7 years ago Today

7 Years ago today we meet Jasmine Qing Shan for the first time, in Jiangxi China.  After 2 years of waiting, it was an amazing feeling to finally have our baby.  It seems strange that it has been that long, she is the age now my oldest was when we traveled to pick her up.   

"Well Jazz, you have enriched our lives more than we ever imagined.  It was a hard road some times, but one that was worth every step traveling it with you.  We love you more than you understand and know, you are our daughter in every way.  We thank your birth parents for the parts they gave you that we couldn't.   Our lives have become a quite an adventure.  You are such an amazing little girl, and we are so proud to be your parents."  Happy adoption Day xxxx

 

Good News !!!

Well I am doing a happy dance today!  We have officially been approved by Central Authority, and they are about to sign all our documents and send them off to the Adoption Agency for the final part, before they get sent to Russia.
It is so nice to finally be at this stage of the journey, it will all start moving rather fast now, and we are getting closer.   I am starting Russian language this Saturday which should be interesting!

I think after we have our homestudy notarized, it takes about a month of it being in Russia being translated etc, before they start finding our special someone.

Stay tuned next week I should know more then.  We are attending the official Russian adoption travel seminar next Friday as well, because we are getting closer to that stage.

For those of you who don't know, we are applying for the region Vladivostok, which is just above China and Korea.  We are hoping the referral will be more Jasmine's look, and there are plenty of Children who have an asian background in this area.

Video of our trip to the orphanage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KWkn6npteg&feature=player_embedded

Our trip to China

I will forget a lot of details because of how tired I am from the trip, but I am being asked for photos and questions on how the homeland visit went for Jasmine and ourselves.

The short answer is it was a huge success, and Jasmine LOVES her country, which we are so pleased about.  The orphanage visit was the best part of the trip for us all but also really emotional for me and Jason.  We talk about the orphaned kids we said goodbye to every day.

 It was so funny when we arrived in her "little" rural town, of 7 million people!  It was huge, we could have driven for 4 hours and still been in Shangrao.  It was definitely 'real' China, and no one really could speak English, but her home town was the best part of the whole trip.

Jasmine is from a really pretty part of China, and the people were lovely.  

Shanghai

On the train heading to Shangrao, where Jasmine was born

shopping in Shangrao, Jasmine's hometown

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One of the rides we had  while there

The girls loved the princess chair in our hotel 

Arriving at the Orphanage

Jasmine geting a gift from the Orphanage director

Two of the orphaned children we got to spend time with

The Nannies who cared for Jasmine while in the Orphanage

A historical temple In Jasmine's Hometown

Arriving at the foster village 

Front road by foster families houses.

One of the foster mums that recognized Jasmine.  She may have looked after her when she was sick once or twice

Every night families meet to dance and have fun

Home town scenery

Tortoise Mountain Shangrao

The boat we were in

Tortoise mountains in Jasmine's home town

At Ocean Park