First night............It was the 2nd and 3rd night that was the roughest. See how flat her little head is in the back.  

First feeding.............Am I doing this right? 

Little Jada fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel right after we "got" her. See her name tag on her back. If you noticed in the previous picture, she did have a little Christmas outfit on. She is certainly my perfect early Christmas gift. :)  

Elsie who is responsible for "us." She is with our adoption agency and helps us with our babies, legal paperwork and showing us the country. 

Going down the Great Wall was the hardest part. Yikes! 

At the Great Wall.  

Darla (another adoptive Mom) and I at the point where we climbed to at the GREAT WALL! 

Turn your head to the side to see this picture. 

Our tour guide, Susan, in Beijing. We are standing on the highest point at the Temple of Haven. Here the Chinese belief is where we are closest to their Gods. 

Our plane in  

In front of beautiful flowers and waterfall at our hotel. Jada looks everywhere but at the camera.  

Terrible picture of me but I wanted you all to see how we are connecting. She is now putting her little face next to mine. Look at the sign behind me. You can tell we are in a whole different county!!! We are on a bus tour. Jada does really really well on the bus because she loves to see everything. I mean everything! 

It's a new day!!

A NEW DAY!!!!! November 11, 2004........ThursdayWOW, I am a new woman or should I say Momma. It is 6:15. Jada got up at 5:30. I gave her some pedialyte and she went right back to sleep. So, I took a shower and washed my hair for the first time since I have gotten Jada. I feel good!!!! 5 hours of good sleep and I am ready!This is for all the parents who have been here. Remember the shower head in the bathroom that you can hold in your hand if you want to. Well, I put it in the shower hook to take a shower and did not get it in there good enough. I turned on the water and I got my shower before I even got into the tub before I could catch get the water off so I could "catch" that thing. The bathroom is soaked now. There is even water on the ceiling. haha............I was laughing out loud when I finally got it under control. Only me could do something like that.Little Jada: The nights before she would toss and turn and take her little legs and pushed herself around and round in the crib almost constantly. Last night, she stayed in the same direction. I think now she was trying to rock heself to sleep. She is not making as my noise and gunting at night at well. Slept much more peaceful. She always wake up crying though.Today we are going on a tour. I can't remember what. I am not good at remembering many details at the moment.Thank you so much for writing me letters. They are a such a source of wonderful support. Reading them this morning me smile and inspired me to keep up the hard work for such a bundle of joy.Diaper changes...............I am getting much, much better doing diaper changes now. You know she has been having diarhea. I know now I am officially a mom when I have been poop on a couple of times. I was going through all my clothes. But, the last 24 hours, I think I have managed not to be squirted on. haha..............oh my, Like I keep saying, I had no ideal.I am finding that Jada likes to be naked. Her butt is so little. After taking off her dirty diapers, I let her stay naked for a few minutes so her bottom will completely dry and then wrap her up in one of these big white soft towels and carry her to the mirrors. We just have real quiet alone time and just look at each other in the mirrors. She really looks at me in the mirror more. I can tell she is really studying me. She is so quiet doing that time. Very quiet but content! That is like a ritual now after each diaper change. So sweet.(To Mom and DAd, I know it took a while to hear from me but now I think I can write at least every other day. I miss you both and I know you were probably worried about me. I have been tired but I am really okay. I think Jada will certainly add much love to your life. She is so alert with those big eyes. And I think she will be a talker. So, just think, someday she will be telling you all kinds of things. She will certainly bring much life (and noise) to the Care Center. :)(To my family, I can't wait for you all to meet her. She will certainly add joy and spice to our family. And yes, I think she will be short like all of us!!!! )(To Kristi, Lorrie and Wendy,,,,,,,,,, I would have never made it through the first 48 hours without your phone calls. Do I need to say more? Thank you so much. You guys are the best mommies in the world!)To all of you............I hope you enjoy reading these. This is my journal for me to share with Jada. I want her to read about of this. Thank you all for prayers and support. I hope you even got a few laughs out of my stories. Take good care)And last, to Annie......................I missed you too!Good night everyone. My day is just beginning here in China. Time for breakfast!Love from China,Jane & Jada

