New Year, New Beginning

Our New Year started with a Chinese hotpot with several of our FriendSpeak readers (it's been a tradition for our family for several years now). We always stuffed our tummies until no more bites could put into our mouths. It was so delicious! Emily braided her own hair. It was not bad! It was also a celebration for Lilian's family and Berry's family since both families had some difficulties when they got to America. God saw them through and now they are heading to a much more peaceful life. Their knowledge and faith in God are growing every day!

Emily and Andy participated in their school's first annual Talent Show! They were the youngest participants. Emily played "Joyful Bell" and Andy played "Ode to Joy". They both did a great job! We are SO proud of them! Emily just had one tooth pulled a couple of hours before the Talent show so she couldn't even smile yet ...

 Then Emily participated in the spelling bee contest held in her grade. There were around 130 students in 1st grade. She got the second place! She was so close to the 1st place. They tied for dozens of rounds. Everyone's hearts were thumping! Finally Emily lost on the rules. When she spelled "atomic", she said "atomic, a-t-t ... or no, a-t-o-m-i-c, atomic." When the judge said she was wrong, the parents behind us patted our shoulders "Didn't she spell right?" Then we found out the reason:"The speller can not retract his or her letter once they have begun spelling." It was my fault because I never knew the rules for the spelling bee contest and that was my very first time attending a spelling bee contest. So I never corrected Emily when we practiced at home. But we didn't care! Before the contest, David and I talked about it. We didn't care whether she got in top three or not. But we'd like to see her to do her best in everything she does as if she is working for God. She worked very hard on it. We couldn't be more proud of her! As her teacher said, "she showed such great poise, concentration, sportsmanship, and grace under pressure in a very stressful situation! I am the luckiest teacher at Minshew to have such incredible, bright student ... Thank you for raising such exemplary young people!  "

Emily was nominated to be the "Principal's Award" recipient in January. There is one recipient each grade for each month.  Her teacher said she got the award because she always does her best work, always helps others, and always listens. She was a great example for other students! Way to go, Emily! We can't wait to see what God holds for you as you grow in wisdom and stature.

 Our church had a family game night. Emily and Andy had a great time while David and I were in FriendSpeak. I couldn't believe she had that pair of boots on. Just in case you couldn't tell, the picture below shows what they really look like. I threw them in the trash one day when she didn't look. She found out later on and pleaded me with tears streaming down her face to save them, "to tape the holes, to donate to others, to ..." Oh well, I finally agree to keep them in the garage for a couple days until her new boots arrive.

Emily and Andy had the fundraising activities at school to buy a water filter for her school. I couldn't believe they ran 35 laps (2.5 miles) so fast!

This is the picture of Emily in the dentist's office. Back two years ago, she had a tooth that had a hole. We decided to put the fillings in the hole and heal the other cavities by diet. All the other cavities were healed by her diet. The filling ended up falling out around Christmas time. We didn't know it until her dentist's visit. The dentist put a new filling in. But within days, her gum started swelling and she had an abscess. The dentist told us it has to be pulled out. So that was a couple of hours before the Talent Show. The people there were so nice to Emily. The assistant massaged and held Emily's hand all the time. Emily was so brave that she got extra goodies on her way out. I pray that it would be the last time she had to have any dental work!

 We had our annual Chinese New Year's party for FriendSpeak. Emily and Andy demonstrated some Chinese words to receive the Red Envelopes. They also helped entertaining everyone by playing some music. They had planned to do the magic tricks also. But they couldn't find their magic kit when we hurried to leave the house. So they will do that at the next party.

 One of our FriendSpeak readers' is Andy too. So Andy and Andy ...

 Andy learned to play the Chinese "Ma Jiang" and he even won one game! He just loves all kinds of games.

 Emily's AHG troop took a group picture. What an awesome group of girls!

 Emily's AHG group had a movie night at a church. The movie was "War Room". I heard lots of great things about that movie. I was waiting to buy the DVD once the price is lowered down. Now we could watch it for free! The movie was two hours long. Andy got sleepy in the end. Emily kept strong. On the way home, she suggested we each use our own closet as our prayer room. David and I said it was a great idea. We came home and got into our beds. The next day when David and the kids were decorating for the Valentine's Day, David signaled to me "You got to see Emily's closet!" I thought she might have re-arranged her closet to use it as a prayer room. But when I got in, nothing was moved. Just when I was about to leave, I saw these prayers on the back of her closet door. "Dear God, I pray that I never sin again. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!" "Dear God, I pray my mom and my dad will be better people. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!" "Dear God, I pray that I never do bad things to my brother again. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!" ... They warmed my mommy heart! Matthew 18:2 "And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.…" I am humbled!

 Here are a couple of pictures of Emily and Andy doing Bible study at the breakfast table.

Emily and Andy had their Valentine's parties on Friday. I was Emily's classroom parent so I couldn't be with Andy. Luckily David was able to visit Andy's party. We set up four stations for Emily's class. The kids enjoyed all the games, especially the chopstick racing game!

 Here is a picture of Emily with her best friend Katherine.

 The rest of the kids who hadn't left wanted to take a group picture too!

 Andy got to visit Emily's class.

 We had a great Valentine's celebration at home! We had our lunch at a restaurant "The Red Lantern" featuring my hometown food (Da Pan Ji). We had a feast for breakfast (yummy goji sesame rice soup; sweet potatoes, savory gluten free pancakes, berries and cream parfait, ...) and got these lovely cards and roses! The flowers are SO beautiful! They opened more each day. I hope they will last for a long time!

 Gayla dropped by and gave the kids their Valentine's gifts. She was so thoughtful! Emily loved the pony painting project!

 Emily was great at writing the love notes. She wrote them on a daily base. Often we found little notes on our pillows, on the keyboard, under the sheet, or on the door. On Valentine's day, I asked the kids to write notes to each other. Here is what Andy's door looked like (I pinched in and wrote a couple of them). By the time I thought about taking pictures, Emily already collected the notes from her door and put them into a treasure box she made for herself.

 Now, this is God's love note outside our window!

Looking ahead, we have so many exciting things for this year! I pray that 2016 will be the best year yet, both in personal growth and in what God is doing in our life!