Only 16 more hours....

.....and John will be on his way to VN to get Rylea!!!  He should have her in his arms our time Sunday night!!!  I'll be posting pics to Rylea's site.  If you want to follow, leave a comment or send me an email with your address.

WOO HOO!!!!!

What we did!

I have gotten quite a few private emails this evening about our experience this morning, so I wanted to share what we did.  We did leave right away!!!  We went back to the gym to pick up 4 very confused kids!!  By that time I was crying.  I felt as though we had been *kicked out*!!! Who gets *kicked out* of a CHURCH???  I was still crying when we passed back by the sanctuary and the gentleman that asked us to leave the sanctuary told me to *Have a nice day*!!!!  I wanted to PUNCH him.  LOL  I was totally humiliated and felt discriminated against!  We definitely will NOT be going back to that church!  

Thanks for all the comments and thoughts!!!

What would you do???

We are looking for a new church.  This morning we wanted (ok, I wanted) to try a church near our home.  We arrived and went into the sanctuary.  We were promptly escorted out and asked to take the little kids to the children's worship service.  Normally we keep them with us until we decide we want to attend the church we are visiting.  However, we took them to the registration desk and got temporary tags and directions to the gym.  We also had to assure them several times that Kaylea is 8 and should be with the other kids.  So, we arrive at the gym and register them there as well.  We ask about a class for high schoolers and are assured the sermon is appropriate for the 2 high schoolers!  We arrive back at the sanctuary and are then escorted to the *wiggles and giggles* room because we have Rubea.  Well, Rubea LOVES church and will sit nicely and listen or play quietly in my lap, since we of course forgot her wheelchair.  We find a seat on a bench that is just big enough for the 4 of us and sit down.  We make it through about 5 minutes of sitting in there.  It was HOT and LOUD!!!  I do not enjoy such chaos!!  I know, I have all these kids and can't deal with chaos.  I can deal with chaos in my home with my kids, but not during church.  :-)  Sorry, just being honest.  The downstairs is packed so we decided to head upstairs.  We are up there about 10 minutes and several ushers passed us, looked at us and kept going.  Finally, an usher comes and kneels beside me and tells me that the *Pastors* require them to send us to the *wiggles and giggles* room or take the kids to the nursery!  Of course he comments on how well behaved my baby is during this conversation.  I tell him the *room* is full and hot and that I will not be leaving her in the nursery.  He wants to know why I am opposed to the nursery and I tell him she is disabled.  Oh, that is a shame he tells me!!!!!  However, I must go sit with her in the nursery, go sit in the *room* where there are now no more seats, or leave!!!!!  What would you have done????

Blessings!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

We are truly blessed to be celebrating the birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, with family and friends!  Wishing each of you a very Merry Christmas!!

Love,

The Lamberts

John, Carla, Marissa,

Johnathan, Emilea, Jackson,

Ethan, Kaylea, Owen, Rubea &

Rylea (home 1/15)

Where I have been.....

Roses from Liz for our adoption day!!  So sweet!!!!

Playing in the sandbox
So busy "working",  she is drooling!
Working with her occupational therapist
Kissing Rylea!!

Busy.  I have been busy!  We had court on Monday to finalize Jackson's adoption, Rubea's re-adoption and Owen's adoption recognition!  We are thrilled that we were able to accomplish ALL three in one court date!  Our attorney is a gem!!  We sent her all the paperwork the week of Thanksgiving!!  I couldn't believe she got us in so quickly!

Next...guess who can *army crawl* now???  YUP!!  Rubea!  I am so proud of her!!!!  I'm hoping she will try to explore on her own, now.  Her p/t told me today the next step will be teaching her to get in and out of her bed on her own!!  Guess that means she'll be moving out of ours and getting a toddler bed to replace her crib!!  I think one step at a time.  First she has to go to bed without mommy or daddy!  lol

I also decided that since it is getting cooler here, I would rearrange Rubea's playroom and bring the sand box in the house!  Rubea is in heaven!!!  She has a blast in the sand box.  Because she can sit in there unassisted and play with both hands, she has a great time playing for hours.  It is good therapy for her, too.  I am hoping it will help to strengthen her arms and back.  

