Football, Cheerleaders and Car Art!

For some reason the new posting of photos makes it hard for me to comment under each photo. I'm sure I could figure it out, but I worked today and I'm just too tired!

I believe the first two photos are of the girls with pain on their hands. You see, we Alexanders like to do things a bit different. Some folks like to finger paint on paper....not us. We like to fingerpaint on our car...or minivan. The girls figured out on their own that if they use the sidewalk chalk on the drive and use a lot of it, add water, you get homemade paint! They managed to put their hands in it and place their signature all over the van! I love it! It is true art. Granted, we have a 1996 Ford Windstar...if it were something newer, I may not have allowed them to be so expressive! You see a few of the photos of the artwork. There is art on all four sides of the vehicle. When I'm out and about I wonder why folks are stairing at my van. I forget that it is a masterpiece on wheels!

The next photos are from our football game tonight. Dane played and wouldn't you know I only got one photo of him...from the back! Number 23 is small, but he is MIGHTY!!!!! The majority of the stands were amazed by two little girls that decided to join the cheerleaders. I got permission from the Cheer Coach. All I can say is that they (especially Lily) absolutely loved it! Anyone that truly knows me knows that anxiety exists when I think of my girls being cheerleaders. I have always been in sports and none of the stereotypical girly stuff has ever appealed to me! I'm much rather play cornerback that cheer! Oh, what will I do? I wish my girlfriend Kathi G. lived closer. She is so into that prissy stuff. The girls have brought so much joy and change in our home! To think that most of the clothes in our house were in the range of earthtones! Now we have an assortment of colors! And what is it with lipgloss? I may live dangerous and buy some chapstick from time to time, but I have never owned lipgloss! My girls LOVE lipgloss!

I also enjoy this photo of TJ with Lily. He is actually teaching her how to box. Well, I have a new appreciation for female boxers once I saw Miss. Ali on Dancing with the Stars. I guess I'd prefer a cheerleader over a boxer!

One of these days I am going to put aside posting on the family and post some thoughts. I'm still really into the "Hiders, Hurlers and Healer" thing so I may surprise my readers one day. I'm back teaching a Bible study on Wednesday nights. We are studying, "He Speaks To Me," a study by Priscilly Shrirer. She is the daughter of Tony Evans and is a phenominal teacher of the Word! The basic lesson of the book is that we often look to others to share with us what God wants to say to us when we have every opportunity to sit at His feet and have Him speak directly to us! We just have to make the time of prayer and study of His word. I'm so glad to be back in a study! I look forward to sharing what God has to say to me in the weeks ahead. Right now He is saying, "Get those kids to bed it is way too late for them to be up!" I'll be the obedient child and put my children to bed.

Blessings to all of you that take the time to check out the Seven Alexanders!

NOTE: Sorry for the double photo of the front of the car. I had to add the side view after I realized I forgot it and doubled the other.

It's a Roller Coaster!

Memories of the Roller Coaster goes back many years as we used to watch the boys ride it at the Johnson house. When the Johnson's moved across town, they left the coaster for the girls. As you can see, the girls love it! I'm sure the folks that drive by think we are nuts...they are right!

Oh, Where O where have I been these days?

Tyler was edging and must have been concerned about his eyes so he utilized the paintball protective wear...what a smart guy!



The girls just got these huge new stuffed animals from Pastor Tim at church...they loved them!



These are my "brown-eyed girls!" This was the night before the first day of preschool. Sarah refused to take my sunglasses off! As you can see, they weren't in the best of shape!


Lily was so excited to take some school supplies on her first day! She cried at the end of the morning when she was told that she couldn't take them back home...as if we don't have tissues and ziploc bags at home!



I wanted a picture of each of the girls on the front porch on their first day of preschool, but Lily wouldn't cooperate. Sarah has my old glasses! I gave Tom a quick lesson on hair, but he flunked miserably! He was smart enough to bring a comb with him to school. I met him in the lobby so I could be part of the first day!



