Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Welcome to the Year of the Rat

We recently attended our third Chinese New Year celebration since we made the decision to adopt Natalie. Back in 2005, I felt sure that Natalie would be born in the year of the Dog like both my mother and I were. As the adoption timeline began to grow instead of shrink I was a bit sad that it seemed unlikely that Natalie would get to share the year of the dog with me and her grandmother. I resigned myself to thinking that Natalie would be born in the Year of the Golden Pig. After hearing that a "Golden" pig year only comes once every 60 years and is considered to be very lucky in China, I decided that I would be thrilled if Natalie was born during that lunar year. Now it looks like that is very unlikely. My best guess is that Natalie will be born during the current lunar year: The Year of the Rat. The Rat is the first of the 12 Chinese animal signs and is a symbol of renewal. The fact that this will most likely be the year of Natalie's birth is definitely a reason to celebrate. But whether she is a Dog, Pig, Rat or Ox, I know that Natalie will come home to us at exactly the right time.



Children doing the dragon dance while walking on bubble wrap to make the firecraker noises.

1 comment:

Charlotte said...

That red and gold leg under the dragon is Riley !

Charlotte and crew