Last weeks visit to Girard, Ohio

Sarah, Lily and Madeline....three beauties!

Nanning sisters Sarah and Madeline!

Lily, Madeline and Sarah

Lily, Emma and Sarah....three cousins. The goofy character

in the back is their Uncle Bob, my brother.

Lily, Riley, Sarah and Emma with their Aunt Donna. The girls

loved to have Aunt Donna read to them. Donna is married

to Bob....she's brings some sanity to his life!

Emma, Lily and Sarah

My mom, Flo, with Riley and Lily. Riley is another cousin.

I took the girls to visit my family in Girard, Ohio last week. We had a great time visiting with family. Not all of my pictures came out so I am disappointed. My apologies for not showing any other siblings or cousins. I have seven siblings and my mother is grandma to 21 so needless to say...there are a lot of us!

I especially enjoyed seeing the girls with my mom. It was fun to see them sit on her lap and tell her over and over again how much they love her. They also enjoyed meeting all of my mom's friends in the apartment building. My mom lives in a retirement apartment building, but is seems more like a college dorm for women over the age of 70! There doors are open and they go back and forth!

We spent some time at by brothers house, too. Buzz and Tami used to live down here, but now live up home. It was just good to hang out and watch the kids (little and big) play. Of course, we ate, too!

We also spent some time hanging out with Karla (younger sister) and Karen (older sister) at Karen's. The kids played as we sat around and drank coffee. It was good to spend time with Karen and Karla. I actually spent more time with Karla than I ever have. Karla was nine years old when I moved out of the house so we haven't had the time together as I did with Karen (three years older than I). She isn't this pesty talk all the time girl I once knew! I really like the woman she has become. Karen? I'll spare the growing up stories, but let's just say I'm glad to call her both a sister and a friend in our adult lives!

We then got to spend some time with my brother Bob and his wife Donna at their home. The girls like Bob, but they REALLY loved Donna! They say, "Aunt Donna is a good reader." I enjoyed sharing the girls with them. They also like that they have hair like Aunt Donna.

We also spent some time at the mall visiting with friends. Madeline and Sarah were both from Nanning and were fostered through A Mothers Love. They were both placed on the same special needs list with the agency we used to adopt Sarah. I was thrilled one day when I was checking website of families who were adopting from Nanning and I saw her sweet pictures! All I knew is that she was being adopted by a woman that called herself "dreamwriter." I was even more thrilled to find out that dreamwriter (Wendy) lived near my mother! Lily and I had an opportunity to visit with Wendy pre-adoption of Sarah and Madeline. This was our first meeting with the girls.....and they all had fun. I'm guessing they got together at AML parties while they were in China, but we don't know for certain. Madeline is four months younger than Lily and four months older than Sarah. Wendy seems like an old friend to me now! I hope Wendy doesn't mind me sharing, but we don't have a lot in common besides the girls. We both are probably on different ends of the continuum on a lot of issues in life, but we really connect. Our girls have brought us together. I really like Wendy! The girls? It was funny, because there were many kids running around that place playing, but these three seemed to stay together as if not one other child there existed!

It was fun to visit. I didn't realize how crazy my life is until I returned home to the house and the rest of the crew! We missed them tons.

Kathy

Dane joins the Polar Bear Swim Club

The girls and I got to spend several days with my family in Girard, Ohio. It was a great time and I will share more in pictures and stories in the next post. It was truly fun to see the girls with my family. It was also good to hook up with Wendy and Madeline at the mall. Wendy is one of my internet friends...but one of the few that I have actually met in person! Madeline was fostered through the same orphanage as Sarah and they both lived in Nanning before being with their forever families.

These pictures are of what happened to Dane while I was gone. Dane took off with our youth pastor and a number of other folks for Round Lake Christian Assembly for a retreat. I told him he was not to go near the lake unless it was with adults associated with the program. I didn't want him to get stupid with other boys and end up in the lake. Well, wouldn't you know that Dane didn't just go near the lake....he went in the lake! I don't know who is crazier...Dane or his youth pastor that used a chain saw to create an opening in the lake. At least he was in the lake with him when he jumped in! Hmmmm, that's the kind of pastor Adam is....he's in the lake with the kids just as he is in life with them!

Dancing Girls!

