Happy New Year!

Ok, technically Chinese New Year was last Thursday. But since they celebrate it for 15 days (yes, 15!) with 5 days off work, I'm not really late in my wish for you!

We went to the Minneapolis area for the weekend. It was a wonderful time, even though Brandy's back was really really hurting. He was such a trooper though. Stayed in upbeat spirits even though he was hurting. He's been struggling for over 2 weeks with it now. The doctor's going to start him in PT to see if that helps. Please say a prayer that he can get some relief.

My favorite part of the weekend was seeing our traveling (to China) buddies and their kids. We really connected in China and it was so awesome to catch up again. I just wish we lived a tad bit closer. Ah well, I'm grateful that we're this close and have the chance to get together again! Their blog is Jinglebritches.

I like celebrating New Year this time of year. It doesn't get squished in with Christmas that way. I also like a few of their traditions. Not the superstitious ones of course. But I like the idea of cleaning your house, organizing, getting haircuts, new clothes beforehand...out with the old year and looking forward to the promise of the new year. While there, Sandy took me on my first trip to IKEA. We don't have any around here. So I got some good organizing things bought.

Not only did we get some good visiting time in, but we went to a Chinese New Year celebration at a local college. There was dancing...including the traditional New Year Lion Dance...free Chinese food (Americanized of course), games for the kids and some tables of things to look at. It was pretty fun. It wasn't the top fun thing for the kids (that would be swimming in the hotel pool), but I'm glad we went. It's good to experience other cultures. Especially one that's your brother's heritage. Jaden didn't enjoy it that much as he was missing his nap.

This was a really pretty dance. It's a more modern Chinese dance, as it incorporated the fan dance with the ribbon dance.Our friend, Beau, was really good at the Chinese yo-yo! He said he had done it while in China, and it was obvious that he had.Jaden and his new friend, Maggie...Zoe and Tye got along famously. So cute!

Also, the girls and I got to go to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert!! It was wonderful! Shi even said it may have been number one on her list, instead of swimming...maybe. :) I took pictures while we were there but they are presently on Brandy's camera. While there, they raised almost $12,000 for Shohannah's Hope! It was a concert record. There were about 3,000 people there. At the end of the concert they gave a $4,000 grant to a family. It was really neat. And of course the music was awesome. Caleb Chapman (SCC's son) opened with some of his own songs and worship time. His voice is a lot like his dads. He and his brother, Will, were also in the band. Later in the concert Sierra said Caleb was her favorite. Why? Because he's cute, she said!