This is the photo of the girls and I on their first day of preschool. I was able to get out of lunch duty for a little while to meet them, fix their hair and walk them down to their classroom. They both did really well. I shouldn't be surprised since daddy works there. Mommy works there. Two brothers go to school there. We all go to church there. The only big difference is that they brough backpacks. Lily chose Cinderella and Sarah chose Spongebob.

I haven't posted much simply because we are just crazy busy with me going back to work, starting up a new Bible study, school, sports....such is life as the Seven Alexanders...the very busy seven Alexanders!

Just an update, no pics.

I thought I'd post just a few things of late. The biggest news is that Tyler shot an eagle the other day! My friend, Lisa Sexton thought he actually shot an eagle in the sky with a gun! It's amazing that I'm such good friends with women that have no clue about sport lingo! It was hole 9 at Valley View and I got to see it. I was steamin' mad because I was waiting at the golf course for him to finish. Tyler would golf all day, every day if we would let him. He is one of those kids that can golf for two hours and talk about those two hours...for three hours! Anyway, I wasn't sure it was an eagle because I was up on the hill, but I had a great veiw of the green. Tyler was down below the green and could not see it go in....poor guy. There was this disbelief as he made his way to the green, couldn't find his ball and looked in the cup.....there it was!

The other news is that I went back to work yesterday after being out for four years. As some of you may know, I have a BA in Health and Physical Education....I know....a bit chubby for someone with such a degree! I never thought I'd teach PE because I had more of an interest in higher education administration and went straight from undergrad to grad school to BGSU to get my MA in College Student Personell. Anyway, I worked in higher education for a number of years before staying home full-time with the kids. I've come to realize that a career in higher education administration isn't the best job for me in terms of being the mom that I want to be. Teachin PE works will with my life right now. I only teach a few days each week so it isn't too difficult, although I did have a hard time not being home when my girls woke up. They are a bit more clingy today, but that's okay.....I like it.

TJ's first football game is tonight. Go Gales! Dane had a scrimmage this past week and they looked pretty good.

Oh, yeah...I turned 44 yesterday! I'm not one for celebrations at this point...and gifts are not a big deal. Oh, but celebrations and gift-giving are important to two little girls. The best gift was watching them with excitement as I blew out the candles on the cake they made with daddy and helped me unwrap the gift they bought for me! What a joy!

First Day of School

Tyler and Dane ready to go for Day One at Fairfield Christian Academy! Dane was excited that the first day of school was also a game day so he could wear his football jersey.

This is TJ's happy photo....actually taken after the one below. TJ goes to the public high school....Lancaster High School.

This was TJ's first photo for the first day of school. I said, "Hey, let me get a picture of you on your first day of tenth grade!" His response, "Are you serious!?" I then told him, "Hey, after this I only have two more first days of school to take pictures of you!" Ugh! (Sory for the potty chair in the background. With seven people in this family, I needed a back up near the closest toilet for the girls to take care of their business if the big one was being used. By the way, this was Tom's potty chair when he was a toddler.....I guess it is at least 44 years old!)

The boys were perfectly fine going back to school. Last night I heard Ty and Dane in bed talking. First, they had a devotional together...how cool is that? I then let them talk because I remember the days as a child sharing a room with my four (yes, four) sisters and the night before school starts chatter. We did have a nice prayer time with the boys before they went to bed. It did get side-tracked as TJ informed us that he would not take the College Prep program next year but preferred to take Auto Tech. I'm not opposed to him going into the auto business, I just have my heart set on that boy going to college. In fact, there are two things that I tell my boys that they are NOT allowed to be when they grow up.....unrighteous and self-righteous. I figure I really don't care what they do for a living as long as they live within these two realms and love the Lord with all their hearts, minds, strength.

This morning I made sure we got the photos and Tom made sure they had a little devotional time....what a guy. He shared these words with them from Ephesians 2:8-10.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." These were the last words for them as we sent them out to their first day of school for the year 2007-07!

A Football Player and a couple of beauty queens

Number 32 of the Lancaster Golden Gales 2007

TJ with Mom and Dad.

