Happy New Year

I can't believe this is the second month of 2014 already! Each year we try to keep some traditions and create some new. We video-taped the New Year's interviews for Emily and Andy on New Year's Eve. Our church friends Bill and Lea (who had the delicious pear trees) invited us to their house for the New Year's lunch on New Year's Eve. We had a great visit.

This is the new dessert I made - peppermint flavored chocolate and cheese cake brownie. It was so rich and yummy. We had to cut into very small pieces to eat it.

 

 The kids had fun playing with the noise makers and other toys after lunch at Lea and Bill's house

 

 

We had planned to invite some FriendSpeak readers to our house for a hotpot on the New Year's day. But none of them could make it. So we had a delicious hotpot with Gayla and David. They enjoyed it as much as we did! Gayla also brought the Christmas gifts for us. They are such thoughtful and darling friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ordered some balloons and a balloon art DVD since our kids love balloons so much. David started practicing it immediately. He made the first doggie for Andy and the first horse for Emily. They all had a great time. Emily even made one by herself in the tent one evening.  

 

 

 

 

 

We had a playdate with Austin, Dillon, Matthew, and Danniel. Emily took out her school play stuff and acted as a teacher.  That was the best time they had playing together.

 

 

Austin and Dillon played with puzzles and trains for a long time.

 

One of our FriendSpeak reader Wei's mom came to visit. Joan (Wei's FriendSpeak worker) and I took her to the stockyard in Fort Worth before she returned China. It was so cold. But Emily and Andy happily tagged along. We didn't stay there long and she was so appreciative that we took the day to drive her around.

 

 

 

The Chinese New Year fell on the last days of January this year. We made some dumplings and several Chinese dishes. But without firecrackers, we still feel like missing something ...

 

 

We had our FriendSpeak's Chinese New Year celebration at church. The weather was so bad. Lots of people didn't make it because of the road condition. It was also the superbowl night. But the rest of us had a wonderful time! Our Chinese readers shared the Chinese celebration traditions and demonstrated the Chinese calligraphy and paper cutting. More pictures are here: https://friendspeak.shutterfly.com/pictures/2517

 

 

 

 

 

One of our goals this year is to teach the kids responsibilities inside home. We got this responsibility station and specified the chores they need to finish to get compensation. Then they divide the money into "Save", "Spend", and "Give" bags. So far we had a little improvement. We need to think of some incentives other than just money.

 

 

New year is a time to look back and look ahead. In the past year, I had many unmet goals and some mistakes. One of the big mistakes was the diet for our kids. They ate the most "healthy" food we could find: lots of whole grains and fruit. And as a result, Emily had eight cavities and one that needs a crown. In case you are wondering the relationship between fruit/whole grains (especially oatmeal that we ate most of mornings and cavities, here is a good place to start: ftp://estellegraphics.com/Estelle/Cure-Tooth-Decay-Second-Edition-Ebook.pdf and http://www.naturalnews.com/022564_cavities_root_canals.html Ever since I came to America I started wondering why so many young kids are going through decay so early (here is a link on Wheat: The UNhealthy Whole Grain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbBURnqYVzw). I never saw a dentist for the first thirty years. Then as soon as I started seeing the dentist here, I started having all kinds of dental problems (root canals, dental implant, crowns, etc.) while my siblings in China still never saw a dentist and never had any problems. After I read lots of informations, I find out that the dentistry system in American is flawed. All the dentists wants to do is to drill, fill and bill without giving our body a chance to recover itself as God designed. Our food system is so depleted now of proper nutrients for all the growing children that so many digestive problems and allergies rose up.  It's just simply sad. Luckily I found hope in many people's lives on they treated the dental problems by nutrition. Here is one example: http://green-earth-mama.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-i-am-curing-my-sons-tooth-decay.html After reading several successful stories as well as the Amazon reviews on "Cure Tooth Decay", I determined to give it a try to work on the diet. It is hard especially in many situations what Emily eats is totally out of my control. But I still want to do my best. I pray that we will have some positive news in several months.

I regretted for feeding our kids too much whole grains and fruit. I also feel bad that Emily has to limit on the fruit intake now because she loves them so much. But hopefully we don't have to go this extreme very long! Looking back on my mistakes, I found comfort and wisdom from "A Holy Experience". Ann wrote about what the piano adudicator said when her daughter muddled through her piano piece:

“So you forgot some notes! Fear and old habits and people pressure and your own interior playlist can do that — to all of us. But! When the piece started to fall apart?

You fell forward, Hope. You didn’t fret about the music behind you — you focused on the next bar.”

“We are all going to botch it somedays. We all sometimes get the notes wrong. But the song only goes wrong when we keep thinking back to the wrong notes.”

“When a piece starts to fall apart — fall forward. Fall forward into the next bar. Moving forward is what makes music.“

Failing? What feels likes failing is really gaining experience. Keep moving Forward!
Falling apart? Fall forward into His arms — falling forward is the only way you make music. Keep moving Forward!
Fearful? Fear is always the first step of faith. Keep moving Forward!
Whenever you are lost, forward is always the way Home.


Below are some random pictures from the month:

 

resting on the sofa

 

flying the kite

 

Andy and Emily both got reading certificates for finish reading their first books independently. We are so proud of Andy. He can read as much as Emily does.