Jada's Adoption Page

GOTCHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-04T02:01:00.000-07:00

Forever Family

Let's go!! Load 'em up!!

Taking the elevator up to the Ceremony Room at the Civil Affairs Office. Only moments away now!!

Podium in the Ceremony Room. It got REALLY hectic from here and we didn't get any pictures. It was all over in a FLASH! There was a lady who came up to the podium and told us how much the people of China appreciated us adopting the orphans and how they know they are going to good homes with good families. It was very sweet. Then, they started calling out baby and family names! Jada was 3rd baby in the conference room:

She wasn't too upset, but she wasn't too happy! She just sort of looked at us for a long time. Brandi had her first and spent a good 5 minutes with her. She has this look on her face, I'm sure she's just taking it all in. She didn't cry, but she was ready to cry if she had to. Brandi wanted me to take her for a while, I reached, she pulled away. Brenda & Tut said I needed to take her so she would begin to get comfortable with me. So, I took her and she just put on a big frown for about 5 seconds and she was OK.

She's running a little fever and she's not eating yet. So, we're just reading to her and holding her for now. When she's hungry, she'll eat. She's gonna be a little overwhelmed for the night and probably a little tomorrow.

She's beautiful and she's ours! All Glory and Honor to Our God!!

Adoption Workshop!!!

2006-12-06T12:21:00.000-08:00

It's time again for "His Heart For Orphans" Adoption Workshop

Saturday, December 9

Annex Campus Suite A

8:00am - 12:00pm

Decorating for Jada

2006-12-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

I compromised TWICE for the Holiday Season. First, I hung lights and got a tree. Last year, I got out of doing all that. I gave Brandi the ole, "It takes too much time, too much mess, it's our last year without kids, let's just CHILL!" I'm just not into the "Christmas" thing. Well, not the lights and Santa and stuff.

Next, if I do decorate and get a tree, it's gonna be a REAL tree! Well, not this year. Brandi once again broke me down and talked me into a fake pre-lit tree from Sam's Club, which they delivered. I must admit, it's a slamin' tree. Very difficult to put together and shape and form each branch, but hey, ALL THE LIGHTS WORKED!

The last time we decorated, we did a blue snow man theme. Now that 1/3 of my attic is full of boxes and boxes of blue snowman decorations...... of course its time to change the theme! DUH!?!?!?

So, this year, it's RED & SANTA: check it out...

P.S. Anyone on HPC staff reading this, look at Brandi. It's 10:30pm and she's just sittin' on the couch mumbling stuff like, "Budget.... Expense Reports.... Credit Card reciepts.... reconcile...." Somebody give her a hug.

Eatin' Good

2006-12-13T06:42:00.000-08:00

Hair is growing out and that's perfect because Jada is just now learning to grab food from her plate and rub it on her head!

But, it's OK, because we know it's the necessary step for her to get to fully and cleanly feeding herself. Her recent favorite is pan sauteed zucchini & yellow squash! Oatmeal is a morning staple and Cheerios (Honeynut).

He babbling vocabulary is ever increasing. We think she'll be putting all that together real soon and start saying words. She's done VERY WELL with all the Christmas decorations. Very few incidents and those involved the plastic ornaments.

She's really smart. She can take the cap off a pen and put it back. She can take the battery cover off of any battery operated equipment. She's throws her own diapers away after getting changed. She's fluent in sign language with: food, more, please, milk, no and our favorite, I LOVE YOU!! Sometimes when I walk in with a diaper, she'll lay down on her back!

Her hair is growing out, her teeth are getting bigger! She's very active and hard to keep up with. She's becoming more physically affectionate. Giving hugs and kisses and wanting to sit in our laps on the couch. Oh, she's VERY jealous when mom and dad hug and kiss!

Things are progressing very well for Jada. She's been such a blessing!

Merry Christmas!!

2006-12-25T04:28:00.001-08:00

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2:11-14

Late Christmas Pics of Jada

2007-02-02T07:07:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay. Lots going on at the Lambert's home these days. Jada is GROWING! and she's walking better and more curious than ever (as you will soon see). So, she's really got us on our toes with little else to do than to watch her, which is of course a blast.

"Jesus Loves Me" is on her PJ's. Found them at Lifeway. Jada doesn't really understand the spirit of Christmas as you can tell by her face. It's OK, we're gonna get her saved one day.

She did very well getting the paper off. She's a natural.

Then, we had the Lambert's over for Christmas dinner. It was great having my mom and dad, brother and all the nieces and nephews over. Great time. From left to right: Mom, Chelsi's boyfriend (sorry forgot the name), Blaze, Laci, Chelsi & Britni.

Other nephew Kolby, my brother Darren with Jada in the back. Darren's kids are: Lace, McKenzi, Blaze & Ben. My other brother Van, now living in Denver are: Britni, Chelsi & Kolby.

