A_Candle_Undimmed

Our Chinese Family

We are honored to be members of a Chinese family. Here are recent pictures. The whole gang The men of the family, Dan, Alex and Brother Hsieh Horsing around! Alex and his Dad, Brother Hsieh, having fun Alex, Brother Hsieh and his wife,Ivy

Addicts

Guess what we're doing! Smile, smile! At one of my favorite places!

Our Chinese Family

We are delighted to have a Chinese family now.

Two Mothers

Wonderful Daughter-in-law

Wedding ahead!

Our son, Daniel, an English teacher in Taiwan, and the beautiful Hsieh wanyin (Diane) married in mid-December, but will have a traditional Chinese ceremony April 15, 2007
Here’s one picture, taken for the April wedding, which we plan to attend.

Chinese Wedding

Our son, Dan legally married the lovely Hseih wanyin in Dec., but in April they'll have a traditional Chinese wedding with all the relatives and friends. We plan to be in Taiwan for this big day.

Here's a picture of some things they'll wear.

Wedding day pictures

Diane with her mother and a friend, showing her boots and beautiful dress

Diane and Dan at their wedding

Our new daughter

On December tenth, 2006, we acquired a new daughter, lovely Hseih wan-yin (English name, Diane) when she and our son, Daniel, married in Taipei, Taiwan. We are thrilled that Diane is now part of our family.

The ceremony was a legal one and in April, Dan and Diane plan a traditional Chinese ceremony. We hope to attend then and meet her mother, brother, sister-in-law, nephew and other relatives.

Chinese wedding customs have lasted for over 2,400 years. There are a number of main objectives of marriages in Chinese tradition. First, Chinese perceive marriage as a means of joining the families of the bride and groom, to enhance the two families, and ensure succession with descendants.

A Chinese marriage shows respect for each set of parents A wedding portends wealth, fertility, social and financial responsibility, a contract by both families. One thing that never changes: the bride becomes a member of her husband's family. This is the most fundamental tradition in a Chinese wedding.

At the age of 15-20, Chinese parents will urge their daughters or sons to get married as soon as possible. This is the Chinese traditional age for marriage. A marriage in later years is considered quite late. Diane and Dan are both 39, soon to be 40. This is a first marriage for both of them. We’re so glad that Diane waited for Dan.
Diane is such a wonderful young woman…thoughtful, kind, intelligent, a good worker with a great sense of humor. We feel so blessed that she’s now ours as well as still part of her birth family.
Diane sent us websites to learn about Chinese wedding traditions

For interesting information, either URL or cut and paste the following URL into your search engine: http://beifan.com/016wed/16wedding-chinese.html
Or
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/kor/heritage/culture/he_cult_wedd.jhtml

Especially notice the following items:
History of Chinese Wedding
Pre-wedding
Wedding Day
Post-wedding
Double Happiness
Day Selection
The Capping Ritual
Bridal Sedan Chair
Symbolization of Red

Niece, Lovely Nieces

I have six nieces, all beautiful women. Eventually, I hope to post pictures of them all.

Four are my sister, Joyce’s daughters, and they all have daughters except for Kara, my youngest niece. Kara has produced the only boy, Eric, in that branch of our family.
Here is a picture of my sister, Joyce, four years younger than I am, and always a friendly woman.

Joyce’s oldest daughter, Janette has two daughters,

Brittany

Tiffany,

and one grand-daughter, Kaitlyn.

This baby, at eighteen months, looks like she could follow in her mother’s footsteps as a fashion model.

,

Kara’s son, Eric, nearly four, is a sweetie and exceptionally bright although all the family are quite intelligent. He’s a fun kid, too. To prove that he’s offering you a kiss.

A potential new member!

Diane Hsieh (the name means ‘thanks’ in Chinese) and our son, Dan, met through the internet when Dan decided to study Chinese. Many months later, she visited the US and we spent an afternoon with her and Dan in Portland, OR. We were immediately impressed with her sense of humor, adventurous nature and common sense.
Last August, Dan moved to Taiwan to know Diane better, to teach English to Chinese youngsters and to meet her family.

Last Sat., (Jan. 16, 2006) Diane met Bob and I in Shanghai for another delightful afternoon together. We think she’s even nicer than Dan says.

Dan and Diane plan to wait until they know each other longer, but it’s likely they’ll marry eventually.

We’ve been bragging to our Chinese college students for weeks that someday we’ll have a Chinese daughter. The students love that idea.

Favorite Son

DAN SCOTT WHITE
Our youngest child, Dan arrived fourteen months after his oldest sister, Anne, prayed for a brother. He was born amiable and is still a laid-back young man with many friends in spite of being somewhat shy. Dan’s many talents include an unusual ability to match finite patterns. As a preschooler, he put together 500 piece jigsaw puzzles by looking at, not the colors or the pictures, but the backs of pieces, placing them zip, zip, zip, quickly.

Dan spent his fourteenth summer in Sweden and his fifteenth in northern Peru, helping build a native church. When he flew back from Sweden, he landed at JFK in New York during an air traffic controllers strike and was stuck at that airport for four days. That's why he knows JFK Airport like his own back yard. He finally got a seat on a plane through Canada and back to us in Northern Il., to our great relief.

Dan graduated from Columbia University in Chicago, then worked as a Sound Engineer for Chicago's last real-time recording studio. He did carpentry in building the studio's sound rooms. One summer at this studio, he spent six weeks as assistant Sound Engineer for Bob Dylan.

Then Dan headed west and worked in building construction (heating and air conditioning) then drove an eighteen-wheeler for several years. He parked double-long trucks as precisely as he'd worked jig-saw puzzles in younger years. Dan’s good at everything he tries, but especially gifted as a writer and photographer. He creates wonderful artwork on his scanner, too.

His big solo adventure, Dan spent two months bicycling alone from Seattle to Fairbanks and on to Anchorage, Alaska, then returned to Seattle, journaling the entire trip. He met cyclists from around the world who have remained as e-mail friends. In Fairbanks, Dan rented a car and drove as far as a road went toward the north pole, before bicycling to Anchorage and taking a ferry home.

Dan is learning Chinese with the help of Diane, a lovely friend from Taiwan whom he met through the internet. Because Dan recognizes patterns so easily, we expect he'll do really well with Chinese script.

He's also teaching Chinese children English in Tapei, Taiwan. Diane has helped him adjust to a new culture in hundreds of ways.