So, what animal are you?  Asking what animal a person is, is a common way to figure out how old somebody is.  There are twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac, so if you are good at counting, you can guess at someone's age.  Don't take me wrong, I don't believe in astrology and don't encourage it, but culturally, I need to know what animal I am.  So for example, I'm a snake.  If someone asks me my animal, looks at how many wrinkles I have and the ages of my kids, they can figure out how to address me, younger sister, older sister, auntie, or grandma.  How you address someone is very important.
Superstition is a huge part of Chinese culture. For example, 2014 is the year of the horse.  For those born during that year, they wear a red string around their wrist as a bracelet, red long johns in the winter, red socks and maybe even red underwear. Why?  Red is a lucky color.   Do they believe it?  You bet they do!  Will they admit they trust superstition?  Probably they will say, "Of course I'm too modern to believe in superstitions, but I may as well cover all my bases."
Please remember China during 2014, the year of the horse!

We are excited that 2014 will be a wedding year for our family!  Yes, Haley and Zach Jones were engaged last week and will get married this coming summer!  Are we excited?  Yes!  Zach is a Godly man, and we are thrilled to have him as a son.  Do we feel old?  Yes, it seems impossible one of our daughters is getting married.  Will it be a busy spring?  Yes incredibly busy!

Please be lifting:
1.  The country of China as it heads into 2014,
2.   Haley and Zach as they moved towards marriage,
3.   Todd and my health!  (We both have experienced colds, flu and lots of aches and pains over the past month.)
4.  Please don't forget to lift the folks pictured in our blog updates!