So close

Our paper work is so close to being in Russia,  each day feels like a week.  It should be with our internal affairs for a few days, and hopefully by the end of the week I will be posting that it has landed in Russia.  Well I hope so anyway.  Each step that we can tick off means we are closer to meeting our child, and we are getting so excited/impatient.

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

Home Land Visit

Shangrao

Nanchang

I can't believe how fast this year has gone, and that it is a week and a half till we leave for China.  We are taking Jasmine back to see her country for the first time since she was 16mths, which she is so excited about.  We are leaving on the 29th July and flying in to Shanghai, where we will spend a few nights.  We are then taking the train (yes a chinese train) from Shanghai to Shangrao (Jiangxi province) where Jasmine Qing Shan was born.  This will be REAL China for sure, well for 4 nights it will be.
When we adopted her we were not allowed to travel there to meet her, they bought her to the capital Nanchang where we were staying, so this will be the first time we actually see her home town as well.  We will get to visit the Orphanage there (which they charge for!) and she will meet the nannies who looked after her.   We are also going back to Nanchang to stay in the hotel where they handed Jasmine to us, so that she can see all these 'landmark' places that make up her story.  After Nanchang we are flying to Hong Kong for two nights before coming home, and having some fun.  Hopefully Ocean park of Disney Land, and of course Markets!
I am not sure what this will all be like traveling with our youngest Chanel, hopefully she will be a trooper, but she is so fussy with food.

Ocean Park

Shanghai

Progress

Well our Homestudy has been completed by our social worker which is great, so hopefully the National office who are checking it all, won't have too many questions.  We are now back in to full on paper work for the agency part, trying to get this done before we leave for China this month.  It is at really nice to be at this stage, we feel like we are moving now.