My Little Fortune Cookie: Another Red Thread Celebration

Kayli and I have been so incredibly busy! Seems like there has been something we've committed to doing just about every night after school for the last week or so. Fun things. Lots of things. Still, keeping up this pace can wear a person out, AND, put them behind on their blog!
Case in point, Kayli and I started off last week with our annual red thread celebration, September 26th, marking the day she was "born in my heart"! ( The Red Thread Adoption Legend, originates from Chinese folklore saying that there is an invisible red thread that connects a newborn child's spirit to all the people who will be important in the child's life. As the child grows, the threads shorten, drawing closer those people who are destined to be together.) Such is the reason I named our special celebratory day "Our Red Thread Day." This is the day I received Kayli's precious baby picture from China, and a request to become her mama, 5 years ago! This is the special day we celebrate each year because I feel like we made our special connection right from the moment I opened that email and caught my first glimpse of Kayli's picture. Right there before me, in a single photo, was the sweetest little face,that melted my heart. Right then, as I looked into those deep brown almond shaped eyes, I knew that this sweet baby was about to change my life forever! I felt that invisible red thread pulling and tugging on my heart, all the way to China! The two of us became a family, and settled in to our new life like two peas in a pod! Now, almost 5 years later, I know how quickly time flies, and so often wish that time would stand still., Yet, watching this child grow is exciting too, so time marches on, and all I can do is remind myself to savor the moments, and keep my camera nearby, and keep on "blogging!"
So, we celebrate by wearing red, by hiding presents in red boxes including at least one item that came all the way from China, by going out to dinner, by talking about China, by talking about Kayli's beginnings, and how we became a family, and by acknowledging how lucky we are that God found Kayli in China and me in Kansas and decided we were a match that only heaven could bring together! Because of this "heavenly intervention" my sweet pea went from this...

to this...

and the fun never ends!

This year, we chose to dine at T Rex, where Kayli loves the excitement of all the dinosaurs, but is still scared enough that she cannot walk under the roaring T Rex without ducking and running!

We made a plan to get our dessert at our favorite ice cream store,yummm. Kayli likes to get strawberry ice cream with gummy bears!

I told Kayli that she could pick out something pretty to buy at Claire's, since jewelry is a bigger treat to her than ice cream or candy or just about anything else.

She chose a beautiful rainbow colored sparkle tiara.This child just cannot pass up a beautiful tiara. So, in addition to a spoon collection, and a key collection, she's got a pretty good crown collection going!

Usually I buy some type of book for this occasion, but this year, on a whim, I just decided to write my own book and print it out at my favorite website, Blurb.

The story is about me opening a fortune cookie each day of the week and reading it out loud. Each fortune describes a trait or characteristic about Kayli, but she doesn't know that until the end. Every day she tries to guess, for instance, one page says

Another page says "Your fortune is more valuable than gold" and she asks "Is your fortune money?" but in the end, she discovers that SHE is my fortune!

She loved the book and wants me to read it again and again!

So, of course, since I was on a roll with the theme of Fortune Cookies this year, I decided that we should each get some type of fortune cookie jewelry. (Yes, Kayli's mom loves jewelry as much as Kayli! Or is it Kayli has learned to love jewelry as much as her mom?) Well, it wasn't hard to find some cool necklaces online. Kayli's necklace is sturdy and strong enough for "kid wear, AND opens up so I could insert my own message!