Mid Autumn Festival

One of the biggest festivals in China is that of the Mid Autumn Festival which is a harvest festival that traditionally gives thanks to the moon.  Some have likened it to be the Chinese version of Thanksgiving.

The ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon had a close correlation with the changes in seasons, thus they offered a sacrifice to the moon.  Romantically speaking, the festival is to commemorate Chang E, who in order to protect her beloved husband’s elixir, ate it herself and flew to the moon.  There are numerous other legends surrounding Mid Autumn Festival - the most well-known ones include Jade Rabbit Pounding Medicine, Wu Gang Chopping Laurel Tree, and Zhu Yuanzhang and the Moon Cake Uprising. ( China Travel Guide) Our family's celebration is modified a bit.  Instead of giving thanks to the moon itself, we thanked the Creator of it.  

When asked what they wanted to eat this year, the girls all wanted the traditional mooncakes

And Isaac....well, he wanted SNAILS!

We also had fried rice, steamed buns, and dumplings.

We read the book Thanking the Moon after dinner

 and when it began to get dark the kids enjoyed playing with some glow sticks.

This year we had beautiful, clear skies and were able to see the moon really well through the trees in our backyard.

 

Who is a Football Lover Among Us?

UPDATE:  The auction has ended, but sadly with no bids.  Thanks for taking a peek!

A friend from our homeschool co-op asked if it would be ok for her to auction off some tickets this weekend as a fundraiser towards Pat's adoption. Oh YES!  It is VERY OK!   

If you are a football fan, especially of Ohio college ball, this may really interest you!  Here is her announcement:

ALL FUNDS RAISED go toward bringing Pat home to his family. 

FOUR tickets to 

Ohio State University vs Kent State University football. 

September 13, 2014

Columbus, Ohio

NOON KICKOFF

Face value is $360. 

There is nothing quite like a college football game in Ohio State's stadium - the horseshoe, the "shoe"!  If you are a fan, you already know this. If you have never been, it's an amazing experience you won't want to miss. 

These seats are on the home side (you see the band's performance right-side up), under cover (great in extreme heat or cold or rain), unobstructed by columns, you can see the whole field, has cushioned seats and seat backs, and has two aisle seats (on the correct side so that people going up and down the stairs do not block your view).  You will be near the end zone in the closed end of the stadium. 

Tickets can be transferred to you via email. You can either print at home OR get them sent to your smart phone!

I will sell to the highest bidder. Bidding ends Monday night, September 8, so the winner has enough time to make plans.  I will accept bids via email or Facebook post. 

Ginnyandkids@cinci.rr.com

FB - Ginny Baker Johnson

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. ANYONE CAN BID. 

Remember, this is for bringing this boy home to Ohio, all the way from China!  If that's not a worthy cause, I don't know what is. I love a good bargain, but some things are more important than a good discount. 

For more on this precious boy's story of adoption and to follow his family's progress toward  bringing  him home, visit their blog:  www.lanzadoption.com

Let's raise some money for the Lanz family's adoption fund!

So our process just got a lot shorter!

The one thing I really dreaded with the other adoptions was the long drawn out process of getting the i800a approval.  For those new to the adoption process, the full name of this form is Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country, the convention country being China in this case. With the Princesses, this step took a month, and with Isaac, it took nearly two months.  The USCIS website says to allow up to 90 days.

So you can understand my excitement!  I just heard from our officer, and since we were approved for two children when we applied with Isaac, we get to SKIP that i800a step with Pat, and just use the approval we already have. This will save us one to three months off the time of the process!

Because of things happening in our family - the expected birth of a grandchild, a son graduating from college AND getting married - if we can't travel by February, we pretty much have to wait until June.  Skipping this step just made travel in the beginning of next year go from "highly unlikely" to "certainly possible!" 

Milestones

We arrived at a couple of milestones this week.  On Tuesday our social worker came for a home visit with a double purpose.  It was time to begin working on Isaac's SIX MONTH post placement report (how is THAT possible?) and to do the update for Pat's homestudy!

I'm told they are waiting on a few reference forms to arrive and then we should be DONE!  Our social worker was so excited when she heard Pat's story and saw the photos of the things we did with him this summer.  She said she was going to go home and write the report yet that night.   I'm hoping our placement agency will get our homestudy draft sometime next week.  This was all accomplished in less than a month!  Hoping this lightning pace holds.

ApParent Project Christmas Ornaments

Ornaments are all sold out.  Thank you, everyone!

They are here!  Instead of shopping Hallmark or Walmart for ornaments this year, how about making your purchase count?  We are partnering once again with The ApParent Project  to sell their ornaments made from upcycled oil drums.  They feature their signature paper bead - from upcycled cereal boxes.  In addition to improving the Haitian landscape, the artisans are bringing new hope to their families, employing themselves for a brighter future and earning the means to pay for their children's food, shelter, and education. That means less orphans, less crime, less garbage, less stress, and a whole lot more beauty.  Buying from your local mall can't top that!

HAND-MADE by Haitian Artisans
Handcrafted using paper beads, metal from old oil drums.
No two items are exactly alike! They are similar, but unique.

Ornaments are all sold out.  Thank you, everyone!

Van Stalking Results in Attending Chinese Church!

Let me start out with the disclaimer that I am NOT normally a stalker... yesterday was an exception.

Here is the scoop: I remember our first trip to China and how I CRAVED hearing the English language by the time we got home.  I believe this has made me more sensitive to how our dear son could be feeling right about now.  He is progressing so well with his English.  He has worked through the first two levels of Rosetta Stone English this summer, and I'm very proud of his accomplishment.  But Chinese is his first language.  It seems to me that he must crave the familiar at least from time to time.

So as I was out and about town yesterday I found myself following a big, white van.  But this was no ordinary white van.  It had red writing on it that said, "Cincinnati Chinese Church."  Whaaaaaa?  We have a Chinese church?

As I contemplated possibly following this vehicle to its destination, I decided to not be, well...a stalker.  It turned left as I turned right.  I decided if I happened to be anywhere near where it eventually parked I WAS going to get some information from the driver. Imagine my surprise when we BOTH approached the Target parking lot - from opposite directions!

The driver got out of his van, I got out of my van, and I walked FAST to catch up with him and get his attention.  By the time I caught up with him, his wife had caught up with both of us.  They were a charming couple who gladly gave me the address and directions to their church, along with details about when to show up for the services.

I was so excited to get there this morning so our sweet boy could hear the sermon in his first  language!  And guess what we parked next to?   THE van!

The church had an awesome set up.  The songs, announcements and preaching were entirely in Mandarin Chinese, but they offered Ethan, Tikvah and me little FM radios with ear buds.  Someone (we never did spot who) translated everything and transmitted it over a low power frequency to our radios.

There is just something about a room full of people singing praise songs in Mandarin.  I could listen to it for a V-E-R-Y long time.  And thanks to the translator (whom we hope to spot and actually SAY "thanks" to the next time) we enjoyed a good sermon too.  But best of all, Isaac got to REALLY understand the sermon this morning!

Puzzle Fundraiser

Our puzzle for Pat is pretty awesome in that it actually has photos of us together!  We are currently working on processing fees.  We greatly appreciate your help!

We'll write your name on the back of your sponsored piece(s) then frame the puzzle in double glass when it is complete.  Pieces are sponsored $10 each.  Our other two adoptions had similar fundraisers at about this same step, and we love looking at the back and remembering those who helped us along the way. There is a Paypal button in the right border to make it easy.  Thank you so much for standing with us once again!

Puzzle in progress: