Summer Vacation

We started our vacation by stopping off at the home of John and Theresa's near Cincinatti. They were part of our Lily travel group. In fact, we spent the return flight sitting by each other on the way home........an experience we all wish we could forget, but will never! We had a great time as some other travel friends came along....Rachel and Dale Horne with their two girls and Mike and Sam Lenhart with their daughter. This photo above is Hannah Horne (sitting in green), Ashley Gebhardt (standing), Sarah Horne, Lily, Sarah and Chloe Lenhart.

Antoehr photo of the girls: Hannah, Sarah, Chloe, Ashley and Lily. In the mirror you'll see Rachel and Sam!

After our visit with friends, I took the girls and Dane and Ty down to Pigeon Forge. Tom had to return to work for a few days and TJ didn't want to miss football camp. I took the kids to Dollywood later on Monday (which allowed us to return for free on Tuesday) and then Tom joined us there on Tuesday. This photo is of Sarah riding her horse she named, "Flicka."

Dane is on the left and Ty is in the biddle of Dane and Lily. Okay, I'm guilty once again of taking more photos of the girls than the boys. This happens for a number of reasons. First, I'm always with the girls and the camera is always with me. Second, the boys often take off on their own and I miss photo ops.

There is a water area that the girls loved. I'm glad I brought extra clothes! I was certain to bring their suits the next day!

Lily after getting wet!

The girls loved Dollywood. I'm glad we went the day before. I got to check things out, see the Veggie Tale show, and get an idea of what we'd do the next day.

I caved and bought the girls these little pets in a purse. They love them!

Sarah named her pootdle "Pokey." She was so funny as she came up to me and said, "Is my pet a boy or a girl?" By the looks of the poodle I decided to claim her to be a girl dog. So, Sarah decided to name her after Grandma's boy donkey. Oh, well.

The timing was perfect on Tuesday when the girls fell asleep. A huge rain came through that lasted for about an hour. I happened to be near a store with a great overhang and a bench. Tom was ever so kind to find me a cup of coffee and I just sat and enjoyed the quiet moment.

It did rais off and on while we were in the cabin. I brought some washable paints along for those times. Tom and the boys got up early and headed for some intense daylong hike. I enjoyed reading a book and keeping the girls busy.

Is this vacation or what? Tom and Sarah were sleeping and Lily was enjoying the quiet time as she sucked her thumb!

This is one of my favorite photos from vacation. It was a touching moment for me to see the hand of my little girl rested on the arm of her daddy!

Another rainy moment. Tom got up off of the couch and was quickly followed by Lily. She has several of her favorite things with her: her thumb, her blanket, her daddy and her brother.

We love getting up into the mountains when we travel to the Smoky Mountain area. The girls loved playing in the water. Moments like these make me grateful that God moved us to do what we needed to do to make these girls sisters! Thank you, God!

Sarah wasn't as brave as Lily when it came to the streams.....I'm glad because I was nervous. We went to a favorite spot that once allowed people to jump from a huge rock into the water. We allowed the boys to do it the last few years and it would literally make me sick. I'm glad they decided to make the jumping illegal....made my life easier!

Lily is always wanting to strike a pose!

Vacation was fun, but I must admit that it just wasn't the same without TJ. We are going to plan better next year so our family vacation is truly a family vacation.

Adoption Finalization

Most of this blog is dedicated to family things. It has been a while since I "got a little deep" on the blog. Today I am overwhelmed with being a child of God! I love being His child! As a result, I want to share a big part of me.

I recently had the opportunity to share a devotional thought at a youth sporting event associated with our church. It was the day before Father's Day. I thought I'd share some of those thoughts on the blog tonight.

My husband Tom and I have five children. We have two boys that are our biological sons and we have a son and two daughters that God brought to us through the gift of adoption. We have legal documents that communicate that TJ, Lily and Sarah are our children..no different that their brothers that are our biological children. Many people have said to me, “You have two of your own and you have adopted three.” I have never been offended by this, but it has always been a conviction of mine to set people straight...to help educate them. You see, they are all my own....my very own! They came to be my own in different ways.


If you know God as your heavenly father and you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have been adopted into the family of God. We have two proofs of finalization of this adoption......the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

The Holy Spirit. As children of God we have a mark of ownership on us. We have the Holy Spirit. We have the seal of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13-14, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit GUARANTEEING our INHERITANCE until the redemption of those who are God’s possession.”

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Paul says, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his SEAL OF OWNERSHIP on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

The Word of God. We have the Holy Spirit and we have the word of God to authenticate that we belong to God. Do you trust His word? Do you believe His word?

Paul tells us in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.”

Nothing can undo the finalization of our adoption into the family of God. It doesn't matter how you came to know Him. We all have different journeys to where we know Him as Father. Regardless of how different our journey's are, we are "His own."

Tomorrow, as you celebrate Fathers Day, I hope you’ll give some thought to your relationship with your heavenly Father. He desires to be in a relationship with you. He wants to claim you as His own!

