Happy Year of the Golden Pig!

As I sat in the audience at the elementary assembly last week, I was completely amazed at how confident Maddie was up on stage. She IS the minority here yet she doesn't even notice... unless of course we're walking around Shanghai! She had spent the entire week preparing for her very first on stage performance. Lessons were filled with the meaning of Chinese New Year and she made lanterns and scrolls filled with Chinese characters. I very simply asked her what they said and she very simply told me, "Shin nien quai le." "Of course it did," I thought as I searched the files in my brain to recall that little tidbit I had forgotten! We had a Chinese dress made for her at the fabric market in the fall and she just managed to squeeze into one last time for the New Year celebration at school. After a big meal full of homemade dumplings and visits from Grandpa Earl and Grandma Barbara, she was off to perform her two songs on stage with her peers! It was a perfect start to a perfect holiday!