Packed And Ready To Go!

It's 9:42 p.m. and we are about to go to bed. Today we took the infamous "Red Couch" picture. Well it's infamous to those that have adopted from China. Since every family that adopts from China stays at the White Swan because it is close to the only U.S. Immigration Office being the U.S. Consulate it is tradition to have all the babies sit on a red couch in the lobby and take a picture. The babies are always crying and falling over in all the pictures I've seen and these babies held with the tradition. Most of them were crying and some were falling over and a few fell off the cushion that was on the floor. Jaden was sitting there and looking at the babies like what is your problem because she was one of maybe three that were not crying. She has reallllyyyyy come along way in a week. A few days or maybe longer she would have been freaking out if I even put her down for a second. I am so proud of her and so thankful that God has been with us all during our bonding time. She is so cute and funny. Tonight at dinner she even let me throw her up in the air and she thought that was fun.
Today was the day that brought us here to Guangzhou, we went to the U.S. Consulates Office to take our Adoption Oath. That was very emotional. We held up our right hands with another 50 plus families swearing that we will take care of our children and love them and abide to the adoption laws. Then we were able received our children's Chinese passport with the U.S. visa so they can get into the States.
Then after 4 other families had a wonderful Chinese dinner together. We came back to the room to finish packing and are going to bed so we can wake up to the 24 hours of travel to be home to our boys.

Were coming home babies, were coming home. Yippie!!!!!!!!

Our flight will arrive on Aug. 1st at 5:17 p.m. North West flight# 1140.

So we will see you beautiful boys at the airport. You might want to wear some padded clothing because we are going to squeeze the bageebers out of you.
Love you very much,
Momma, Daddy and Jaden

One More Day!

It's 8;34 p.m. here in Guangzhou. Tomorrow is our last full day here. We leave the hotel at 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning and will be flying for 24 hours. We leave here in the morning and arrive the same day in the early evening in Maryland. I started packing tonight. We bought a suit case to bring back all our purchases. For the biggest suit case which is huge, probably eight Jaden's could fit in it, was only $18.00. Now the test will be if it makes it to BWI in one piece.
We went to the pearl market today and got a beautiful pearl necklace and earrings for me/Jaden. Getting a pearl necklace to give to Jaden on her wedding day from her own country was important to me. We could have gotten one in the States but never this quality for this price. It is unbelievable how inexpensive everything is here in China.
We bought some children's picture books that have the English and Chinese words. When we bought them the lady was testing meon my Chinese and told me I speak Chinese very well and asked if I had taken classes. I said no, and I think you are just trying to sell me more. I think she was buttering me up. The store ladies are very nice and kind and like to complement you and your baby. They remember your name so when you walk by the next day they call you by name and ask how the baby is doing and if you would like to come in the shop and see this or that. Now I just say no thank you I've already got one, because chances are I do! Back to the books...Jaden really likes playing with the books and I have been reading them to her and she looks at me with either a look of I understand you, or you are a crazy lady mom. I cant figure out that one yet but I am having fun with my version of Chinese either way. We hope for Jaden to learn Chinese when she is growing up. Ron and I want to learn too.
Today Jaden let us put her feet on the floor and try to walk and she was enjoying it. The squeaky shoes are an encouragement, she was smiling the whole time. We caught it on video so check it out on You Tube and I'm sorry in advance for starting the taping sideways again. But I fixed it as soon as I realized. My Bad!
I am going to rest now and wait for Ron to come back to the room from....shopping yup shopping.
Love to all,
Janel, Ron and Jaden

Nicholas and Jacob,
We are getting so excited to be able to finally say that tomorrow is our last day here because that means we get to see our babies soon. Oh my we love you two so very much and can not wait to kiss you and hug you and smell you and hear your voices. Your mommy and daddy are going to drive you crazy with lovens when we get home. Say your prayers tonight and remember to kiss eachother goodnight from us o.k.?
We love you,
Mommy and Daddy and Jaden too!