TJ is one of only five sophomores playing on the varsity team this year. Right now he is at Tight End and Outside Linebacker.

I just made this arrangements of photos on the wall. The girls love to point and say, "Baby Sarah, Big Sarah."

A couple of beauty queens!

Something Funny!

Gotcha Day on November 1, 2004.

Gotcha Day 18 months later!

I made this arrangement of photos for Tom's office this morning. I framed five different photos for him....each a photo of him in the early days of each of our children. I wanted an early photo of him with each of the kids so it seemed appropriate to have the Gotcha Day photos with the girls. As I was putting the photos in the frames I noticed something interesting about the photos....Tom was wearing the exact same thing on that day.....18 months apart! So, I go over to his office to arrange them on the wall and there Tom sits at his desk wearing that same shirt. That must be one nice shirt to hold up so well!

Guangdong Reunion

Lilliana Rollings and Lily Alexander in July 2007

Lilliana Rollings and Lily Alexander on November 1, 2004

Cribmates in China....Lily Alexander, Hannah Horne and Chloe Lenhart. This was taken in November of 2004 on the famous red couch of the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China.

The same cribmates(out of order) in July of 2007. Chloe Lenhart is on the left, Hannah Horne in the middle and Lily Alexander on the right.

Eight of the Guangdong 12 at our Reunion in Owensboro, Kentucky in July of 2007. (left to right) Lily Alexander, Ashley Gebhardt, Jasmine Hodapp, Chloe Lenhart, Lilliana Rollings, Riley Williams, Hannah Horne and Kendall Warren. Missing from the photo this year was Chloe Cowan (I know I didn't spell that right), Ruthie Meyer, Joy Sourwine and Mandy Cook.

Picture Two of the same crew.

The Guangdong 12 on the red couch in November of 2007. Sitting on the couch left to right: Ashley Gebhardt, Lily Alexander, Jasmine Hodapp, Chloe Cowan, Kendall Warren, Lilliana Rollings, Ruthie Meyer. Standing in front, Mandy Cook. Sitting on the back of the couch left to right: Chloe Lenhart, Joy Sourwine, Riley Williams, Hannah Horne.

Well, we took a road trip last week to Owensboro, Kentucky. We stopped in Southern Indiana to visit some old friends that attended church with us while we lived in that area. We spent the night with the Byers'.....Steve, Julie and Philip. It was so much fun to see TJ there with them. They were one of our favorite sitters for TJ. Phillip was good to TJ when TJ was smaller than he....and he was good to TJ this evening as TJ was slightly bigger than him! We also enjoyed allowing them to meet our little girls for the first time. The next morning we had breakfast with some other friends from our old church....the Meaders, Sellars and Kennedy's. It was so much fun to be with them! It was so comfortable that it was hard to believe it had been several years since we last got together. I had always enjoyed spending time with Connie, Cindy and Janet.

(I didn't take any pictures of this time....what was I thinking?)

After breakfast we made the final two hour drive to Owensboro. This was the city TJ was born in so it was good to think back to those early days as first time parents making that drive from Louisville to Owensboro to hold our 6 pound 2 ounce boy for the first time. This day we allowed him (at nearly 6 feet 2 inches) to drive a bit along the way. We met our travel group at the Owensboro Christian Church for the day. It is always good to spend time with these families. They will always hold a special place in our hearts. Nine of the girls were from the same orphanage as Lily and the other three were from a nearby orphanage. We spend two weeks together in China sharing in a moment that changed our lives forever! Forever we will be connected to them!

Other things to note: We are getting ready to start school. TJ will start the tenth grade and is busy with football right now. Ty will be in the ninth grade and is ready to take off with the golf team. Dane will start sixth grade and is going to try football this year. Lily and Sarah will start in the 3 year old preschool program two days each week. Me? I've agreed to teach PE two days each week at the Christian school that the lower four attend. Tom isn't starting back at school although he often talks about the possibility of a Ph.D.

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!