The girls are so special.

The girls are doing so well. Aleia is such a huge help for us. She loves to get things that we might need for Alexa and absolutely loves to get in Alexa's crib when she cries. We are just amazed how she adores her little sister. She tells us about every day that she is so happy we went to China to get her sister. We feel so very lucky and blessed.
We took the girls to the club the other evening for Alexa's first golf cart ride. She babbled the entire time. It was so sweet. Aleia was showing Alexa how to remove the tee box markers. Ha, ha. That is one of Aleia's favorite pasttimes at the club. Well, the girls are waking up, so I better go for now!!

Alexa is doing great.

Well, what can I say!! Alexa continues to do well with each passing day. Her smiles get bigger and bigger and she almost has a little giggle now. Just amazing!! We went to her first doctor's appointment here at home yesterday and it went great. The doctor said she looked real healthy and that she had taken huge strides since we had received her. She is seventeen pounds and twenty-eight inches long. She is in the fourth percentile for her weight and the twenty-second percentile for her height. She said to just keep feeding her which isn't a problem at all. The girl loves to eat. That has never been a problem.!! Alexa has to go back to the doctor in four weeks for another check-up and to receive her first set of shots here in the US. The doctor said based on her immunization records that we received in China that she was all up to date with everything thus far.

Aleia is still doing great and she absolutely loves being the "big sister". We could not have asked for her to have done any better with this whole situation. She loves to give Baby Alexa kisses and really enjoys helping me feed her. I have taken some darling photos of the two of them that I cannot wait to share.

We had some good friends in this weekend from Michigan and had a great time with them. Aleia got to play with someone that talked with her and she was wild. Everyone that has been coming over wants to see the baby and she says they don't talk to me mom. Well, that wasn't the case this weekend. Our friends have a four year old guy that wore Aleia down in a heartbeat. It was good for her.

We also wanted to take a minute to also thank everyone that has come to see us since we have returned home. We have had soooo many people come over and bring stuff. It is very nice to know that so many people care for you. Please continue to come see us and call. We love it. There are so many people who have followed this journey and it is nice to share it with you all. Thanks for everything. Until next time, Lisa

Home at last and doing well.

Hi everyone. We finally made it home safe and sound on Thursday evening. We have been getting adjusted to our house again and not living out of a suitcase. Boy is it nice!! Alexa has been a trooper throughout the whole ordeal. We just feel so lucky and blessed. Aleia is such a big helper for us and she really enjoys being a "big sister". She keeps telling us that she wants Alexa to call her sissy. Needless to say, she isn't yet and Aleia keeps asking why. We wanted to thank everyone again for following us through this twenty-three months of childbirth. We will try to post again soon. Love to all, Lisa

Leaving on a jet plane!!! WHEW.

Well, this will be our final post here in China. The next time we post we will be home with our family of four. We leave our hotel at 5:50am Thursday morning. (dinner time on Wed. at home) We get to Cleveland on Thursday (same day) evening at 7:28 pm. This has been an amazing journey. We feel so blessed and happy especially that we were able to share this experience with some of our best friends. We sure cannot wait to get home to see Aleia, to show off Alexa, see our dog, see all of our family and friends, and finally to sleep in our own bed. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We have an extremely long flight ahead of us. The photos tonight are from where we started to where we are today. Thanks for following our journey. We love you all tons and are looking forward to visiting with everyone at home. Love, Bob, Lisa, Aleia, and Alexa.

Some pics.

Just a few photos. We will post about our day later on this evening.

RED COUCH PHOTO DAY.

Today we took the infamous "red couch photos". It was quite the experience given there were nine babies that we were all trying to get to smile. Ha, ha. Alexa seem to a real crier today during this event. You will be able to tell during our group photos. She was not a happy camper. Oh well. We did get some good family photos together before the chaos started and after it was finished.

All of our papers were delivered today to the US consulate for review and everything came back excellent. Our last step here in China is to take the "oath". This is us just saying that we will love the girls and never will hurt them. Just another formality per China. It is tomorrow afternoon. Whew!! We are sssssoooooo close now.

Alexa discovered this evening after dinner that she really likes ice cream. Mommy had oreo cookie and Daddy had chocolate. The chocolate was very messy. You will see by the photos, I promise.

Alexa also had another big moment today. I was changing her diaper this morning on Daddy's bed. (we have two twin beds here at this hotel) I had just got it off and got her all cleaned up. I turned around to get another diaper and I looked down. She was peeing all over the place. Daddy didn't think it was real funny this morning, but we can laugh about it now. Ha, ha, ha.

