The Third Alexander

Well, today I thought I'd share a little bit about the third Alexander....TJ. After a few years of infertility stuff and one failed adoption, we got a call about a soon-t0-be-born baby in Owensboro, Kentucky. We were asked to meet with a beautiful young woman about the possibility of adopting her baby. We met at the Executive Inn in Owensboro. It was the birthmother, her sister and her pastors wife. It was a wonderful visit and I have such great memories of a woman that loved her child so much that first, she chose life and second, she chose us to be his mother. TJ was born on March 2, 1991 weighing in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces. From day one he was a spirited guy! We lived in Louisville, Kentucky at the time. I worked at the University of Louisville while Tom served at a church in Clarksville, Indiana. His full name is Thomas James Alexander.....he prefers "TJ" over the official name. We wanted to have the same name as his father...thus the Thomas.

Here we are now looking the third Alexander who stands over six feet tall! He's handsome, too! TJ is still quite spirited! He loves life! He loves sports. He loves his sisters. He tolerates school! He plays the drums in a band. He melts my heart one moment and I want to smack him upside the head the next!

His favorite sport is football although he does play basketball and run track. His favorite food is anything with a touch of hot sauce. He loves going to the farm where Tom grew up. I wish everyone could see how TJ is with his little sisters. He adores them both. I must say that he is a wonderful big brother. It was in Gods plan for TJ to be the oldest of our five children. He's a great kid and has filled his spot as the third Alexander quite well.

I love the boy!

The first photo is of TJ with Lily at King's Island this past summer. The second is from his first date (sort of) this past year at the Honors Dance at his school.

This is our family (without Dad, who is taking the picture) as we arrived home at the Columbus, Ohio airport with our newest daughter from China. Kathy, TJ, Tyler, Dane, Lily and Sarah! (Ruth, our friend, is looking on). The happy family!

The Genesis of Seven-Alexanders

The top photo is of the Seven Alexanders. This photo was taken in the early part of the Summer. The next photo is a photo of when we arrived in Columbus with Sarah. This was the first time the seventh Alexander met the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Alexander!

Tom and I were married in 1987 in Girard, Ohio. Tom was serving at a church in Evansville, Indiana at the time while I was working at The University of Evansville. In 1988 we moved to Louisville, Kentucky so Tom could finsih up his M. Div. at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I worked at The University of Louisville for a number of years. After seminary, we stayed around the Louisville area while Tom worked with Eastside Christian Church in southern Indiana. In 1991 we were blessed with the birth of TJ! It wasn't long after that when I decided to stay at home full-time. Tyler arrived in 1992 while we were living in Sellersburgh, Indiana. We moved to northern Indiana to help start a new church in St. John in 1994. During our time there, along came Dane in 1996. In 1998 we moved to our current home in Lancaster, Ohio where Tom serves as a minister with Fairfield Christian Church. We thought our family was complete until 2003 when we felt called to adopt a child from China. In October of 2004 we travelled to China to bring home Lily Kathrine XiaoJing Alexander. Lily was born on November 17th (2003) in Yangjiang City, Guangdong PR in the Peoples Republic of China. She was found at the orphanage gate on the day she was born. We were able to have her in our arms on November 1, 2004. Little did we know that while we were in China, there was was a four-month old baby living in a foster home in Nanning City, Guangsi PR that would be our next daughter. Mix XiaoNing was found at The Forever Wishes bridge in Qinzhou (chin-jo) City in the southern part of Guangxi Province near Vietnam. Because of a congenital heart defect, she was transferred to A Mothers Love in Nanning. She lived with her foster family in Nanning until the age of 22 months. We were able to have her in our arms on May 15, 2006. This gives you a general idea of how we came to be the Seven Alexanders.