July 18th, 2004.  The day they brought Jasmine to my hotel and left for good.  Some guy, her "grandma", and another little girl.  They spent maybe 10 minutes together, and then left.  The door shut, and Jasmine cried and screamed.  I expect I was the first man to ever pick her up.  She finally just collapsed and fell asleep, but woke up several times crying.  The next day we went to the China welfare agency (A communists style building, with leaky ceilings and creaky stairs).  I remember it being very hot.  She came in the yellow clothes, but I put the bib on her because she was drooling so much.  Jasmine would say "that must be a baby because she has no hair..."

"This is what she looked like.  13 hours to Toyko, 3 hours to Bejing, 4 hours to Xian, 1 hour drive through the country, and they handed me to her in the hotel lobby.  She was sick, tired, dirty and crabby.  I loved her on first sight"