Doing the LOA Snoopy Dance!

Yes my friends, yesterday we received our coveted LOA. For those of you (maybe 2 or 3 people) who aren't in the crazy world of adoption but still read my blog, the LOA is a ridiculous document that asks (and I'm completely paraphrasing here), "Do you really want to adopt this child that you have searched for, prayed for, and spent enormous amounts of time and energy to bring home?" I don't know the actual figures but I'm guessing that very few adoptive parents get their LOA (after months or even years of working towards this child) and decide "No, this was all a huge mistake. We don't know what we were thinking! Take us off your mailing list."

Just for kicks, I looked up how long it took us to get our LOA's for Kai and Ash. Take a look at our lightning speed:

Kai: 66 days in 2007

Ash: 75 days in 2009

Molly Kate: 38 days in 2011 (insert me jumping for joy here)

Maybe the CCAA has now learned that the Olivet's are a super-cool nice family and don't feel the need to scrutinize our dossier quite as much as they once did (or maybe they've just hired a few more people and the process is a little quicker these days, who knows?) My guess is that we'll travel to meet sweet Molly Kate in early August but we still have a ton of hoops to jump through before that time. Wish us luck that our next important document, the I-800, comes quickly. I can't wait to hold my little girl!

What Do You Want To Be Called?

As I was completing a mass of kindergarten registration materials today, this conversation ensued:

Me: Ash, your kindergarten wants to know what you want to be called next year. Do you want me to tell them Ash or Asher?

Ash: Just Ash or Asher?

Me: Yes, why?

Ash: Because I really want to be called... Harry Potter.

Asian Excellence?

Deep down I know good and well that there is nothing about the Asian brain that makes those kiddos smarter than their Caucasian, Hispanic, or African-American counterparts (I'm using those races because they're represented in my kid's schools). However, I received an email a few days ago from JD's middle school that made me question that belief. The email was bragging on the math team who recently came in first place at a large tournament. Then they listed the individual award winners for the school.

Their last names were:

Pan Liu Prattipati

Li Qiu He

Xu Bansal Dong

Wei Cho Ching

Zhang Farrakh Huang

Jiang Huang

I know, not all of the names are Asian, but you gotta agree that an overwhelming majority of the names sound Chinese. What are we doing wrong people? Why do American kids seem so "average" compared to their Asian (and Indian) schoolmates? Do you think it's the Tiger Mom mentality? I've watched a few of Amy Chua's interviews and I was honestly not that impressed with her. Can't we teach our kids to excel without removing them from all social interaction (ie. sports, parties, outside friendships.) I've talked to JD about this and he confided in me that his math class at school is referred to as "Asian math" (JD is in the gifted program and takes the highest level math available.) JD promised me that even the Asians call the class "Asian math" and that no one seems offended by it. I will however, promise you that the nicknames for the other math classes are offensive and therefore, will not be mentioned on my blog.

I'm probably opening a can of worms here but this has really peaked my interest. What do you think? Leave a comment and let's figure this out together...

The Staycation

This year due to some monstrous minor money concerns, we decided to stay home for Spring Break. The kiddos seemed okay with the idea, but they did request that we try to make the week memorable regardless of our less than ideal location. I morphed into SuperMom and took them to:

• the zoo on Monday (followed by friends spending the night at our house)
• the Civil Rights Museum on Tuesday
• a long nature hike and scrumptious lunch at Five Guys Burgers on Wednesday (followed by spending the night at friend's houses)
• a picnic and hike at a local state park with the grandparents on Thursday

Unfortunately, I was completely exhausted by Friday so the kids played outside and I prayed for David to come home early. Saturday was Kai's big birthday bash so I knew I needed to be well-rested and on my A game. He had his party at a huge indoor play place and the pictures turned out terrible, so you're just going to have to believe me that Kai had a great time playing laser tag and running around with 14 of his closest buddies.

Spring Break is over and the weekend has officially ended (since the munchkins are in bed, I count the day done.) This mama is truly thankful for the last week that she got to spend with her amazing kiddos but even more grateful for the wonderful schools that her kids will spend several hours at tomorrow!

It Happened 10 Years too Early

I knew it would happen one day but I had hoped it would be much, much later. I was thinking maybe I could handle it when she was, say, twenty-one. Today, however, Piper did the unthinkable (a good ten years too early.) I'm so mortified that I don't know if I should share it with the world. But I need to. I need to commiserate with other mothers who may have walked this path before me. So deep breath...here goes...

Piper purchased an item of clothing today that I completely disapproved of. I told her straight up that the said item was hideously ugly. And you know what? She didn't care. one. little. bit. She bought it anyway with money she earned from a neighbor's garage sale. My sweet, adorable eleven year old has *sniff* outgrown my fashion advice. Yes, today Piper bought a pair of TOMS.
I know, I know - the owner of TOMS donates a pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair of TOMS sold. He's an amazing humanitarian. It's a fabulous idea. I support shoes for the needy, for goodness sakes! I just hate the way these specific shoes look. In my not so humble opinion, they resemble a $10 home economics project gone wrong. And no, I'm not cool. I'm 40 and coolness took a hike when I bought my first minivan several years ago. But I still know ugly when I see it. And ladies and gentlemen, TOMS are plain ole ugly.

I'm just waiting for the day that Piper says, "You were right mom." Mark my words, I'll happen.

There's nothing I love more than an update!

Molly Kate YunNing - 3 years, 4 months old

We sent a care package to Miss Molly Kate last week and two days later, voila, these photos showed up in my inbox. I'm completely smitten with our little girl. Her smile looks like it will light up a room! I keep fantasizing that China is going to send us a letter saying that we can skip past the other steps of the adoption and go get Molly Kate now. No, it'll never happen in real life, but it can't hurt to dream.

And on a side note, if you're looking for a good care package service, I would highly recommend Ann at Red Thread China. Over the course of our 3 adoptions, she has been amazing at getting information and photographs quickly for us. She's an angel in my eyes.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday - need I say more?