Oh!  And...trying to get all the trip arrangements for John to travel to VN to get Miss Rylea.

It looks like he will be leaving on the 2nd of January and returning the 15th!!  WOO HOO!!!! 

He should get her on the 5th!  

He will be missing a surgery, many doctor appointments (finally going to Scottish Rite in Dallas), our anniversary and most likely some puking and runny noses!!  He got the easy job!! 

We are truly blessed!!!!

Drum Roll, Please.....

                                               RYLEA IS COMING HOME!!!!

The Giving and Receiving Ceremony, which is where she officially becomes ours, will be on January 5th.  John will leave on or about the 1st.  We have been told that he must be in country by the 3rd. They will return home on the 14th or 15th!!  We are bummed that she will not be home for Christmas as previously mentioned, but are THRILLED that she is coming home sooner than we expected!!  We didn't expect our I-600 approval until after the first of the year! Thankfully there are 2 other families traveling at the same time to her orphanage.  So, John will not be alone.  At last our Rylea Faith is coming home forever!!!  We are hoping to get new pictures before we travel, too!!!  God is GOOD!  Thanks for all the prayers, comments and emails of good wishes!

Love,

John, Carla, Marissa, Johnathan,

Emilea, Jackson, Ethan, Kaylea, Owen,

Rylea & Rubea

MORE NEWS!!!!

We got word tonight that we have our pre-approval of our I-600, which means we can travel to VN!!!!  We are unsure at this time when our G & R ceremony will be, but maybe as early as next week!!!  Hopefully we can pull this all together by then....

Stay tuned!!!!!

We are on our way Rylea!!!!!

Adoption Finalization!!

Our attorney just contacted us about going to court on the 8th to finalize Rubea's and Jackson's adoptions. We will also do a recognition of Owen's so he will have a Texas birth certificate!!  We are so excited to finally be finishing this last step for all of them!!  We just mailed in all the paperwork last week!  Quick turn around!!!

A few days late.....

But we are HOME!  We got released on Sunday afternoon. We have been to a few docs since then and no one knows what is/was going on with her.  She is her happy, normal, fun loving self though! She is now afraid of the doctors, though! I think it is the number of times they stuck her in the 2 days we were there. Poor baby has HORRIBLE veins.  The week she was in PICU from her surgery they tried to put in a central line because all her veins were *blowing* and they needed one for 1 of her IV's.  They finally did an *A* line...in her neck!  I am not looking forward to that 2 week stay in January!    

On a happier note, Rubea is going to visit her classroom at school on Friday! She won't start for a while, but they will be doing her IEP meeting after Thanksgiving and her teacher wanted her to see the classroom before the meeting. She knows the school and everyone knows her, so hopefully it will be an easy transition. I think she will love being able to watch the other kids. Since we are getting things set up before her surgery in January, they can put her on home bound services if we choose to use them. 

Kaylea will not be having surgery with Rubea in January as planned. ugh...  She will also have to have a spinal cord release before she can have her titanium rib implant.  So, she will most likely have that in December and then her rib placement in February.  

I guess that is all the news for now........

In the hospital, again!

Rubea has been vomiting off and on all week. It got worse as the week progressed. They are unsure as to what is wrong with her at this point. She does not have a temp but has not kept anything down for a couple of days. She has been crying a lot, too! We were thinking that it might be due to her hydrocephalus, but the cat scan doesn't show increased pressure. Her labs are wacky so they are keeping her on IV fluids for now.  If the labs improve, she can maybe go home tomorrow! She doesn't act like she is in pain, so I guess we just wait and see.

If you wouldn't mind, she could use any and all prayers!

Thanks!!

It isn't People magazine...

...but Rubea is going to be on the cover of a magazine!  We had about an hour long photo shoot yesterday!!  She of course, charmed them! It was fun to watch her.  She did really well and eventually forgot that the photographer was there. The magazine is for Speech Therapists. I don't recall the name, but they will send us a copy.  The other kids think she will be famous now!! lol

I'll post the picture once I get it from the photographer. She took a 2.5 hour nap afterwards, so it must be hard work ;-)

Short update...

