The Lantern Festival - it's been a year!

February, 2007 The Lantern Festival, in China-Piper lit up when we put this dress on her, and then the shoes, oh, she loved the shoes!
We were on a boat like this one.
Brett and Estee, Estee and Piper were dressed alike that night.
Piper and me.

One of the dads, Tom, from our travel group, posted this on our group this morning:
"Today is Lantern Festival, marking the end of the Spring Holiday Season. Lantern Festival (Yuan Xiao) has been celebrated for more than 1000 years, beginning in the Tang Dynasty. By traditional Chinese reckoning, it is one year since a dozen little girls went cruising on the Pearl River."

Those dozen little girls were Piper Grace and the other girls in our travel group. We happened to be in Guangzhou on the night of the Lantern Festival, so our guide took us for a cruise on the Pearl River to celebrate with the Chinese. At that point, we'd been in China with Piper for about a week.

One of the other moms posted that she missed China. I do too. It was such a magical time, being there with Piper - in the country where she was born, so rich in history. I really hope we get to go back again when Piper is older.

So according to the Chinese lunar calendar it's been a year since these girls were forever placed in our arms. On our calendar, that blessed date is February 26th, next Tuesday. Still don't know how we'll celebrate, but we will.