Our Second China Adoption...

OK, that's a little misleading.


We've mentioned "Half The Sky" in previous posts. It's non profit organization created by adoptive parents of Chinese babies that wanted to help improve the conditions of China's orphans.


After finding out Jada was a part of this program, we've decided to support Half The Sky monthly with a 'Baby Sister Infant Nurture' Program sponsorship.


We didn't know they'd actually assign us a specific little girl. So, introducing Jada's little sister, Peng Yang Chen!

Now we are investigating to see who, if anybody, sponsored Jada. We'd love to thank them and let them know how Jada is doing.

What a fabulous program! I think this is an excellent way to support the orphans. So, if you have Chinese orphans in your heart, you can give to Half the Sky and support their ministry.

Jada's Video is up

Jada's video is up on Healing Place Church website. Pastor Dino did an outstanding job incorporating Jada's journey into his message. It's the sermon for the weekend service on 11/26/06.

I just want to thank the HPC Production Team for doing an OUTSTANDING job with Jada's video this past weekend. The product was exceptional.

Good Holiday

We had a GREAT Thanksgiving week & weekend. I had to work Tues., Wed. & Thurs. night, but we had lunch with Brandi's family Thursday and dinner with my family Friday. All the food was great!

Then, HPC featured Jada's Adoption Story at the services this weekend. They did a great job with the video and Pastor Dino did an awesome job with working Adoption Awareness month and our story into his sermon.

We had alot of couch time in between that. We are full throttle when we are away from home, so when we have time off, we like to rest. Jada has settled into a GREAT sleep schedule for us. She usually naps from 9am - 10am and again from 12p-2pm. Then she goes down at 7pm and sleeps until 6am or so.

It's very rare that Jada wakes up in a bad mood.

Jada in the carseat while we are waiting for our Starbucks.

This is just after Jada woke up. Before that, me and Brandi had some sofa nap time. Who said our naps would end when Jada arrived?

Jada is getting more affectionate with both me and Brandi. She has learned to give kisses and likes sitting with us on the couch and playing on the floor.

Changes...

* Jada is off of jarred baby food and is now a table food baby. The dirty diapers can testify to that. Eating is a much messier & slower process now. She likes to feed herself for the most part and she's not eating as much. We're having a hard time figuring out a schedule until we figure out her eating habits.

* We've also took her off formula and switched her to whole milk. Then, we had to go get her from the nursery after an explosion in the diaper. So, back on formula, slower transition.

* She has a runny nose again. The last cold spell, we forgot to turn the heater on in the house and it got to 65F. She slept in that weather for a night and got stuffed up the next morning.

* She giving kisses!!!! When Brandi kisses her she gives a loud smack. So, now when Jada gives kisses, she leans in with puckered lips and says, "Baaahhh!" She rations those kisses though. She has to be in the mood.

* She's still sleeping good. The nursery tells us she's getting along with the other kids and is well behaved.

Changes...

* Jada is off of jarred baby food and is now a table food baby. The dirty diapers can testify to that. Eating is a much messier & slower process now. She likes to feed herself for the most part and she's not eating as much. We're having a hard time figuring out a schedule until we figure out her eating habits.

* We've also took her off formula and switched her to whole milk. Then, we had to go get her from the nursery after an explosion in the diaper. So, back on formula, slower transition.

* She has a runny nose again. The last cold spell, we forgot to turn the heater on in the house and it got to 65F. She slept in that weather for a night and got stuffed up the next morning.

* She giving kisses!!!! When Brandi kisses her she gives a loud smack. So, now when Jada gives kisses, she leans in with puckered lips and says, "Baaahhh!" She rations those kisses though. She has to be in the mood.

* She's still sleeping good. The nursery tells us she's getting along with the other kids and is well behaved.

November - Adoption Awareness Month

November is Adoption Awareness Month. I've found a great website called "Voice of the Orphan" with Adoption Awareness and Resources. It's a team of FamilyLife, Focus on the Family and Shaohannah's Hope. These are some credible, high quality organizations that will be able to shed alot of light on adoption.

When we did the interview for the Advocate Article, I had said that there are 30 million orphans available for adoption worldwide. Well, "Voice of the Orphan" states that the United Nations counts over 143 million!

Shaohannah's Hope is Steven Curtis Chapman's organizatioin. They adopted from China through America World Adoption Agency, the same agency we used. He created a Adoption Grant Program for financial assistance for adoption.

Some of the fine folks from the HPC Production Team came by this week and interviewed Jada, Brandi and me for a spot that will be airing at all 4 services November 25th & 26th for Adoption Awareness Month.

His Heart for Orphans News

Our next FREE Adoption Workshop at HPC will be: Saturday, December 9 at the Annex Campus Suite G, from 8:00am - 12:00pm. Drinks and snacks provided.

This will be Jada's first workshop!!

Still growing!!

Jada is growing. Her hair is getting longer, she's babbling ALOT more, more vocal and outspoken. Just waiting for her to start putting words together. We have to make an appointment with a speech therapist, just for an initial evaluation. It's recommended for adopted children growing up with foriegn languages.

We're completely off jar food!! We are giving her table food and apple sauce and Yo Baby yogurt! We are scared to start letting her feed herself. We have a hard enough time keeping her and the house clean right now. We hear its like the refrigerator exploding when you let them feed themselves. We're still giving her a couple bottles of formula per day. Need to ask Dr. Ashli when we can ween her off of that. Anyone know?

HPC asked us to participate in an interview and taping for Adoption Awareness month. We'll be getting that done soon and will be used at the end of November for Adoption Awareness Month. We're pretty excited about that. We love the work the HPC Production team does, it'll be a great opportunity to share our experience.

Jada will also be in the Chick Day Fashion Show for the Holiday Chick Brunch. We're going shopping for her outfit soon. So, all the HPC Chicks, check it out.

Here's some recent Jada Pics:

Waking up in her Pooh PJ's
Big Smile! Only one more baby tooth to cut and we're all done.
Last night, hanging out, playing in the Living Room.
She's starting to like playing on the couch, but she hasn't figured out how to conquer gravity yet, so we have to watch her carefully.
After shower outfit.

The Comfort of God's Word

In light of what Brand and I have been through over the past several years and continue to go through, it's always good to hear an encouraging word. Through the story of someone on a message board I visit, I was encouraged by the same scripture that encouraged this person. Hope you enjoy, hope you're encouraged:

1 Peter 1:6-9
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.