The girls at the air show
Boys at the air show with my nephew, Joshua---glasses compliments of the Navy!
Sea World
Rubea just being cute....like the shoes??  Her shirt says *Daddy does my hair!*  lol

We have been so busy lately.  Between the going to Sea World for the Halloween fun, the Pumpkin patch, Fossil Rim ( a drive through Safari) Halloween party at daddy's squadron, and the base air show, we have been on the go for the past 2 weekends. AND, we are going home this weekend.  I am ready for a weekend home. We still haven't finished unpacking from our move in August!!!  Still no news on our I-600 approval from the officials in VN.  We are praying we will hear from them in next week or so!!  Feel free to say a prayer for us, too!  We want Rylea HOME!

FINALLY!!

Wordless Wednesday

For a GREAT cause!

There is a great raffle over here .  This family is raising money to bring their son home from China. It is such a sweet story. So, head on over to here and purchase your raffle ticket, read the story about the *Butterfly Boy* and add a button to you sidebar so you can spread the word, too!!

Then when you are done with that, head on over to visit Amie , she also has a great giveaway and challenge!!  Head on over and visit her and let her know your RAK for today!!

Enjoy your day!

Wordless Wednesday.....titled: I want her HOME!!!!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Who wouldn't want to win this?? It is simply BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Quilt Raffle

If you would like a chance to win this BEAUTIFUL quilt, you can do so by clicking here.   Cynthia and her husband are raising funds to bring home their gorgeous son Nathan Jade Jin Pei from China! Go check out her web site and purchase a chance to win the quilt while you are there!!

Rylea's new blog...

We started a blog for our journey to Vietnam for Rylea.  We should have her in our arms SOON! Our I-600 has been acknowledged by the Consulate in Ho Chi Min City!!  WOO HOO!!  We will use this blog once she is home to share the milestones of both Rylea and Rubea.  We have decided for now to keep it private.  If you would like to follow along, please leave me a comment or email me and I will forward an invitation to you.

Thank you!!

A Saturday funny....

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for change! The chicken wanted CHANGE!
JOHN MCCAIN: My friends, the chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either against us or for us. There is no middle ground here.
DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken! What is your definition of chicken?
AL GORE: I invented the chicken.
JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.
DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems. 
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens. 
ANDERSON COOPER: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTH STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
Dr. SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.
GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file yur important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

Today...

The first 3 pictures are of her on *gotcha* day.  The last 2 are from tonight.  She has changed tremendously!!!  She still sucks that knuckle, though ;-)                                                               

WOW!!! Today is our 1 year forever family day with Miss Rubea! She is such an amazing baby! Yes, I know she is not a baby, she is a toddler ;-) She was so tiny (17 pounds), she couldn't hold her head up, which meant she didn't roll over, sit, eat from a spoon/fork, play, etc. I was not prepared for my 22 month old to be more like a 2 month old. I prayed and prayed and prayed some more that first week with her. I was so grateful that I had my daughter, Emilea traveling with me and the most amazing family traveling with us! Had it not been for all of them, I don't know how I would have survived!!!!

I am thankful that I now have a 34 month old toddler girl who is now 22 pounds, can sit up with assistance, roll over both ways, pivots on her belly on the floor, babbles constantly, gives hugs and big wet kisses, finally loves her daddy and still can't live without her Emmy! She is able to feed herself finger foods, laughs continuously at her brothers and sisters, she is able to communicate in her own way and melts my heart over and over with that big grin that she flashes so easily. We know she has a long road ahead of her, but we are thrilled that we are her family and can travel that road with her!

Video

My #1 cheerleader made this video to introduce their newest son....it is so inspiring!! She did such a great job. I cry each time I watch it. They are an amazing family. We met up with them over the summer and had a blast! This will be their 6th adoption!!! Check it out!! Let me know what you think!!

Carla



Adoption Changes Lives

We are home!!

Home, today....doesn't she look good??
The 5.5 inch incision.
2 days after surgery...still OUT!
Not long after surgery
With daddy not caring why she is at the hospital at 6:30 am.  Day of surgery!!