A note from Jane

It is me, Jada's Momma............Wow, it has only been 3 days. The first day was so exciting and overwhelming that I have a hard time remembering it all. Yes, Jada was the 3rd one in and the first one to cry but now I am learning that it is just her making noise. But, she was crying really big by the time we left the room. The first night was okay. She would not look at me but would certainly watch everything going on around her. This was on Sunday.Monday morning was good. We had breakfast and I was able to spoon feed her and she would take a sippy cup. But, by afternoon we were having lots and lots of tummy problems and she would not look at me or let me console her. We were up for most of Monday night. I have to admit by morning I was at my wit's end. Tired and feeling completely alone at times with this little bitty girl that was so responsible for.Tuesday morning was not much better. But that afternoon she started looking at me. Very minimal but I knew we were starting to trust. Tuesday night was a birthday party. Instantly she was clapping her little hands and slapping them down beside her on me, or the floor or the highchair or what ever we were sitting on. Then we went out to eat at a nice resturant. She was doing really good but it took so long to get food and she was starting to get restless. So, I left early and she was asleep by the time I got her home. At last, I could get some sleep. I don't even know what time it was but by 1:00 I was having major stomach problem and spent the rest of the night in the bathroom and of course Jada was up then. haha You can imagine the rest of the night.Wednesday, today, I am still without much sleep. But, I feel good. Jada is sleeping now. It is only 8:00 and I wanted to share these last 3 days with you all, esp my Mom and Dad.Everyone told me this would be hard but I had no ideal how hard it would be. But, today, there were moments when she would look at me and my heart would just melt. We are connecting and I have no regrets. I do feel overwhelmed but with God's strength and support of friends and family, Jada and I will do just fine. She gets bored here in the room so I can only imagine how bored she will be in my house. oh my..........I will have to be very creative. She is so curious. She is only mimicing me. ba ba ba ba...........and she will let out some loud noise to get our attention or something. When we get on the elevator or just walking down the street, she will make their squating noise and wave her little hands when someone walks by. She is very alert. Some of the babies are sleeping up to 20 hours a day. She is up most of the day and only took a 2 hour nap today. I know some of you are laughing at me because I always said I was going to have a quiet baby, and now I have the loudest one in the bunch. She even let out these noises at night. She is not crying just talking or something. I think she is going to be sweet. Time will tell. If we are standing or sitting right next to someone, she will take her hand and softly touch them on their shoulder and wait for their response. So sweet!I don't know how much she weighs but she is wearing 6 to 9 months clothes. She was letting me spoon feed her yesterday but today she only wants to feed herself. I am still trying to figure all this out. Charlene has been sick and had to get another room so I have been attending to her needs and getting her and myself ready all by myself. And then when we are out on a tour or meeting, it is just me carrying her and the back pack and whatever we are doing. Everyone else is husband and wife so I think I am doing okay. All of you who work with me will love this. I was late to one of our tour trips. like by 5 minutes.......The CHI cooridinator got after me. So, today, I was on time but poor Jada did not have socks on. haha Then she got after me for not having socks on. All the other babies were all fixed up and perfect.........I said hey I got her on time. I figured without any sleep on my part and if Jada had on a dry diaper, we were good to go. hahaLanundry..........oh my goodness, I had no ideal, how can I possibly go through so many wash clothese, clothes, bids, etc in just a matter of hours..........I am just totally amazed.The hotel is very nice. The city is very lovely. It is a wonderful place to start a family. The Chinese people are so helpful and love to talk with us. The weather is great. A bit hot today but so beautiful. If any of the above writing sounds like I am complaining, I am not.........I am just being honest and wanting to share with the world what my last few days have been like. They have been very hard but I would not trade them for anything. I know I am making progress. And I the Mother to a girl named Jada. Very sweet, curious, noisy, little Jada. She is mine to bring home.One last note, I am not going to do spell check. I am too tired. So forgive me for grammar and spelling errors. Also, please email me at rngrace14@hotmail.com. I would love to hear from you. I cannot personally post to my web page except pictures so Kristie is going to copy/paste this. Also, I can't get on aol over here.Love from beautiful China..........................Jane and Jada

Little Jada. She sits like that all the time. She can pull herself up from laying to sitting up. She can scoot but can't crawl. 

Sitting in a high chair at a Tai restaurant! 

Now you can see how long she is. Yes, I am a bit tired! 

Getting to know and trust each other! 

She loves sweets! Look at the frosting. She was so cute. She was clapping and the hit of the party right when we got there! 

Jada's name on birthday cake! 

1st birthday party