Celebrating The Moon Festival

On Saturday, we attended the Asian Children's Mentor Program's Moon Festival celebration. This celebration is always scheduled near the Fall solstice in celebration of the coming season. We always enjoy this event. When I first arrived, my sweet mentor Ji In had a beautiful pair of earrings she made me! I'm showing them off here. They are clip-ons since my ears are not pierced yet. Mama and Baba are allowing me to make the decision when to pierce mine, and I'm not ready yet.

Here I am posing with Daddy.

And now with Mama.

Here I am with my friends Grace and Nichole.

Then, we spent some time with our mentors making crafts. I'm not sure yet what we are making, but these are the sheets of paper we'll use.

Ji In is helping me cut the paper.

I'm doing really well with the scissors!

Now, Ji In is painting flowers and a butterfly on my arm.

I have a pretty blue flower now!

Here is our whole group - the mentors, parents and the kids!


This young man is about to play a Vietnamese string instrument.

The music was just beautiful!

The 2009 Moon Festival was a LOT of fun. Be sure to check back later for pictures from our upcoming Gotcha Day celebration. It will be our 3-year anniversary of the day we became a forever family.

Referral Anniversary & Great Labor Day With Friends

On August 25, 2009, we celebrated the 3-year anniversary of the day Mama and Baba received my referral. What that means is that on that day, they received the call they had been waiting for - that a little baby girl (me!) was waiting for them in an orphanage in China. Later that day, they received pictures of me via e-mail. A week later, they received all kinds of information about me that documented my abandonment at the orphanage and then my development over the months. During the time between the referral and the day they met me (October 9), Mama and Baba were preparing for the trip. Each year, we celebrate these special days. This year, for our referral anniversary, we went out to dinner at the place of my choice. I wanted "rice, noodles and FIRE" which meant that I chose to go have some delicious Japanese food at a hibachi grill where they prepre the food in front of us. We will also be doing something special for "Gotcha Day" but Mama and Baba haven't told me what that will be yet. I think they are planning to surprise me. Another fun thing we did recently was to celebrate Labor Day with our friends Nichole and her mom Stacey. Nichole is also from China and is a couple of years older than me. They visited our house, and we grilled delicious food that day and ended the meal with hot fudge sundae cupcakes! We had a great time. Here I am with my friend Nichole.

I have a doctor's kit at home, and Nichole had fun giving me an exam. Here she is checking my teeth! She said they looked fantastic.

We also had a great time playing in my princess tent. Nichole is hiding in this picture.

We have a very busy few months coming up. Next weekend will be the Asian Children's Mentor Program's (ACMP) Moon Festival. Then, Gotcha Day (October 9), then Mama's Birthday on October 22, then another ACMP event, Halloween, and then we'll move on into the holiday season. I can't wait!