Look at her.  Big, bright black eyes as round as dinner plates, eyes that don't miss a thing.  A round, chubby-cheeked face the color of the moon in the sky.  A tiny snub for a nose.  Pretty bow lips that quickly melt into a smile.  Long, silken, thick jet-black hair done up in twin pigtails that stand out straight from her head.

That is our daughter, our Jasmine Rose (also known as Xing-Xing).  We adopted her about six months ago from China; it's been a long journey, full of more twists and turns than a road along the Appalachian Trail.  Now after many weeks, months of tears, uncertainty, and desperate prayers, little Xing-Xing is now ours, permanently and legally.

Now we have three children.  Two girls (Roe Michelle, six, and two-year-old Jasmine Xing-Xing Rose) and a gorgeous little baby boy, two-month-old Stefan Jadrien, who joined us just last week from the Honduras. 

It was not hard to fall in love with Xing-Xing once we got her home.  There was the normal adjustment period on all our parts, but soon, Jas started picking up English words ("kitty", "doggie", "mamma", "daddy", "nite-nite", "buh-bye", "bopple", "foo'", etc), and we realized then just how smart she truly is.  She was quick to smile at people, especially if they doted on her, and she went out of her way to please them (and us). 

It's been nothing short of miraculous just how quickly our daughter from China has adjusted to the frenetic pace of lifestyle here in America.  She now acts like a typical American preschooler:  her favorite shows are "Dora the Explorer" and "Caillou", she loves anything pink or anything having to do with princesses, she loves wrestling with her older sibling, and she loves helping mommy out with baby "brubber". 

She is a very good big sister; we are very proud of her.

So is her older sister.  In fact, she wants another sister.  She keeps asking us when we are going to go back to China, to get another one.  LOL

Kids are so precious!  How can we NOT say no to THAT request??

I just hope that Roe learns to love her newly adopted baby brother.  I think she's jealous of both Jasmine and little Stefan because they've taken some of the attention away from her, and she is having a hard time dealing with it.