Shop Til You Drop (Check out You Tube)

Last night was a great night Jaden slept the whole night and so did we. We woke up and had a very nice breakfast in the hotel. The White Swan has a huge buffet for breakfast with everything you could imagine. Chicken nuggets, tatter tots, french toast, cereal, fresh fruit, and the Chinese eat fried rice and other Chinese food they don't seem to eat sweet things for breakfast like we do. At the hotel in Nanchang the Galactic there were many odd things for breakfast like steamed chicken feet for one. Have I told you Jaden will eat every thing we give her she is a great eater, although I have not given her anything I wouldn't eat my self? Oh and yes some Chinese really do eat dog's and cat's. Its true.
After breakfast we went shopping for 3 hours and got lots of deals. Then we had lunch with another family. Then shopped some more. We had a wonderful dinner with a bunch of the other families at an incredible Chinese restaurant. You should see these girls eat their noodles. I have always pretty much minced up long noodles for the boys thinking they would choke. We give Jaden a long noodle and she chews it and slurps it up like no bodies business. It is the cutest thing to see all these tiny girls eating long noodles sucking them into their mouths.
We all have had a fun day. Being Jaden's mommy and daddy is an amazing blessing and has more rewards than you could imagine. When she just looks at you and smiles it is priceless because it wasn't too long ago that I would work my butt of just to get her to change her facial expression. Now she is smiling and responding to us and laughing and really enjoying us as much as we are her. You all are in for such a treat when you get to see her in person her smile is so beautiful. It's 8:30 p.m. here and Jaden has been asleep for about an hour so I'm gonna go now and relax from a long day of...shopping. I need to get some more sleep so we can shop some more tomorrow.
Love to all,
Janel, Ron and Jaden

Nicholas and Jacob, We really miss you and can not wait to get home. Last night we watched the video we took of the two of you singing Jaden's birthday song and we were so happy to be able to see you in motion and here your sweet voices. You two are loved so much and will have to peel us off of you when we get to see you on Tuesday. Only a few more days and we will all be together again. Thank you for being such good boys for Aunt Ce-ce. We will be bringing home many cool things for you and your cousins.
I am very sory that I was not home when you lost your first tooth Nick. I was sad that I missed that although I am glad you wrote the tooth fairy a note asking her not to take your tooth until I get home. Mommy loves you so much and can not wait to see you with your tooth gone. It is the bottom one right? Mommy and Daddy love you guys so much and are sending you lots of kisses and hugs.
Smooooooooooooooooooooccccccchhhhhhhhh
Huuuuuuuuugggggggggggggggg
Momma and Daddy

Jaden's Medical Exam and Look on You Tube for more Vidoes.

Last night was a tough one. Jaden cried in pain for almost 2 hours. She is having trouble going potty. Thankfully we were given a package filled with medicine and prescriptions from a family that had traveled in April had what we needed. So she was able to pass a little and she felt much better and fell back to sleep in her crib. Today she made up for not sleeping well last night and took a 4 hour nap.
Today was the day we took the babies to their medical exam. Jaden was 20.2 lbs with clothes on and showing to be very healthy. She did not like being handled by strangers and was crying but stopped as soon as she was back in my arms. This is a very quick check so we will take her to our Pediatrician when we get home. Some of the babies have upper respiratory infections and are on antibiotics. Some of us met in one of the families rooms tonight after dinner and had prayer time. So please keep these sick babies in your prayers too. And also Jaden so we can get her belly in working order.
We are having so much fun with her. Her personality is coming out more and more. Tonight we ate dinner at the Cow and Bridge, which is a very good Tai restaurant, and she was reaching for everything, just as a one year old should. So it was fun being kept on our toes making sure nothing that she couldn't play with was out of her reach.
Ron and I did some shopping after dinner and got Jaden her first pair of "squeaky shoes" she looks so cute in shoes. She even let me stand her up and take a few steps while I held her. She is very shaky on her own legs. For those of you that don't know what squeaky shoes are, they are very cute silk or leather shoes here in China that have little squeakers in the heels so when the babies walk they squeak to encourage walking and I also think so you know when your baby is getting away from you. The squeakers can come out and you still have a very nice pair of shoes for only a few u.s. dollars. I did some more shopping after we gave Jaden her bath. Everything is so cheep and its a lot of fun to barter.

