Gong Hey Fat Choy!

I've always enjoyed exposing the kiddos to cultures other than our own, and this past Friday afforded us the perfect opportunity to do just that.  January 31 was Chinese New Year...the day that Korea, Vietnam, China, and other Asian countries celebrate the New Year based on the Lunar calendar.  2014 is the year of the horse (each year is based on one of the 12 Zodiac animals) and the boys loved crafting, eating, and reading about many of the fun traditions that accompany this Eastern holiday.

Here are a few of the crafts we made...
* Popsicle stick horse
* Paper lanterns - the Chinese children end the 12 day holiday by a lantern parade
* Red envelopes with Chinese symbols - Chinese children receive these as gifts with coins or other treats inside.  Red is the color of good luck and is used in many New Year festivities.
* Fortune 'cookies' - folding circles of red paper into traditional shapes with our own paper fortunes stuffed inside.
* Paper dragon puppets - we danced them to music and Chinese drums

Pinterest has been a wealth of ideas for us this school year :)

Cutting our lanterns

Making dragon puppets

On Friday, we enjoyed storytime at our local library with CNY books and a lantern craft.  Our sweet friends, Karla and Melanie also came to join us.

Sweet Melanie 

To make dinner extra special, I decorated the table with our crafts, Chinese name place cards (I found a website that translates your name to Chinese symbols...so neat!), leftover birthday napkins for color, and tried a delicious new recipe of beef broccoli w/ noodles.  Michael visited a local restaurant for free chopsticks and fortune cookies to add to the authenticity of our meal :)

Ate my ENTIRE meal with those bad boys 

Opening their red envelopes.

Checking out our homemade fortune cookies

Breaking open the real thing

We also used this holiday as a tool to continually teach Cole about our one, true God.  The Chinese worship many gods and rely heavily on the thought of 'luck'.  They clean their home from top to bottom the night before the New Year to 'sweep the bad luck and evil away' - even leaving open windows at the midnight hour so that anything missed might leave and the good spirits can find their way into the home.  Some families also believe that if the traditions aren't kept or followed in the exact order at the exact time, they could invite bad luck into their home for the entire year...whew!  So thankful for a God that knows me intimately, gives undeserved love and grace, and doesn't ask that I come to him cleaned up (with a clean home :)).  A Savior that bestows blessings on those he loves that no amount of 'luck' could ever match.  What a beautiful truth to pass to our little ones.

Throughout the week, we took moments to stop and specifically pray for Asian missionaries and for all the families we know that have adopted or are in the process of adopting from China/Vietnam/Korea.  We wanted them to know that their journey of compassion and obedience has not been forgotten. We stand in awe of the way the Lord has knit families together both near and far and the way He is furthering His kingdom in these dark places.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!
(Happy New Year!)