Making Friends, Finding Culture
March 4, 2018
Chinese Culture, Chinese Holidays, Chinese New Year, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday, should we adopt?
When I sat down to write about how our family incorporates and celebrates Chinese culture in our American home, I first thought of the decorations we put up during celebrations. However, my mind quickly turned from decorations, events, and holidays, to the people who have enriched our lives by sharing their lives and culture with …Read More
The Journey to Embrace Chinese Culture in Our Home
March 3, 2018
Chinese Culture, Chinese Holidays, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday
During our first home visit for our home study to adopt from China, we confidently showed our social worker around our sparkling clean house and answered all of his questions with ease. This is going great, I thought! What was I so worried about? T hen he asked us why we wanted to adopt from …Read More
Honoring China in the Everyday: Noodles Pho Life
February 28, 2018
Chinese Culture, Chinese food, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday, recipes
With the end of Chinese New Year approaching, I thought I would share a favorite recipe of ours to make during CNY or any time of the year. Although not a traditional Chinese dish, Pho is a favorite at our house. I would even say, this is not even a traditional Vietnamese version of Pho …Read More
Dipping Our Toes in the Water: Beginning the Journey of Connections
February 21, 2018
Chinese Culture, Chinese Holidays, Chinese Language, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday
I cannot express how excited I was to see the “Honoring China in the Everyday” focus that No Hands But Ours had planned for this month. Not because we as a family have even begun to “arrive” in this department, but because our hearts yearn to raise citizens of the world who appreciate and revel …Read More
Honoring China in the Everyday: Books
February 18, 2018
books, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday, Nicole
With the Lunar New Year holiday in full swing, it’s a terrific time to add a few titles to our China library! Especially given that we were just studying a little bit of Chinese history during the Middle Ages, these new titles are perfectly timed. We read through all but the last of these …Read More
Guo Nian: Passing a Year
February 16, 2018
adoption community, Chinese Culture, Chinese food, Chinese Holidays, Chinese Language, Chinese New Year, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday
“Nian (Year) was a ferocious beast who would come out once every twelve moons, cause destruction and kill everything that crossed its path. However, Nian was afraid of the color red. So people put red strips of paper around their door frames so the destructive beast would pass over their house when it saw red …Read More
Celebrate Chinese New Year with Fun Learning Activities
February 15, 2018
Chinese Culture, Chinese Holidays, Chinese New Year, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday, guest post
Tomorrow begins Chinese New Year! We are from Singapore and currently living in California now. Being so far away from home, it is so important for me to try to cultivate the love for Chinese culture and language in my children through these celebrations. To learn more about this important Chinese festival, I set up …Read More
Honoring China in the Everyday: When Simple is Just Right
February 15, 2018
Chinese Culture, Chinese Holidays, Chinese New Year, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday, Nicole
I had an uh-oh moment last week when I realized that Chinese New Year was just over a week away and we still hadn’t made any plans to celebrate. It didn’t sneak up on me. In fact, China’s biggest holiday has been marked on the calendar since before the new year. But truthfully, this has …Read More
Making Chinese New Year Your Own
February 12, 2018
Chinese Culture, Chinese food, Chinese Holidays, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday
When we began celebrating Chinese New Year together after my son was born nearly five years ago, my wife and I did what many young families do when establishing their traditions. We carried forward a few practices from my parents and incorporated elements from our local community, the same way we had for Christmas and …Read More
A Chinese Lady Who Helps With Adopted Chinese Kids
February 11, 2018
Chinese food, Chinese Holidays, Chinese Language, Chinese language tutor, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday
Hi everyone, my name is Joy Clendenning, I do not have any adopted children. You might be asking, why are you here then? Here is my story. I am from Xi’an, China and came to the United States in 2010. I met my husband in China while I was in college, he was a missionary. …Read More
Finding Mackenzie: The Chinese Tutor Who Makes Mandarin Magic in Our Home
February 8, 2018
Chinese Culture, Chinese Language, Chinese language tutor, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday
When we brought the boy we call Superman home from China four years ago, we had big dreams. We were going to maintain his language and his culture, and all of us were going to learn Mandarin, besides. At the time, our family lived in the Seattle-Tacoma area of the Pacific Northwest, where Asian churches …Read More
Food Memories Run Deep: Honoring Culture Through Food
February 3, 2018
Chinese Culture, Chinese food, Chinese Holidays, Chinese New Year, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday, recipes
When completing our home studies for each of our adoptions from China, one of the questions that came up both times with our social worker was how would we implement our new child’s culture into our family. We eagerly replied that we would celebrate Chinese New Year, would add Chinese décor to our home, and …Read More
Honoring China in the Everyday: Vegetarian Dumplings
February 1, 2018
Chinese Culture, Chinese food, Chinese Holidays, Chinese New Year, February 2018 Feature - Honoring China in the Everyday, Nicole, recipes
Happy Year of the Dog! February 16th marks the start of the Chinese New Year and this February at NHBO we are focusing on ways to incorporate our children’s birth culture into the everyday. We’ll be sharing posts from parents who are doing this in big, elaborate ways and some in simple, small ways… but …Read More