We're in Guangzhou !!!

It's 9:43 a.m. in Guangzhou. We are at our last destination in the White Swan Hotel on the Pearl River. From what we can see (it's dark)we are on a beautiful island. The White Swan is on an island that originally was a beach on the Pearl River that was separated from the mainland in the Qing Dynasty and turned into an island which overlooks the River on one side and has the city at its back. We will really enjoy this city. Although it gets very hot and humid in the 110+ so I will venture out in the evenings. We arrived tonight at 8:00 after a 1 1/2 hour flight. Jaden did great for her first flight. No problems at all. We are hoping that she will be as good on the 14 hour flight from Tokyo to Detroit. I am so excited to be here. I have been hearing about the White Swan Hotel since I met Julie and feel like we are almost home being here. The hotel is absolutely amazing. We have been staying in 5 star hotels this whole trip. They just seem to get better. The White Swan is located near the U.S. Consulate so 99% of the adopting families stay here so the hotel is all about accommodating to our needs. The shops right next to the hotel are all about the babies and everything we could possibly need for our trip and stuff to take home. They even have a shop to buy extra luggage. Everything here in China is soooo cheap. So we are in need of extra luggage already and have another 5 days of shopping to go. The ladies and I have already made plans to shop at night while the guys are with the babies at bed time.
Jaden is doing so great. We are so in love and I am seeing her open up more and more. Today she has been smiling and laughing and doing it without us having to really work for it. When we first became a family trying to get her to make any facial change took some major work. I told her she was really making me work for my rewards. But that is changing. Tonight she is lying in her crib and babbling and laughing up a storm. Oh this was cool. I was kinda waiting for the time that she would wake up and see me and smile... well today after nap she did. It was so great I was so happy it brought tears to my eyes. She is happy to have us. Tonight when we got to our room I got her ready for bed, changed her and gave her a bottle and she was looking up at me happily, so I told Ron I think she is very happy that she adopted us.
The Chinese people are very interested in us. They actually stop one another and point and stare and stand there in front of us staring and talking to each other. We all just smile and show them the babies. I asked Shiyan what they think and she told me that they think the babies are very lucky because they are orphans and will not have a future here in China and now they will have a wonderful future in America. I of course started crying and told her no WE are the lucky ones. Tonight on the flight a man was sitting next to us and had many questions and said Thank you! Again I got teary eyed and just shook my head no. They do not understand that not one of us has adopted these beautiful girls for them to be saved. We have been so blessed and when you meet Jaden you will feel the same way. She is ours and was from the moment she was conceived its just too perfect.

More Movies

For some reason we are having problems adding videos to this blog site. We've added a couple "Must See" videos to YouTube. You can access these by following these steps...

1) Go To www.youtube.com
2) Click Log In in upper right-hand corner
3) In YouTube Username: rstokes19 and YouTube Password: jaden19
4) Click Log In
5) Click My Account in upper right-hand corner
6) Click My Videos under Video Section
7) Double-click each video to view

Enjoy!!!

Mom and Celeste please keep the posts coming!

Thank you so mcuh for posting your bloggs about the boys. It makes me miss them more but I love knowing how they are doing and especially what they are saying. Oh my I miss them terribly. Thank you all so much for loving my babies as you do and taking such incredible care of them. I love you very much and can not thank you enough for your love for me, Ron and the boys. I will bring you another baby to love here soon. And let me tell you it will be easy. There is absoutly no difference in the love we have for Jaden that we have for the boys. God is so good and has blessed us with an amazing little girl that we would face the ends of the earth for. She is ours without doubt. I can not wait for you to see her in person. You will fall in love as we have.
Thank you for being the best family ever!
Janel and Ron

Our Last Day in Nanchang

Jaden is doing great. She is still crying for her Yeye (Grandpa) and Nainai (Grandma)and MaMa at times. I have been able to console her by rocking and singing to her. She really likes to snuggle and be chest to chest with me. She is so beautiful even when she is pouting or kinda crying. I will give her a toy to hold and try to get her to sit up off of my chest by interacting with a toy but she will just sit up take the toy and go right back down to my chest. And hold onto any toy she has for ever. She will share with me though which I was impressed with. She is smart too. If I put a stacking cup on her foot she will take it off and try to put it back on. She is not crawling and not able to really walk with help yet. Which I was o.k. with because I thought we had missed those milestones.
Yesterday was a great day because we got our first belly laugh. I of course had to act ridiculous to get it but that was easy for me to do. It was so rewarding because she has been kinda somber and very serious. She is so beautiful and even more so when she is smiling and laughing. Jaden even looks different to us since the first day. I can't explain it. She just looks better. She is also babbling more and having fun with us when we play on the bed. The book's and toys we brought have been a hit with her. The stacking cups that Julie gave us are perfect and the bubbles that Judy gave us are fun too. She hasn't really reacted to them but atleaste isn't scared of them. I asked Ron to pick her up a doll from Walmart, well that didn't go over well at all. It scared her so much she shook and kept looking for it on the floor we threw it away so she didn't have to see it again. She is also not too fond of the Bully we brought her. Most of you know Nicholas and Jacob have had theirs since they were born. So we brought one for her and stuffed animals are not going over too well yet. She did warm up to the little lamb that was on her shower cake today.
Right now she is laying in the crib behind me chewing on her tooth brush and talking. I like how she looks for me and makes sure I am still here. She does not like me to leave the room when I go into the bathroom. She is warming up to Ron and this morning was even smiling and scooching up to him when he was playing with her on the bed. She is a great eater. She will eat anything we give her. She HATES her bath. Ron and I are used to that because Nicholas and Jacob were even worse in the "tubby".
Yesterday we all went on a tour to the Teng Wang Pavilion. It is a beautiful Chinese building that has many floors to see. Most were for shopping, which we did. Nanchang is famous for their porcelain. It was 110 degrees Fahrenheit. We were all extremely hot and most of us couldn't bare the heat plus we were wearing our babies on us in the carriers. It was way too hot so we tried to get back to the hotel as soon as possible before we all started dropping like flies. One of our guides told us that Jaden's family was most likely steel workers in Xin Yu city. I thought that was interesting to know. Xin Yu is about 2 hours away from us. I also found out this morning that the babies are usually taken from their foster families and brought to the orphanage for a transition, however our Chinese Consultant Shiyan made it possible for our babies to be brought right from their foster families to us here at the hotel. I have confirmed that Jaden's Chinese name means Colorful Sun and it is pronounced TaiYang in Chinese or KaiYang in English.
We are packing to leave today at 2:30 p.m. for Guangzhou for our last leg of this journey. There Jaden will become an American citizen.
I wish I had been less tired and been able to post more often because you know how you think you will rmember everything and then...you don't.
Until next post!

Nicholas and Jacob, Mommy and Daddy miss you very much and can not wait to see you in 5 days. We are so proud that you have been such good brothers and taking good care of eachother. You will love your sister and I know she will love you too.
Kiss kiss and a big snuggle from both of us.
We love you!!!

Mommy and Daddy Times Three!

