The Saturday Evening Post

OK. So here's the other post referred to in the previous post, so be sure to check out the post below to give you the context for this post, written post getting home from the Jamieson's home, but not posted until after the Athens FCC post. What did he say? Something about a post!

In addition to our CNY (that's Chinese New Year) celebration at Lindsay Lane Baptist Church in Athens (see previous post), we were able to celebrate CNY with some of our very best new friends over in Florence, AL - the Jamiesons and the Morgans - on Sunday afternoon. I hope they enjoyed having us over as much as we enjoyed visiting. The Jamiesons and the Morgans both played a significant role in Lily Grace's journey to us. Lori and Drew Jamieson were sponsors for the Adoption fair at Highlands Baptist Church where we met Dustin Britt from Lifeline Children's Services. Laura and Tom Morgan visited the orphanage where Lily Grace (Jiang Yongxing) lived and sent us pictures some 4 months before our Gotcha Day. The day we got those pictures reminded me of the day Austin was born! So they are both very special to us and we thank God when we get to spend time with them.

So, what does one do at a CNY celebration? Well, it appears that it's very similar to our own NY celebration in that lots of food is consumed. Now I know why it's the year of the pig. Just as a matter of record, in the Chinese New Year's culture, every year is named for one of twelve animals that answered the call from Buddah (did I spell that right?). The animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Characteristics of people born in the year of the pig are that they will be popular and friendly (lest they find themselves on a giant rotisserie with hot coals below!).

So, as was the case Saturday night, I had my share of the food. It was really good. Lily Grace ate more this time, but her friend from Jiangxi, Sarah Morgan, took the cake (literally) in the eating contest. Even after everyone else had left the room, Sarah was still nibbling at the food. I myself helped her with two additional helpings of rice and noodles. Just seeing Sarah's cute expression as she enjoyed her Chinese meal was blessing enough for me for the evening! But, as a further blessing, Lily Grace and Sarah have taken to hugging each other, like two grown ladies would, every time they see each other. And I mean real "mmm..mmm" types of hugs. Check out the picts. Of course Lily likes to spend time with Kate and Karlee too, unless they try to take Pamba (what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine!). Some more great pictures.

With two other families visiting the Jamiesons, there were enough kids to populate a small school. Several adopted, several biological, all miracles from God. I continue to be amazed at how our biological (I really don't like that term) children have adapted to having additional siblings. I think God is teaching them a really cool life lesson through their experiences. Kalie and Ashleigh are wonderful big sisters to their new siblings and Austin is equally loving to his little Lily Grace. Check out the pictures with Austin and all the little kids. The youngest amongst them was Will, Tom and Laura's son. Will was born in Vietnam and is the most recent addition to the Morgan's family. Now he has two older sisters (Sarah and Ashleigh) to keep him company - you're in big trouble Will, you just don't know it yet! Just kidding, if I could pick two sisters of my own, Sarah and Ashleigh would definitely be high on the list. Congratulations Tom. I know that Will is just going to bless your days beyond anything you can imagine.

Thanks Drew and Lori for having us over for Chinese New Year. We had a great time and look forward to seeing all of you again soon.

Happy New Year! Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace