Mother's Day

We had a mother's day party a li'l later. Because I wasn't able to be out to Grove City for Caden's birthday, I saved his present and had him open it up at house.

Mary Poppins in his FAVORITE Movie right now!

Shan wrote me a wonderful mother's day card and got me a cheetah printed scarf. The card was so sweet. She basically wrote how amazing both Ace and I were and how much she appreciated us letting her stay with us.

My sweet daughter, Shan.

Lola is such a dear daughter too! She actually didn't stay with us, but was Shan's roommate. So whenever Shan came to visit or over to eat, she brought Lola. So now, Lola is our "adopted" daughter!! (: We are soo lucky!! (:

Lola...my other daughter.

Shan and Penny!! (:
Lots o' chicken to eat...
(like Shan's fingers on the right side o' the picture?)

Green Bean Casserole and Oriental Salad.

More Chicken...

Jesse stopped by to visit with Caden!

Haha...Heidi wiping Caden's mouth...

Caden wearing Jesse's glasses and "shooting a turkey"...
Mini Jesse? What a great mother's day we had. It was great to see Jesse, Doug, Heidi, and Caden. Any excuse to all get together to eat food...I'm down with that!! (: Also, we are so lucky to have such wonderful "daughters" and look forward to many more mother's days to spend together!!

2.11--REAL Chinese

As you know we have had the chance to have some daughters. The most recent one, Shan, wanted to return the favor. So one evening, Shan, and her friends, Sammi and Lola came by to cook us REAL Chinese food. Mind you when you go to a Chinese restaurant here in America, it is not the same.

The girls brought everything they needed to make their dishes. But you can't just use different spices that we have here in America. So Shan brought spices and food from China!!! Here are some o' the spices the girls used.

Star Aniseed??
(Get it? It's in a star shape!)


They cook with a LOT o' different spices.
It's supposed to help your heath...and we know I need that.


Meat...this is from America! (:


Different spices (and wood).


A bag o' mushrooms...Haha...


A type o' a mushroom...but not a mushroom.


??


All sorts o' spices Shan brought from China.


Ginger...


Lots o' preparation...


Shan cut the meat all up...


Sammi made the soup...


The soup had to cook for a very long time.


Boiling the soup...Mmm...I love soup!!


Lola is such a cutie...


Working hard preparing the meal...


REAL Soy Sauce...from China!


The table all set...ready to eat!


土豆丝
"Tu dou si"
Potato Sticks.


泡椒牛肉
Pao Jiao Niu Rou
Beef with Picked Peppers.


It was good, can you tell?
(very spicy though.)


土豆烧排骨
"Tu Dou Shao Pai Gu"
Pork and Potatoes.


松茸木耳鸡汤
"Song Rong, Mu Er, Ji Tang"
Chicken Soup with Mushroom and Wood (agaric).


White Rice...


Ace a li'l unsure about the food...

Our other "daughter" had to leave before we were able to actually eat because she had to perform at the half-time show at Juniata College for the basketball game. She was on the step team...which is a really cool cause they make all sorts o' neat rhythms by snapping their hands, clapping, stopping their feet...you really have to see it to understand. It made me soo proud. So after we ate, we rushed up to watch Lola do her half time performance! She did great and we o' course cheered and clapped for her!! YAY, daughter!! (:

Lola and I... (:



The Step Team's Half-Time Show--Lola
I tried for days to load the video o' the step team dancing, but it wouldn't load right. I will keep working, but until then you will just have to look at the picture and envision them making all sorts o' rhythms. We have really valued the opportunity we've had to get to meet all o' our "daughters" and to learn more about their culture (which is oh so very interesting). Thanks again girls for the opportunity to teach me about your culture!

THE END!!!

12.19--Daughter Supper

So many o' you may aware that we enjoy housing Juniata College students for a week before school starts each semester. It's so much fun to have the extra company and we hope they enjoy staying with us. It's so interesting to hear about different cultures and it's been great getting to know each o' the girls! Over the fall semester, we had a very sweet young lady, Shan, stay with us for the week. She is such a sweetie. She will often call me to see about getting together for supper and games. I love that she brings her friends over to meet her "parents" and it's awesome getting to meet her friends! Well, before they all left for Christmas, we all got together, it was soo much fun. Did you know that in China they don't celebrate Christmas? Here are the pictures from our Christmas Get-Together. Shan, our daughter, brought her friend, Penny (also from China), and her roommate, Lola (from Africa).

Lola, Me, Shan, Penny.



They are so much fun!!



All o' us again with the tree.



We made yummy stuffed shells.



Don't they look DELISH!?!



Gotta have garlic bread...



For the vegetable...SALAD!!

After we ate, the girls offered to do the dishes. This was particularly a HUGE blessing to me. We had fun singing, talking, laughing, and telling stories while we did the dishes. Can you believe that doing all this work is fun? Well, it was...

Doing the dishes.

Can't wait till our next get together!

THE END!!!

8.30--Carp

Raystown Lake Fishies

Another one o' our very fun commodities around Huntingdon, is the amazing...Raystown Lake. Like how I built that up for the great revealing? Anyway, many people travel from all over the U.S. to park their boats and do some camping here at Raystown Lake. One section o' the lake where the boats are docked is a place where many people come by and throw dog food, crackers, or I throw moldy and stale bread in at the fishes.

Feeding the fishies...Haha...hilarious.




Mama showing the girls how it works.

The fish LOVE moldy bread!

TONS and TONS o' Carp...

The girls taking pictures...

Jesse tried to catch the carp...

My daughter, Shan Zhao.

Makiko, Aya, Shan, and Me.
The carp had just splashed us!!

What a great time!!

THE END!!!