It's Monday night at 9:09 p.m. and Jaden is sleeping behind me in a little crib! This morning I woke up again at 4:30 a.m. and not able to sleep. We had to change our money over to yuan and make copies of our passports and other documents and meet on the 2nd floor at 10:30 a.m.. I was a nervous wreck. I thought I was going to get sick from being so excited. Most of us were on the 2nd floor by 10. not surprised. We were hoping for the possibility of the babies coming early. Here we all are on the 2nd floor over looking the lobby waiting for the babies to come through the revolving door with the orphanage workers. Around 10:10 a.m. 4 babies were carried in but we had to wait for all of them before we could meet in the Gotcha Room and receive our daughters. So we knew that 4 were here and we are on pins and needles waiting for the other 10. And here they come at about 10:50 a.m. and I loose it. Oh my God we are about to get our daughter. Do you know I was the first in that room? We were all standing around being as polite as we can knowing we can not just find our daughter and grab her from their arms. We all kept looking at the babies trying to find ours. "Is that her, no that might be her,no. Is that your daughter? I'm not sure I think it's that one, and I'm thinking oh I thought that one was mine." The babies at first are all quiet until one of the orphanage directors stepped on one that was placed on the floor. Well of course she started to wail and that's all it took for all the others to join in and the room is filled with crying moms, dads and babies. The baby on the floor was fine of course. Then over the wailing our adoption coordinator starts calling families one at a time. The family goes up and is asked is this your daughter? Do you recognize her? Then is handed the new baby girl. Everyone is taking pictures for each other and waiting very patiently for their turn. And at 11:06 a.m. the Stokes family was called. I was not sure if this was Jaden until they showed us her referral picture that she had in a plastic card holder attached to her clothes. Before they called our name I was very emotional, no really I was. But when they called us I said o.k. Janel you need to calm down and be at peace for Jaden. So I just held her and told her mommy has you now and Mommy's here and gave her kisses on her beautiful full cheeks. I was very happy that she did not push me away or cry when I kissed her because I wasn't sure how she was going to react to all this. She really seemed to be o.k. she wasn't crying and she would do the boo boo lip once in a while so I'd tell her it's o.k you go ahead and cry Mommy's got you. A few times she'd let out a little cry then stop, she likes to be held close and snuggle. You know I'm loving that. The more I held her and stared at her I could see the Jaden that I saw in the referral pictures. Those picture were at 6 months and she is now 1 year. After all that calmed down we went to the restaurant for lunch they told us it was their feeding time. I started with Cheerios while we waited for the Congee and Boiled egg she liked the Cheerios and that was when she first started to smile, just a smidgen though and as lunch went on she'd open up a little bit more. Ron fed her as I held her facing me. I did not want her not looking at me or me not being able to drink her all in. After lunch we came back to the room and I bathed her. That went surprisingly well, she cried but not too much. Then we had to get on a bus to finalize the adoption. Then from there we had to go and register for the visa's. All in one day we received our daughters, finalized and did the visa's. So our Gottcha Day and our Adoption Day is the same. It is usually done in two but because the visas are taking longer we had to do it today which is good but made for ANOTHER long day. They really run you during this whole trip. It's been a long day. I'm going to bed. Pictures and video should be posted shortly.

Love Janel

Jaden In Mommy & Daddy's Arms

Congratulations and Yeah!! .. (quoting the comments of Jacob & Nick when they knew for certain Jaden was now with Mom & Dad in China).

We are overjoyed now that you are holding your little "Colorful Sun". When you called this morning and, Nick heard Jaden's voice he smiled and had a twinkle in his eyes. I know the boys will be so excited to finally see their little "snukumms" (Nanny's word - know that you love those made-up lovey-dovey words sweetheart). It will be fun to hear what those precious words are that each of you will create for your sweet baby girl.

Pop-Pop sends his love to the three of you and said that he is looking forward to seeing all of you. Pop and the boys are such a hoot together and they keep the laughs going with their creative play.

Nick & Jacob are standing next to me now and want you guys to know that; Nick - love you, love you, love you!! Jacob - I wuv you and congratulations!

May God continue to bless your days in China and travels home.

P.S. Ron you look like an Emperor in your picture next to your Queen.