CNY 2014

Thanks to my youngest cousin, we managed a family picture on the third day of CNY. That was no small feat considering how difficult it was to make sure all the kids looked in the right direction with good expressions. 

This year's CNY has been tremendously difficult. The entire family was down with illness the two weeks previously and we were barely recovering by the eve of Chinese New Year. It coincided too with my monthly agony so I had to endure gnawing gastric pain and severe cramps plus a very bloated stomach throughout all the visitations. I was surprised that no one asked me if I were pregnant with my fifth since my stomach was very distended with gas! 

What was worse is that since my children were all not yet recovered from mucus and phlegm, I was hard pressed to restrict their diet during such a festive season with all those tempting goodies. I bought very expensive Manuka honey sweets for the kids to reduce their feeling of being deprived. I explained very carefully to them why I did not want them to indulge in the snacks while they were nursing their cough. I promised them that I would buy their favorite CNY tidbits after they have all recovered. I brought along lemon and honey to make drinks for them so that they wouldn't need to consume the sweetened packet drinks available everywhere we went.

I must say that I'm enormously proud of them for abiding by my rules despite some relatives being extremely uncooperative and offered them the unhealthy stuff, taunting and tempting them to just ignore what I said. The older two actually replied, "No, thank you." or simply shook their heads. Well done, children!

I'm so grateful for the many friends who prayed for us and I thank God for His miracle of helping us survive all the exertion and traveling despite our physical weaknesses. He is indeed our Sustainer and Strength! Praise the Lord!

My four beautiful children simply looked so adorable in their CNY clothes that I couldn't resist asking them to pose for me whenever I had the chance to. Here are some of my favourite shots. Blessed new year to one and all!!!