First, my apolgies for the bit of mess in my house..I have five children and they have been home for several days because of school cancelations! Second, I'm so not a girly girl so it cracks me up that my girls like to "play pretend" girly things! I do enjoy it!

I Need You to Love Me

"Your love makes me forget what I have been. Your love makes me see who I really am. Your love makes me forget what I have been."

Well, I know I'm 43, but isn't there still a little bit in all of us women that would like to be in a girl band?! Me? I like Barlowgirl. This song says "You're a God who has all things and still You want me." Sometimes it can be difficult to really grasp the depth of Gods love for me! I'm glad He has made Himself real to me.

Kathy

Happy Birthday, Dane!

It was a Sunday morning eleven years ago that Dane was born! I was six weeks from my projected delivery date and standing at my closet wondering what on earth I was going to wear to church that morning....I was so BIG!!! Tom had already left for church so I was home alone with the other boys. TJ (4 1/2) was still in bed and Ty (3) was following me around the house. Due to some health concerns, I was not allowed to be more than 15 miles away from our hospital and was put on a lot of restictions. That morning as I stood at my closet as I had a weird sensation...I thought my water broke, but that wasn't it. The situation called for me to call a neighbor to run me to the hospital. I quickly realized that it was much worse than I had imagined so I called another friend to go get Tom and then I called 911. What a joy it was to be flat on my back in all by glory as five EMTs took care of me (why did I need five?) I knew the placenta ruptured and I just kept saying, "Take me to the hospital as soon as possible!" Of course, they had to go through their routine of checking me and hooking me up to an IV. I'm thankful for friends that stepped it up for us! One friend went to church to get Tom. Another went to the hospital to meet me in case Tom couldn't make the 15 mile drive in time. And another took care of the boys and cleaned my house as it was not a pleasant sight giving the medical issue I had!

My health was at stake so they needed to get Dane out as soon as possible. We like to joke that I got to the hospital at 9:15 just after the start of the first service at church and they were able to announce his birth by the start of the second service at 10:30! Dane had some minor health concerns and stayed in the NICU for about 11 days...wow, that was hard!

Dane is such a great kid and brings a great deal of joy to all of us! He's smart, funny, talented, kind, loving and the list could go on forever! Happy Birthday William Dane Alexander! We love you!

Seven Pairs of Eyes

I had an interesting moment yesterday thinking about the eyes of my children. As if I don't have anything else to do? These are the eyes of the Seven Alexanders!

Reflections on Two Trips to China

Sarah spent 18 months in the home of a wonderful foster family! I will always treasure the few moments that we got to spend with them when we were in China to get Sarah! We have some contact with this wonderful family and we look forward to one day seeing them again when we visit the birth-country of our daughters.

We didn't have a wonderful foster family for Lily. Lily spent the first 11 1/2 months of her life in an orphanage. We were blessed with a great travel group. We were in Guangdong the entire trip and had plenty of time to hang out at the end of the hallway on the seventh floor! We still do our best to get together every year for a reunion!

Red Couch photos are popular for US families that adopt from China. Many groups line their little ones on the famous red couches of the White Swan Hotel to capture that moment. Since Sarah was part of a special needs program and we were the only family from Guangxi Province, we didn't connect with a larger group. The larger group resembled, in many ways, our first travel group. They were together the entire time and got babies from the same province. We still wanted a Red Couch photo!

What a challenge it was to get twelve babies to sit on a red couch and get a good photo! This photo captures the difficulty in such a task! This was November of 2004. Lily is the second baby from the left looking like she is going to lose it any moment.

I'm not sure if everyone seeing this photo will appreciate it, but my friends in the picture will!

There were many differences in our two trips to China. One began with anxiety that comes with unknowns because we really didn't know what to expect. We spent hours planning and packing for our trip. The other began quite laid back because we had "been there, done that." We waited just days before the trip to plan and pack!

One resulted in a lifetime connection between twelve families here in the US that will always be connected to us because we experienced the joy of seeing our daughters together at the same moment on the same day. We call these girls "Lily's China Sisters." We love these families! The other resulted in a trip that was more of just "mom, dad and Sarah." Through that experience, we will have a lifetime connection to a wonderful family in China that loved and cared for our little girl until we could get to her. We call them "our family in China."

Two different girls. Two different trips. Two different experiences. Two Alexander blessings.