Tomorrow I will post pictures from our recent vacation. Another "deep" post on "hiders, hurlers and healers" will likely follow since I can't quite shake those thought either.

Good night from the Alexander home........were all five of my very own children are tucked in their beds for the night!

Our girls.........Lily and Sarah!

Same photo, but different shades.....I love them all! I haven't taken the time to get Sarah's photo done to celebrate turning three. I decided to take advantage of a good friend....BH. Well, actually, I took advantage of the husband of my friend! Thanks CH for helping me out! I guess he does owe me one....afterall, I helped him make a connection with the woman that would eventually become Mrs. CH!

Be sure to check out the next posts for individual pics of the girls. They are beautiful.

Sarah

I love this one of Sarah! I can't imagine life without her! She's beautiful...inside and out!

Lily

This is my favorite of Lily! Isn't she beautiful?

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

I decided to venture into a territory I have never tried to enter....cake baking. Sure, I'll make a cake, but never one with a theme! It doesn't look professional, but Sarah thought it was the best cake ever!

Sarah is our fifth child. I can't remember any of them being as excited as Sarah as she awaited the small celebration of her third birthday. She loved talking about it all day! It was so much fun to watch her soak in the attention. It was so much fun!

This our friend, Sydney. Sydney is the best hugger I know! When her little sister finaly gets here from China, she is going to be one little girl that will get plenty of lovin'!

Sydney and Sarah.

Princess Gwen, one of Sarah's best friends.

Sarah put her dress on about an hour before the first guests arrived. She kept in on until it was time for bed.

I've never seen so much pink in my house! There was pink everywhere!

Sarah got some money from Grandma Flo...she was happy with it!

Sarah and her Cinderella doll.

I caught Lily and Sydney dancing in the kitchen!

Today was so much fun! I enjoyed waiting the day away with Sarah as we prepared for a few friends for her mini-party. She was so excited! She wanted a Cinderella theme. I'm not a fan of the girl, but it is what she wanted so I obliged. We invited a few of her close friends; Sydney (with Aiyee), Gwenny and Megan (with Lorissa), Samuel (with Lane) and Addie (with Eesie). Of course, Lily and the boys were there with both Tom and I. The little girls wore princess dresses while Samuel wore his army clothes.....way to go Samuel! For some reason we didn't get pictures of everyone or the ones we did get were blurry....sorry.

I enjoy celebrating all of the birthdays of my kids...they each have a different story of their birth. Sarah was born on July 7, 2003 in Quinzhou City, Guangxi PR, PRC. I will never know the circumstance of her birth, but I know the circumstance of her coming to our family. It was in God's plan for Min Xiao Ning to be our Sarah! He knew about her from the beginning of time! Every night before we go to sleep I go through the same routine with the girls. First, we pray. Sometimes (depending upon my level of exhaustion) they are quick prayers! We then sing "Jesus Loves Me." I then go to each of them, cover them up and say, "Where do you want your kiss?" Lily usually picks a different spot on her face each night. Sarah always picks the right cheek! After I give them their kiss, they say to me, "Where do you want your kiss?" I usually pick my nose or my chin! I then go to the door and we exchange the same words to each other..."Good night, don't let the bedbugs bite," "Sweet Dreams," and "See you when the sun gets up." The final exchange is, "You are my joy." They certainly are my joy! Happy Birthday to Sarah, my youngest joy! You have brought many blessings to this family!

The Fourth of July

TJ and Sarah getting ready for the parade.

Sarah was excited!

Mom and the girls waiting for the start of the parade.

Lily

The first sounds of the parade made Lily cover her ears!

The girls are getting ready to get some candy.

The best looking guy in the parade......Dane Alexander.


We had a great celebration yesterday. TJ and I took the girls to the Fourth of July parade that in our city. The girls had a blast! Dane was in the parade with our school's football team. We have decided to allow him to play on the 6th grade team. Where was Tom and Tyler? Well, they were probably somewhere between the 4th and 5th hole on a local golf course!

In the afternoon, I stayed at home while the girls napped. Tom took the boys to volunteer at our county fairgrounds. They were part of the parking crew. Tom met up with us a bit later to have something to eat with our friends....Scott, Brenda and Bailey. We then went back to the fairgrounds for the fireworks. I wasn't sure what the girls would think. Last year we viewed them from a distance so it wasn't that loud. This year was different! They jumped with the first one, but settled in fine and enjoyed them.

Be sure to scroll down because I've added several posts that include pictures from the last few weeks.

Zoo Trip with the Owen's Trio

I was able to get a few photos at the zoo before our battery went dead. Thanks to Jeff and Wendy for getting some other photos for us.....you can see those in an earlier post. This photo above is Sarah with Ty and Dane on the train.

Ty and Sarah.

Ty and Dane in the Asia exhibit at the zoo.

TJ and Lily on the train.

The girls in the barn taking care of an animal.

Tyler with three pretty girls! Sarah, Lily and our friend Madeline make a great pose!