Chinese New Year 2010

It's that time of year again. That beautiful fortress at the rivers bend, the fortress guarded by a humongous arch has been calling and taunting us again. It is once again time to lay siege on the city of St. Louis. The Hunan hoard has begun to advance on the city. The Wilson Clan containing one division will approach from the east. The Collins Clan will approach from the south east with 4 divisions. The Hess Clan will approach from the south west with one division. The Ryan Clan will approach from the south with 2 divisions. The Martin Clan will approach from the west with a strong experienced 5 divisions. The advance scout party, the Thompson's, are waiting for us to join forces with their 1 division, and the Commodore (Grandma Kay, its her place ) The moat made by the mighty Mississippi could not stop us, the rush hour cavalry could not impede our progress. The many miles of barren wasteland could not keep us from this journey. . ( that would be Indiana mostly ) All the above Clans converged on the city. We met at Kay's condo and proceeded to lay waste to the St. Louis. We sacked, pillaged and plundered the area. Once this was accomplished we had a celebratory family meal together, confessed our allegiance to one another, reaffirmed our bonds to each other and then returned to our own kingdoms leaving the Thompson family to reign once more in the fortress city of the Arch.

Okay, maybe this isn't exactly how it happened, its just what it seems like in my twisted little mind. What exactly am I talking about? Well, since I have acquired a few new readers since last Chinese new year, please allow me to step back and fill in a little history for some of the folks.

My daughter, Gracie, was adopted from the Hunan province of China. When you adopt from China you usually have what is called a travel group. When we arrived in Beijing, we did so with something near 100 people. Our travel group was scattered around the hotel a bit but we did break off into groups when we went sight seeing. This was the beginning of our groups bonding. Then we traveled as a group to the city of Changsha, capital of the Hunan province. All 10 families of our group are now stationed on the same floor of the Dalton hotel. We spend several days getting to know one another. The life altering event of Gotcha day takes place in Changsha. Gotcha day is when the adopted child is handed over to their forever family. This group of young ladies were mostly, but not entirely, from the same orphanage. I think 8 of them were from YiYang and 2 of them were from Changsha number 1 ( I think). The most powerful single moment of gotcha day to me was when my wife proclaimed, "thank you JESUS" after Yi Meng Chang ( Marilyn Grace ) was put in her arms. From gotcha day on, a life bond was born between these young girls. One of the couples lives in St. Louis, hometown of our adoption agency, Children's Hope International. They very graciously invite all the couples to come to St. Louis to celebrate Chinese New Year every year. Mr. Thompson's mom, Kay has a nice condo that will hold the inflow of families. We spend some time together Friday, just letting the kids play, we have an activity Saturday followed by the traditional Chinese New Year family meal at Hunan Empress and a re-shoot of the red couch picture. Sunday is a little more time together, difficult goodbyes and then back to life. These girls call each other sister even though they share no blood. It is a beautiful thing to just sit back and watch. Oh, the red couch deserves a little explanation as well, the red couch is the traditional photo taken in Guangzhou where all the newly adopted kids are perched on a red couch for a photo. All the girls so look forward to these event every year, and another other opportunity to be with there "sisters". It just transcends cool in every way.

Well, enough history. Lets tell this years tale.

First issue, the dress. Angie bought a traditional Chinese gown for Gracie to wear. Most all of the girls and some of the adults are in traditional attire for the family dinner. Angie purchased the dress on January 6th. A few days before we were to leave town Angie contacted our friend Ann in China to see where the package was, it had not arrived yet. Ann was unable to help, so in a last ditch effort I had her order one overnight from China Sprout, it came the day before departure, it was too small. OOh no, Gracie is devastated, she doesn't want to not be dressed up for this important event. Super plumber Ninja dad and Super duper mom must know undertake the impossible. Find a traditional Chinese gown in Gracie's size in just a few hours, days before New Years, in a mid west suburb. Time for the Internet, and mommas memory. Angie remembers a little shop in a mall across town called Into Asia. I called and spoke with the Chinese store keeper. It was refreshingly comical to speak with her in her broken English. She told me, " you bring to me, her, we see, we fit, might have, bring her here?" Yes ma'am, we are on the way. Gracie got her dress, its the pink one. She looks beautiful, and mom and dad are hero's again, all is well.

Next the trip.

We travel to St. Louis. It takes us about 7 hours give or take to make this trip. 7 hours worth of Gracie wanting to talk because she is so so very excited, and seven hours of momma wanting Gracie to hush. I understand both of them, but at this point can barley tolerate either of them. I love my girls, but when they are at odds with each other in a confined space I feel like I am a terrorist being put in a chair under a light bulb, unable to escape. Angie decided she needs coffee, not just any coffee, but special coffee. Luckily for her, she has an app. for that. Out comes the IPhone. It gives her directions to some little coffee house buried in the back of a strip mall in Mt. Vernon. Gracie and I are just hoping this helps calm her nerves. Once arriving in St. Louis we used to same app. to find every snooty coffee house in Chesterfield. Anyways. Finally we arrive in the city, check into the hotel, and make our way to the condo.

From here on, words just don't work anymore. Even my excessively colorful verbiage falls well short of being able to describe the chaos, love, bond, chaos, playing, excitement, and chaos of the next few hours. This year there are only 6 of the usual 7 Hunans there. The 7th is in South Korea this year. They visited by computer link (Skype) for a while on Saturday. The girls missed Lia Joy this year, but they played together well all the same. It is so amazing to just watch them grow from year to year. There are only about 4 months difference in their ages so they hit milestones pretty close together. This year Gracie is one of the smaller girls. The others seem to have hit growth spurts a little ahead of her, but by and large, they are the same size. One of the subjects of discussion this time was the mystery of why are we all so determined to keep in contact with each other. I think we have no choice in the matter. Why? Well, God and 7 of His special princesses said so, that's why.

The trip home was reasonably uneventful. We looked forward to the comforts of home, our bed, etc. We had the usually series of potty stops and gas stops. By the way, don't stop when the sign says food and gas ahead, Sulfur Indiana. It is a trick. The gas station is a little too reminiscent of the movie Deliverance. Gator runs the gas station, I am sure of it. As for food, I'm thinking Possum was on the menu. I did not fill up here. We just locked the doors and u-turned in the middle of road. We made it with no casualties, which was in doubt a few times.

I also learned that if you walk into a Starbucks and request a VENTI CHAMELEON SHENANDOAH BIRKENSTOCK RALPHY RALPHY DOUBLE FONZIE, they will actually make something and charge you 5 bucks for it. Who knew?