Themed Hong Bao!

@lympic red envelopes
Amelia's @lympic shoes


Yesterday I was out shopping and decided to pick up some extra hong bao (lucky red envelopes that adults fill with lucky money and give out to children as part of Chinese New Year), and look what I found. I found @lympic-themed red envelopes, complete with the @lympic rings and a rat (for the Year of the Rat) playing several @lympic sports! Our family really looks forward to the @lypmics, especially the summer games, and have been really excited about the B*eijing games ever since they were announced. Ironically, when we adopted Amelia, she came to us wearing a pair of 2008 "@lympic" shoes. The design on them certainly wasn't the offical @lympic design, but they had a yin/yang symbol and the colors of the @lympic rings on them in place of the zeros in 2008. I always wondered how, in 2003 in a very rural part of China, a baby in an orphanage would end up with 2008 @lympic-themed shoes. I think it just shows how much of a big deal these games are to China. I believe that the @lympics has been a big reason for the big slow-down recently, and I am truly hoping that things will turn around after the @lympics are over and more effort can be directed toward getting children who need homes "paper-ready" so that they have a chance to be adopted.