Dumpling day

What to do when your Gotcha Day falls within days of Chinese New Year?

Call your local China sisters and make dozens of dumplings of course!

8 of the 9 kids 10 and under got in touch with their roots and made the main course of dinner for the rest of us.

It could be said that we had some 'dumpling sealing' issues...

Thankfully what was lacking in technique did not result in a lack in taste.  100 dumplings were made and all but 2 were eaten.  That would be because we also noshed on lettuce wraps, soy/ginger/garlic marinated chicken and Asian slaw.

We broke from the Chinese theme with dessert.  No fortune cookies Friday night.  It would have been really tough to write Happy Gotcha Day on those tiny cookies.  Besides, the cookie cake is somewhat of a tradition.  Here's a shot from the very first Forever Family Day celebration our families had together the year we moved here.

EEEK!  they were so very tiny!

It's just that now they have several more younger siblings to share that cookie with, so a cake becomes a necessary addition to the dessert menu.

These girls.  In a hot room in southern China nine years ago they went from orphans to treasured daughters within a two minute span.  Kylie is beyond blessed that she walks to school daily with one of her 'China sisters' and attends church weekly with another.  They share an unbreakable bond.

Speaking of bonds...

Sharing a delivery room that day created a pretty special one among the parents too.  I consider myself blessed to share life with these folks.  It was an evening filled with good food, laughter, conversation and the excited chatter of kids playing.

The only thing that could have made it better?  The presence of the other eight girls and their families...