New pics, new adventures & challenges!!

2007-02-02T07:24:00.000-08:00

As you can see, Jada's hair is getting very long and thick. We pretty much gave up on the elastic bands witht he bows. We are actually able to pull a small pony tail on the top of her head and put a clip with a bow on it. Here she is enjoying a bowl of Cinnamon Toasters with daddy.

If you get a close look at her cheeks and lip, you'll see a couple of burns there. She grabbed a hold of mommies flattening iron this week and it fell on her face. She's a trooper. She cried just a little, but not long. Ashli West, MD our pediatrician, told us its surface only and should heal up nicely. This was our first incident with Jada and we appreciate everyone telling us their horror stories of blood, scrapes, scratches and missing hair and teeth to ease our worry about our parenting skills.

Very interesting turn of events this morning. After our bowl of cereal, she climbed down and was sitting on Lucy's doggy bed, which is around the corner out of my sight. Then, BANG! I heard a sound which I thought was a dinning room chair falling or the TV trays you see at the right of the picture there. Well, when I turned the corner, this is what I found!

The bang was my laptop screen smashing down after she had climbed from the floor, onto the chair and right on up on the dinning room table!! That's the bananas she's grabbing at!! How ironic that our new little MONKEY goes up to get BANANAS. She's a riot!

Here you can see the climb she made. Up on the chair, up on the table and over the laptop and to the bananas. This is exactly why we don't have much time to BLOG anymore. Imagine what she gets into when I'm sitting there on the laptop?

Hair is growing, finished with shots, Jada crying?!?!?!?!

2007-02-27T16:59:00.000-08:00

Her scar from the flat iron incident is healing nicely. Jada's hair is really growing fast. Its gonna be long, straight and BLACK!!

We finished up her shots today. Four shots to the thighs. She didn't enjoy it too much. She's still having runny nose problems. Nothing much seems to be working. We put her on a new medicine a couple of days ago and today it wasn't too bad. We're hoping she'll get acclamated to the climate and get rid of the runny nose.

We had to move away from the band bows and go to clips. Her hair is too long and the head bands ain't working with her hair length. I think after her hair gets a little longer the head bands may work again.

A rare picture of Jada without a smile. This is what happens when you keep Jada from running up to the camera to look into the lens. See, she's not the perfect baby, but pretty close.

Combining BLOGS

2007-03-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

We're combing BLOGS now. We won't be posting on "Jada's Adoption Page" anymore. But, we'll have plenty more entries on www.geredml.blogspot.com, our Family Page.

I'm not deleting this blog, but more updates on Jada and the other Lamberts will be found at www.geredml.blogspot.com or you can click on "Gered & Brandi's BLOG" over on the right hand side of the page.

We hope to see ya'll there. I'm about to post new pics of Jada munching on crawfish!

Thanks,

The Lamberts

Peek-a-boo

2006-12-21T08:25:00.000-08:00

I'm liking this video stuff.

Jada playing Peek-a-boo.

Videos from China on Youtube

2006-12-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

I put some of our videos from China on Youtube for your viewing pleasure.

Here

Here

Here

Enjoy!!

Our Second China Adoption...

2006-11-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-29T15:36:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-27T20:20:00.000-08:00

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...

2006-11-23T20:36:00.000-08:00

* 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...

2006-11-23T20:33:00.000-08:00

November - Adoption Awareness Month

2006-11-17T08:05:00.000-08:00

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!!

2006-11-11T07:05:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-05T00:46:00.000-08:00

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.

Not much new,except outfits

2006-10-17T16:03:00.000-07:00

Not much new or exciting to report. Jada is sleeping very well at nights now. We are slowly moving toward more table food. She's getting used to using her teeth now, so she's learning to eat more than jar food. She's been babbling alot more lately also. We hope to hear some new words from her in the next month.

Dr. Ashli West told us about a free service for therapy for adopted children. We are scheduling a second visit by a social worker for detailed evaluation. We are also trying to schedule a meeting with that Family Lawyer about us doing a re-adoption now that we are home.

Can't quite see the cute outfit, but this scene is cute enough, huh?

This is a Lady Bug we found out by River Bend Nuclear Plant one day on the way to St. Francisville.

Feather Boas with the dresses

Jada's Lady Bug Dress with hat. Lady Bugs are considered Good Luck in China.

Country Girl Can Survive

2006-10-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

Not much new going on. We have some post placement paperwork to fill out for AWAA. We are still waiting on Jada's immigration paperwork so we can begin to get her SSN and birth certificate.

We're researching whether or not to do a "re-adoption." We found a family attorney that's covered under our Group Legal Plan at Shell. We have a free consultation set up to see what our options are. Re-adoption is recommended to get a U.S. Birth Certificate and other identification paperwork. It just makes it easier if we decide to send her to public school (leaning to home schooling...) or just for her to get a driver's license or anything where she needs ID. It'll be easier if we do the re-adoption.