Those are the BEST three words I have written in a while! We are thrilled to be home with the rest of the kids. I stayed at the hospital the past 2 nights! John will go tonight...Kaylea has a sleep study at a different hospital. So, we basically begged them to let us leave this evening with Rubea so we could make the appointment with Kaylea. They wanted her to stay another day or two. We are here with no family to help out and we knew that we couldn't be a separate hospitals with 2 different kids and the other 5 kids at home...alone!! I'm thinking CPS doesn't like that!! We have been waiting for the appointment for Kaylea since April...see the dilemma??

Ok, back to Miss Rubea....she is doing well and squealed with delight over seeing her brothers and sisters today! She is sitting in her saucer chair listening to them all do homework and happy as can be.  Before the surgery, she would have been screaming to be held or to be entertained ;-) I measured her incision....5.5 inches long. She is only 32 inches long. YIKES!! Of course the great news is....we already see progress. She is close to being as *lose* as she was back in April.  When she went in for surgery last Wednesday, we couldn't bend her legs or move her feet!! She will definitely have to have her club foot repaired, again, though.  

We also talked with the nurse/coordinator for the Titanium Rib Program and they are up for placing Kaylea's and Rubea's ribs the first week of January!! Our hospital stay will be twice as long, but we'll get the two taken care of at the same time.  I think this will be easier than doing them one at a time with 2 week hospital stays, each!!  RIGHT??  Anyone have experience with this?? 

It is good to be home....

Thank you for all the prayers, comments, phone calls, emails and text messages!!

The TUBE comes out tonight

The nurses are allowed to take her tube out tonight after 6:00!!  Today they will level out her bed, it has been head down so the spinal fluid wouldn't leak. Then they will try putting her head up for a bit. Then they'll take her tube out and let her wake up.  She has been waking up several times a day, but then they give her more meds and out she goes. They took her catheter out last night!  So, we are making progress. We hope to be home Tuesday if she does well.  

We did take all the kids in to see her yesterday. They were so glad to see her!!!  They all begged on Friday and I told them no, but they wouldn't let up!  So, yesterday we let them in to see her.

They did really well. No one got upset.  They did ask lots of questions, but that is ok!  We were worried that it would scare Kaylea. She and Rubea have their *big* surgery the first week in January!!  

Off to do a few chores and get back for the surgery!!

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!!

Rubea Update!!

I am home...I needed some rest.  I only got naps last  night.  In the PICU they come in every hour to give meds, check tubes, suction the mouth, take her temp, check her vitals, and everything else they do. Of course, this takes half an hour....so there was little sleep for mama. Oh yeah, plus the put in a NG tube, which didn't go well. Then they had to come in and x-ray to check the placement.  Then by 4:45 am they came in to get her ready for a CT scan.  She is doing ok. She needed a new IV placed and they tried in about 6 places. They couldn't get it. It broke my heart that she was so sedated, but had tears. I tear up just thinking about it :-(  She is with her daddy tonight, so I can sleep knowing she is in good hands!!  I was so tired and emotional that I needed to come home. They tried to get in a PICC line, but they couldn't get that in either. So they settled for an IJ, which is essentially an IV in her neck.

While we were waiting to see her yesterday, we were in the PICU waiting room. I heard an ambulance and then a few minutes later they brought in a child. I noticed the mom had on a top from a set of scrubs with an Air Force emblem on  it.  I have no idea what happened with the little boy, but he is in the room next to Rubea.  They were taking him off life support tonight. So, if you pray, please say a prayer for this boy and his family. There was a waiting room full of people there. They were having him Baptized when I left. The staff at the hospital were gracious enough to let the entire family in for the event. What a blessed little boy to have so many there to say good bye.

****** UPDATE*******  We found out this little boy drowned. Very sad.

Thank you for the prayers....Rubea is doing well....

Love,

Carla, John & Rubea

Rubea update!

Carla spent the night at the hospital with Rubea last night. Here's her update from this morning.

"Well. . . . she is resting. She has been running a fever around 102 with tylenol. They have put in an N.G. tube so they can start feeding her. One of her IV's was blown and they can't find a good vein . . . so they are thinking of putting in a central line today. The CT scan she had this a.m. looks good."

Please keep sweet Rubea and her family surrounded by prayers! Will post more as I know it.