Always and Forever

As you may know, the Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival began this past weekend. Have you ever tried a traditional Mooncake? Eww! No matter how gross we think they are, for some reason we feel we need to uphold this tradition for Miyah's sake. I think of them as a Christmas fruitcake (which I don't uphold as a tradition in my house). Do children in China say, "Ewww!" when they eat mooncakes? I wonder. Bean paste in a pastry or lotus seeds....not my idea of a dessert. Anyway, I believe the moon was the fullest on Sunday night. I hope you all were able to enjoy it.

I've heard adoptive parents say that they take this opportunity to bring their Chinese daughter to gaze at the moon and discuss the possibility of their birthparents looking at the same moon and thinking of them. I don't know if we will ever make that tradition our own, we've had only very preliminary discussions of birthparents. In fact, last week was our first real introduction. It was one of those "right" moments. We were quietly relaxing outside on a beautiful day, just blowing bubbles when I said something to Miyah that I've said often to each of my kids, "Of all the mommies and all the little girls in the whole world, I'm so glad God brought us together!". She just turned her sweet face toward me and with a smile said, "Always and forever". I've used the phrase "always and forever" with her in reference to family or my love, etc.(hence this blog address "familyalwaysandforever"). So, I went on to tell her that babies can grow in a mommy's tummy and in a mommy's heart and that she grew in another lady's tummy while she grew in my heart. Since then she's actually mentioned that she grew in another ladies tummy as she's processing this new bit of strange information. And so it stuck and there's a little peg on which to hang future information.

It amazes me how we get these perfect little moments with our children. I've been praying for the right moments (and the right way) to share Miyah's information with her. I know this isn't the kind of information you push, but it isn't the kind you hold back either.

Well, this wouldn't be a post if I didn't add a photo or two. My parents came to watch Matt's game and visit last weekend so I'll post some pictures with them.





Miyah at the FCC Autumn Moon Festival party.