Chinese New Year!

Okay, I am  Super a bit late posting this. But the truth is since we are waiting on LID and LOA I have nothing fun to post about :-)

Lee and I decided to go to the Seattle Chinese New Year celebration! We wanted to get a taste of Madeline's culture ( well, as good as you can in Seattle, Washington).

 BOY.OH.BOY it was CROWDED. As in, people are pushing and shoving. If you have a personal bubble I would recommend watching from the side lines:)

***Please forgive the quality of pictures...I don't own a camera anymore, only the one on my phone:-) ***

We really loved the decorations everywhere. I didn't capture them all, but lots of lanterns and dragons!

The Dragon Parade!

The childrens Costume contest ( My personal favorite part...SO CUTE!)

And I didn't get pictures of this much, but they had alot of sword fights, kung fu etc...This little boy was DARLING!! He literally had the crowd wrapped around his little finger!

And, My first experience with Dim Sum! I was so confused. They came with a cart, and I was waiting for a menu. Then they started lifting lids off things and asking me what I wanted.  I just kept nodding yes to everything they said until our table was too full. It was our first experience as our usual exposure to Chinese food is Panda Express :-) This one that is cut in half that I'm showing was SO SO GOOD. It was a bit greasy, but it was fried, doughy, had a sweet but meaty taste? Not sure what it was, but I've been craving it since!

And, I noticed something. Lettuce. Yep, that's right. Lettuce. Hanging in front of doors?!?!?!? Lee and I probably looked so goofy standing there scratching our heads:)

It was a great experience. We can't wait to take Madeline next year!

Q&A

I'm trying not to look at the calendar and calculate just how far we may be from LOA. Especially since it FEELS like we were DTC months ago...but then I see...it was only last Friday. Patience has never been my best quality:) So, in the mean time, we have been getting alot of questions that I thought instead of bombarding my facebook, I would answer them here:)!!

Q: When do you travel?

A:Oh I so wish we knew when:). Right now, we are waiting for LOA and it's a very unpredictable process. We receive LOA 30 days to 120 days. And from there, well I just don't know yet:)

Q: Are you both going to China

 A: At this point, No :( We had a major unexpected event happen last month that pretty much ate my ticket costs. I'm doing well on the items I'm making so who knows, maybe I'll sell enough that I will get to go. Either way, she's coming home:) ( I'm even trying to see if I can get into a Saturday market...still trying to figure it all out:-)

Q: What is Madelines Heart Condition? Is she expected to have a normal lifespan?

A: Define normal. There's no guarantee to ANYONE's lifespan. We are all here as long as God wants us to be. She could live 1 year, she could live 100...As to her heart condition, it is severe, but her day to day life will not be too far off any other childs.

Q: Are you keeping her Chinese name?

A: Sort of. We are making it her middle name:)

There are a few bigger questions that have been asked, like Why China... why are you adopting etc... but those are much longer answers. I've written and re-written the answers a million times. But the simple truth is, Madeline is in China. So, to China we go. We felt drawn, and called, to adopt from China.

As to why we are adopting, we decided years ago that instead of spending the money on treatments to have a biological child, why not take that money and adopt a child that was waiting for a Mom and Dad? And how OH.SO.VERY happy we are we made that decision! Many people have said Madeline is so lucky...the truth is, Lee and I are so lucky to be getting her! God chose us to be her forever parents and it's such an honor the He is trusting us with such a special gift. Lee and I are the lucky ones:)

Here are some pictures from Lee's friend and co-worker Hsun Ming. Hsun Ming went to China last month to visit his parents, and then went to Xian to visit a friend. He took some medical supplies from us to Starfish and got to meet our daughter. She had a high fever and wasn't in the best of spirits, but all I wanted to do was hop on a plane and cuddle that sweet baby until she felt better!