Slow Going

Well, I wish I were posting with news, but really things are very quiet and slow in Taiwan right now. All we can do is wait and hope for the time being.

Our polls have closed and the votes were pretty even. We will be discussing it and will let you know what name we decide on after we get the referral. Right now, Henry and Sydney are our favorites, but that could change ;). Thanks for helping us decide.

Hopefully one of our next posts will be of our referral. Until then, I will be posting some things here and there about Taiwan and international adoption. If anyone has questions, please ask and I will try to answer them.

For those of you who don't know, the Chinese New Year (CNY) just finished. We are in the year of the Ox. Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade. The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is
about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-year cycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving.
Please visit this link for information and pictures of celebrations of CNY around the world. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/chinese_new_year_welcoming_the_1.html
CNY is something we plan on teaching and celebrating with our child as a means of integrating their birth culture into our lives.
BethAnn