Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We bid farewell to 2009 and look forward to a great new year, 2010!

It was wonderful to be home this Christmas, although we have been remembering fondly the experiences we had last year in Beijing, Xi'an and Guangzhou. We keep saying "Remember where we were a year ago today? Or, "Can you believe that we were in Beijing last year?"

It's really amazing to think of all the changes we've gone through in the last year. And not just Grace has grown and changed, but everyone! Especially Zachary, who was way shorter when we were in China. I think he's grown 5 or 6 inches this year!

Grace is very aware of this being her "first Christmas in America"! She really has loved the holidays and all the celebrations. Of course all the presents we really exciting too.

She loves her new Snow White Doll!

One Year Ago Today in Xi'an...

Grace officially joined our family! We have so many amazing memories of our trip. It was not easy, but yes, so worth it!! Grace's smiling face should be proof of that.

Grace was full of smiles after the initial shock was over.

Looking over her photo album we had sent earlier.

This is Grace at the first moment of meeting us. (She was NOT happy. I think mostly it was fear...of the unknown and of leaving all she knew behind.)

And now, a year later...

She may have grown a lot and changed a lot but she's still smiling and beautiful!!

Thank You Everyone!

(The video is Grace singing in January at school shortly after we came home.)

DONATION UPDATE:

We've had quite a few people make a donation to help with adoption expenses for the Mallory family. They just received their TA a few days ago and are making plans to travel around New Years! It's so exciting to have Grace's songs helping another family adopting from China.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, see the sidebar to the right and listen to one of the songs we have recorded.

Grace and Eliza with Santa at Eliza's pre-school Christmas party. What does Grace want? "something princess"!

THANK YOU TO HINATA AND FAMILY!

We were surprised and delighted to receive a package from Hinata and family on Zachary's birthday! The beautiful wrapped gifts are in the picture under our Christmas tree.

"Ring Christmas Bells"

Brian Stokes Mitchell sang "The Impossible Dream" last year in Salt Lake City. He was absolutely amazing! He also sang several other Broadway and Patriotic songs. One of the best concerts I've ever been to (O.C. Tanner Gift of Music, 2008).

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My favorite new Christmas album features him and Edward Herrmann, with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Several of the songs from above were included on the DVD. It can be ordered, or downloaded, at DeseretBook.com

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Edward Herrmann reads the story of Longfellow and why he wrote the song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". It is sure to bring you to tears, or at least give you goose bumps! It is a wonderful DVD to see at Christmas time. It also has him give a scriptural reading from Luke that is perfectly done.

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You can look any of these up on youtube under Brian Stokes Mitchell or Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Happy Birthday Eliza!

I can't believe she's already 5! Here's a few shots of the festivities:

Eliza with her new Jasmine doll
Monday night birthday dinner. We were going to go out, but Olivia and Zach were sick.

Eliza with her beautful cake that Zach decorated and baked (with her help, of course).

Gratitude...

I thought this video had a beautiful message just perfect for Thanksgiving Day! Just click on the link below and it will take you to the page on Gratitude. You'll find the video there (it's only about 4 minutes long).

www.lds.org/topic/gratitude

I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my husband and 5 children. I'm thankful for miracles in my life. I'm thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for beautiful music, good books and delicious food! I'm thankful to live in this country. I'm thankful for this wonderful time of year.

What are you thankful for?

Birthday parties for Olivia...

Grandma and the girls before leaving on Sunday

Olivia on Saturday with her friends (and Zach the party assistant)

Olivia with our butterfly cake creation

It's almost Olivia's birthday, so Saturday she had her friend party with 10 girls showing up for the fun, and then Monday we had cousins and Grandma E. over for a family party. (Sunday morning we saw Grandma Carol off bright and early.)

When Grandma comes to town...

she goes shopping! Girls can always use some new clothes and Grandma

Carol and mom have fun finding them.

Grace's Songs of China

(Date is wrong on picture above. It is really from about a month ago. Look at the difference between this picture and the one in the video at the end of this post!)

I have learned of a family who needs help raising money for their adoption fees. Ever since I had Grace's songs from China recorded last year, I've wanted to make them available and donate the proceeds to an adoption. I know this family is doing everything they can to raise the money they need, and I'd like to help them. (Their blog is jonahsfamily.blogspot.com)

On our blog, go to the blog archive on the right and click on January. Then go down to the 14th to see one of Grace's songs performed. We recorded all of the songs at a recording studio that she could sing or remember the month she came home from China. She even recited a story and poem that she had memorized. (The story is over 3 minutes long...what a memory!)

She has a beautiful voice and I think it would be a great gift to give families with adopted children from China. Their are 14 short songs, all in Chinese. They are priceless to us and we think others would enjoy hearing her sweet voice singing the songs she learned in her home country. She also had 2 stories memorized, so we included them in the recording.

