgiving

Great things He has done!

WE LOVE YOU ANDERSONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Drawing Challenge

Claire loves to draw.

She loves art in general.

Once in a while, we will give Claire a

drawing challenge.

Today, Ian chose this beautiful antique porcelain collie.

It belonged to Grandma Irene and was given to him before her passing.

It reminds us of her...and her amazing collection of beautiful antiques

and the stories she could tell about her favorite things.

Claire set up her "studio" in the dining room and went to work.

Sketching away.

Concentrating very hard.

 The finished drawing hangs on the fridge now.

She was pretty pleased with herself.

I sure wish I was better at saving and organizing her art from different ages.

It has been a blessing to see her grow in this God-given gift.