China. It was a place like no other. I am a photoholic so I took photos in China everywhere we went.

In this photo, we were in a park called Friendship Garden. All around
this park were many people and many statues like this one here. I remember in this park, there was Chinese karaoke and the man and woman who sang were horrible! But it was so funny! It’s amazing how one picture can bring back so many memories.

I strongly encourage you to bring a camera to your sibling's birth country if you are able to go. If you aren’t, ask your parents to bring one and take as many photos as possible. Your family will have a blast looking back and sharing many memories, not to mention the stories you will be able to tell your sibling about their country and show them a bit about their culture.

When the photos are developed or printed, make a scrapbook or a video. The memories are even better when they are used creatively. With scrapbooks, find scrap booking stickers and fun paper to make the pages pop. With a video, choose special songs that mean a lot to your family while going thru the adoption process.

For my little sister, Gracie, I made a video and am now working on two scrapbooks. In her video we put video clip of going thru the adoption process, our going to China, Gracie’s “Gotcha Day”, our trip to visit her orphanage, many of the other places we went in China, and finally our journey coming home. Gracie has two scrapbooks. One is a red photo album with Chinese fans on it. Inside I am going to put pictures of just China, and her second scrapbook is like a baby book. Instead of buying a baby book, I’m making her one. It’s really cool to personalize one and make it your own.