If we can, we will do as much translating of the songs and stories into English as possible. At the least, we will have the song titles translated.

We will send an electronic copy to anyone who would like to make a $10 donation to help this family pay their orphanage fee. (The fees went up $2000 recently.) All you have to do is e-mail songs@the-earls.com

We will then send you a PayPal request. As soon as we get receipt, we will give you instructions on how to get them downloaded. 100% of the donation will go to this family to help with their orphanage fee.

Grace singing one of her songs in music class shortly after coming home. (Believe it or not this is only from January of this year!):

Have fun at Disneyland Hinata!

The girls wish they were there now, but we will go sometime soon hopefully. Thought I'd add a few more pictures of Hinata's visit.

Today Hinata heads to Zion National Park!

Students singing the school song
Kirk, Hinata and Zach with the lovely artwork

Eliza "helping" Hinata get ready

Our final breakfast together

After a day at the jr. high yesterday, we went shopping and then to the closing social. The students and the host families all gathered together for our final night of fun. Their were about 1,000 people there, so it was a good sized group. The pulled pork sandwiches and potatoes were a light dinner, but the best part was seeing the performances by the Japanese students and then the BYU dancing group. The "Living Legends" did traditional dances from Samoa, Tahiti, New Zealand, Hawaai and an American Indian hoop dance. It was quite entertaining.

We had some ice cream on the way home and then exchanged our gifts. Hinata brought some beautiful artwork of his grandmothers as you can see in the picture. They are amazing! I love the large painting of flowers especially. Thank you to Hinata's grandmother for sharing her talent with our family!

He also brought us some candies and treats to share in addition to the pencils, origami papers and chopsticks we opened on Sunday. We sent him home with some American chocolate and treats, a book on National Parks of America, Utah calender and puzzle, and some other small gifts.

Bright and early this morning, we said goodbye to Hinata. We wish him well and hope he has a wonderful and safe journey as he travels on to Zions and Disneyland!! Take care and come see us again!

Halloween Party!

"Jasmine", "Snow White" and "Alice"

The girls had fun dressing up for the Halloween party at church. The youth put on the party with activities and fun for the younger children. They all had a great time...including daddy!

The Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday was the full day of lectures and classes at BYU. After Hinata came home, we went to the pumpkin patch at a local farm. It is a beautiful setting and is used for wedding receptions. We came home and had a dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn and peas (one of our favorite meals except I didn't make my biscuits because I ran out of time.)

Today is Hinata's chance to see what life is like at an American jr. high. He will get out early, so we will have some time this afternoon to do a little shopping before we go to the closing banquet with all the other students and their host families.

The rest of the weekend...

Showing off their gifts from Hinata

Bridal Veil Falls
Walking in the fall leaves




We had a nice time on Sunday. It was the special children's Primary program in sacrament meeting. It's only once a year and the children sing the songs they've been learning and each child says a short line or story of things they've been studying all year. Always a very sweet experience. Eliza said "I can obey my parents. I clean my room and fold my clothes." Olivia's was about going to the Draper temple this year and Grace's was "Remembering Jesus helps me choose the right." They all did great! The songs were beautiful too.



Church is three hours long so we came home and had lunch of noodle soup with bread and potstickers (dumplings). Then we headed up the canyon for a lovely walk to the waterfall.

Weekend with Hinata (updated on Monday)

Zachary took this awesome picture of the Salt Lake Temple (above)

"The Christus statue"

We heard a great story from our guide about it. She said the sculpture was making it and had the arms raised up at night, but each morning when he came back to work, the arms would be down. He finally decided that was the way it should be, with Christs hands beckoning all to "come unto him".

On Temple Square in the Assembly Hall.

The Dinosaur Museum:

Standing under the "Supersauras"

Eliza and Grace loved playing with the wind tunnel experiments.

Saturday night eating with the cousins.

We had a very busy weekend! On Saturday, we went to Salt Lake City to temple square, the dinosaur museum and had the cousins over for dinner and games that night.

Sunday, we went to church, and took a walk up at Bridal Veil Falls in the Provo Canyon. We played UNO and watched some tv. We try to keep it simple on Sunday, so we wanted to do things that were more relaxing. It was a nice day after being so busy yesterday.

Friday night at the corn maze!

Hinata, Zach and Kirk getting ready to enter the scary monster!! (The scariest part was Zachary jumping out at me around the corner).

The boys and I had a great time at the corn maze. Besides the corn maze, we rode a haunted hayride wagon, played on some huge slides and ate popcorn. It is a fun place to take the kids and was perfect for Friday since that was Hinata's day at the farm. We didn't take pictures on Thursday but we went to the library after we picked him up in the afternoon and visited Grandma's house during our piano lessons.

We found our way out of the maze!!

They loved the fast slides!