Here's some recent shots of Jada.

Jada got some new "Curious George" slippers.

"Mommy & Daddy's litte love bug! Jada!"

I can plow a field all day long... Jada and Paw-Paw Gerald (my dad)
Does this revoke her Diva status?

Heartbreaking...

2006-10-11T06:05:00.000-07:00

Just got this prayer request from one of the families that traveled with us.

"I will start with the prayer because it is heavy on my husband's and my hearts. XXXX's mother (XXXX is my husband) has still not acknowledged (the baby's) existence. No words or questions or mention of him in any way.

We are sick over this. We have tried to include her in all communication and bring him up often to her only to have her change the subject or ignore it completely."

Honestly, my first reaction was anger. But, I remembered the bad attitudes I have that I need work on. Then, my next reaction was thanks. Earlier, I posted about how great everyone has been concerning our adoption. So, we are very fortunate to have the support we have.

I just couldn't imagine having to deal with a family member like that. That would put up a big wall for me. What a shame. It's only by God's grace that our friends and family are sharing what a blessing Jada is to us and our family. She has brought so much to our lives. We are engaging with friends and family more often and we are able to share what's going on with more people since she's come home. It's opened alot of doors for us and alot of people have been blessed by Jada and our story.

We may have another opportunity and another forum to share our story. It's in the works, so be praying for us that the RIGHT doors are opened for the RIGHT reasons and we are able to share the RIGHT things.

The Lamberts

It's good to have support

2006-10-07T00:55:00.000-07:00

One of the things that has really comforted us in these first days of transition is the Yahoo Chat Group we have with all the families that travelled with us. Since coming back home we have kept in touch by posting our different experiences with all our new babies. Even though they are different, many of the families are facing the same issues or challenges. This is really helpful because it helps combat the thought that these things are happening because we are making mistakes as parents.

Many families and babies are having issues with sleeping and eating. If we didn't have the chat group and know that many other families are struggling with these things, we'd be likely to think we were doing something wrong. But, since we are connected, we know that this is "normal" for other babies and its not what we're doing wrong.

I think one of the worst things we can do when struggling with something is to isolate ourselves and not reach out for help or counsel. It's very helpful to share with other families in similar situations and to hear that we are not alone in our struggles.

For those interest or curious about adoption, one tool that is available for you is the next Adoption Workshop at HPC. His Heart for Orphans will be putting on another workshop Saturday, December 9 at the HPC Annex Campus Suite G 8:00am - 12:00pm.

This will give you a chance to meet with other families interested in adoption and families who have adopted. The information we've gotten from our chat group has been extremely valuable to us and our decision making. I believe the information and networking available at this Adoption Workshop will give you the ability to make a better decision about your future in adoption.

Ignorance feeds fear and confusion. Anytime you are in a situation where there is fear or confusion, the best thing to do is arm yourself with information.

Baptism & Baby Dedication

2006-10-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

OK, so not really "Baptism", but submersed in a tub of water, sort of the same. We wanted to see if Jada could share in our hot tub time, so we brought her in. Oh yeah, she liked it. She loves bath time and this was just bath time multiplied by 100!

This is her favorite water activity. Slapping her hands on the surface of the water. That face is when her face gets wet. When I'm giving her a bath and I need her to stand up, I just pour water over her face and she jumps to her feet and makes this face.

Happy Jada. What else is there to say...

More water in the face, more facial contortions.

Now to the baby dedication. I forgot to get someone to take pictures of Jada with our camera at the church service. She had a WONDERFUL dress Aunt Linda bought for her. I'll have to get pics from the service from somebody.

Not only did Aunt Linda buy Jada's dedication dress, she treated everyone to lunch at Ruffino's. Since Jada was away for her first birthday, we decided to celebrate her 14th month birthday while at Ruffino's. Complete with the American tradition of letting the baby dive into the birthday cake, no holds barred.

Jada's diggin' this tradition.

Face and hands full of cake.

"Touch my cake pops, and I'll PIMP SLAP YOU!!" (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

Jada's having trouble sleeping tonight. She has a runny nose and its hard for her to breath. She didn't get much of a nap today with the Church service and lunch at Ruffino's. So, we're hoping she way worn out and she'll get some sleep. We'll then, get some sleep.

I'll post a link to the Baby Dedication service from HPC's website when it comes available. I'm pretty sure they post it.

Pics on Parazz

2006-10-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

I started uploading the pics from the trip on Parazz. I got about 370 pictures loaded so far.

I can't figure out how to put that little Parazz window on the side bar. If anyone knows, fill me in. *Thanks Dup!! I got it!*

I think between me and Brandi's mom, we have about 600 pictures from China. It's sort of slow up loading 600 pics, but I should have them all done by Monday or Tuesday.

Enjoy!