The Seventh Alexander

This is our Gotcha Day Photo

This is the first photo we looked at of Sarah!

Little did we know while we were in CHina picking up Lily, there was a four-month old little girl a few hundred miles away that was the Seventh Alexander!

Min Xiao Ning was found on the #2 bridge known as "The Forever Wishes Bridge" in Qinzhou CIty (Chin-jo) on July 8, 2004. The note attached to her said that she was born the previous day, July 7th. Qinzhou City is located in the southern part of Guangxi Province near Vietnam. The man that found her took her to the local police station. The police then took her to Qinzhou City Social Welfare Institute where they gave her the name Min Xiao Ning. "Min" is the surname given to all babies that come to this particular orphanage. "Xiao" although pronouned the same as Lily's given Chinese name, means "dawn/morning." "Ning" means "peaceful." The orphanage found Xiao Ning to have a congentital heart defect known as ventricular septal defect (VSD). Due to this special need, they transferred her to A Mothers Love Orphanage in the capital city of Guangxi known as Nanning. A Mothers Love is a phenominal place. They only take abandoned children with special needs. A number of orphans with severe needs are housed at the orphanage. Those with minor special needs are placed in a foster home. Xiao Ning was immediately placed in the foster home of a wonderful family we call "Uncle" and "Ah-moo." Xiao Ning was well taken care of by them. She was loved deeply as well.

While she waited, we went on with our life with four children. Scripture talks about the "fields of the fatherless" in the Old Testament. Land owners would leave a portion of their grain for the widows and orphans. Travelling to China to get Lily was a "walking in the fields of the fatherless" experience for us. We felt called to return. Although we were very happy with the agency we used to adopt Lily, we decided to use another agency that offered a better financial deal in the adoption process. A Helping Hand is a wonderful agency out of Lexington, Kentucky. They are Christ-centered in their committment to work in adoption and orphan relief in countries that do not permit adoptions. We decided go the same route as we did for Lily.....nonspecial needs, as young as possible, girl. When we neared the completion of our dossier, I felt led to look into the new special needs children that were assigned by the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs to our new agency....A Helping Hand. We saw Gods hand in this process immediately as we looked at the sweet face of Min Xiao Ning! We changed the necessary paperwork and requested to adopt Xiao Ning. We travelled this past May to bring her home.

We have given her the name "Sarah Jo XiaoNing Alexander." We chose Sarah because it was the name of my grandmother on my mothers side. Mom always mentioned that she wished she had a grand-daughter named "Sarah." Several grand-daughters along the way and no "Sarah." Lily was almost a Sarah! Little did we know that God had other plans for a Sarah to be in the family! "Jo" is my middle name. We also gave her a second middle name...her given Chinese name.

While in China, we had the opportunity to meet Sarah's foster family. They did a wonderful job taking care of her and loving her. I will always remember the embrace of Ah-moo as she spoke the only English words she knew, "I love you." We both had sobbed as we met that day.

We have been home with Sarah for nearly five months. We all feel as if we've known her forever! What is her personality like? Well, she is SOMETHING else! She is strong-willed. She is loving....when she wants to be! She is extremely bright and she speaks English amazingly well already. She's beautiful. She is determined. She loves all sorts of foods. She loves her brothers. She loves Lily, too. Although, she has been a bit mean to Lily as she has bitten sweet Lily at least 30 times since we've been home! I think we have been "bite-free" for nearly two weeks now! Her favorite people would be Eesie, Addi, Lorissa, eye-ee (Auntie in Mandarin) that lives behind us and eye-ees daughter Sydney.

Sarah experienced a lot of grief and she transitioned from her foster family to ours. She has attached well in this time with us. She used to sleep with the foster mother so her bedtime has been a huge transition. She slept on a mattress on our floor for a number of weeks. She is now in her room with Lily, but I have to lay on the floor until she falls asleep. We'll tackle one challenge at a time.

Something that has touched my heart with Sarah is watching her grow in her knowledge of God. She is only two years old, but is amazing how she has grown. Most children born into a Christian home learn early on to fold their hands and pray before a meal. They learn early on that prayer is part of the bed-time routine. I'm pretty confident that Sarah did not hear the name "Jesus" at all before we got her. For a number of weeks she just sat there when we prayed. It is now a moving experience to see her fold her hands and pray at meal times. It is even a more moving experience to see her on her knees at the side of her bed at night as she prays. I kneel with one of my girls on each side of me! We pray. And if I forget someone, she'll remind me! I then take the hands of my little China daughters and we sing "Jesus Loves Me."

Her heart? The VSD is still there, but it is so small that the doctors at Children's do not want to do anything more than see her every six months. Praise God! So, you've met the Seventh Alexander. When you look at her photos, you'll agree that "GOD IS CERTAINLY GOOD!"

Photos: At the bottom is the first photo we saw of Min Xiao Ning. Above that is Gotcha Day in Nanning. Above that is a picture of Sarah's finding spot on "The Forever Wishes" bridge. Above that is Sarah with her foster family and her forever family. Next is the first meeting of Lily and Sarah Alexander. We then have a close up of Sarah in the summer. The portrait photo is of Sarah on her second birthday. She is wearing a dress that was given to her from Ah-moo. The final picture is of Sarah on a water slide at Kings Island.