Well, we are very tired again tonight. Alexa got up pretty early this morning and it was another busy day here today. Tomorrow is our last full day here in China. I think everyone is so excited to get home with our little blessings and begin our new lives together as families. It will be so nice not living out of a suitcase. Until tomorrow. Love ya, Lisa, Bob, and Alexa.

Shopping, touring, and Dr. Apt's.

Another day down. Only two more full days here until we get to go home. I can't wait to get my hands on Aleia. She was soooo talkative this morning on the phone which was very nice. She kept saying "I love you mom and miss you". It was heartwrenching. She is doing well, but it is about time for this trip to be over. I have done really well up into this point.

We did some more touring today to some places we had not been to on our first trip to Guangzhou. We went to a Buddhist Temple known as the Six Banyan's Temple. It was very pretty, but the smell of incense really starts to get to you after awhile. All of the locals grab these incense sticks and do a blessing type thing with them and then they put them in a incense holder. Very bizarre as far as we believe. From there, we went to a Provincial Folk Art Museum. It is a very preserved Quin Dynasty building that was built over 100 years ago. It was raining very hard when we were there, so my pics didn't turn out real well. Our final stop was a shopping stop at the biggest traditional arts and crafts store run by the Guangdong Provincial government. It contained lots of porcelain, silk, traditional chinese clothes, some pearls, and lots of jade. Bob made a big purchase there. He bought his three girls a teardrop piece of jade to take back home and have it made into necklaces for his girls. They are beautiful. I cannot wait to see the pieces complete. A very special purchase. All three pieces are the same shape and the same color.

Our final activity today was another doctor's appointment. We went to the clinic here on Shamian Island as a group. At the clinic, they checked the girls weight, height, and temperature. This was followed by a general body check up. Finally they performed a ear, nose and throat check. Alexa did real well. She just kept looking at us each time we went to the next step like hey is this alright? They said she weighs 17 pounds. Who knows!?!

Alexa was full of smiles today. She was such a happy girl. She was chewing on a banana at breakfast by herself. She is finally realizing that she can use her hands. So fun to watch. Tonight at dinner, she kept wanting to stand up beside my chair. When we got back to our room, she just wanted to sit by herself on the bed and play. Talk about huge strides. What a blessing. Well, both Daddy and Alexa are sound asleep in their beds. It is 9:18 pm.

Until tomorrow. The Alsept's

Legs are getting stronger!!!

This has been another day of progression for Miss Alexa. She will try to stand next to something as long as one of us are close by. You will see how happy she was with herself in the photo. Her legs are slowly getting stronger. She also was trying to get her bottle into her mouth today. She hasn't quite figured it out yet, but she is getting closer. We have officially had our girl one week this evening and my oh my has she changed. It is just amazing what some love will do. This whole adoption this time has been harder because of the lllloooonnnggg wait, but let me tell you it has been so worth the wait! She has been such a blessing. We just feel fortunate to be blessed with our two girls. Good night. The Alsept's

Day 2 in Guangzhou

Hello. We didn't really have much busy work today, so we ventured out and did some shopping. We bought some gifts for home and some things for ourselves. It is so much quieter here than in any city we have been to thus far. It is so much more relaxed. Bob always describes this city as a mini Charleston, SC. Some really old well-kept buildings and many people just hanging out and enjoying life.

Before I forget, any of you that are following our blog can now make comments. For some reason everyone wasn't able to before, but we changed some settings so you will be all set. It will come up anonymous when we see it, so please put your name in the comment somewhere. We have enjoyed seeing and hearing from you all who are following this amazing journey. Sure wish you were here to share it was us. It has been so special sharing this journey with our very close friends from home. Those of you who have been here (Browning's, Engstrom's, Ross's, George's, Ellison's), you all understand this a little bit better than some others.

We are heading to a group dinner at a Thai restaurant here on the island, so I have to go for now. Will try to post more this evening. Love, Lisa

Alexa's first flight.

Hello guys. Well, Alexa was a trooper on her first flight. She drank a bottle during take off and was sleeping shortly thereafter in her daddy's arms. It was pretty cute. All of the babies in our group (9 of them ) did real well. We are now in our third and final city. YEH!! We will be here until Thursday morning. We don't have lots of paperwork to do here which will be nice. The only thing that really has to be done are some things to get Alexa's visa. Most of the paperwork was completed in Nanchang, the last city. I really pretty sad leaving Nanchang this afternoon. We have shared soooo much in that city with both of our girls coming from there. Not that this will suprise anyone, but I did shed some tears. We are just thankful to have two wonderful bundles of joy from the same place.

Well, we are pretty tired today after traveling, so I think I am going to call it a night. We miss everyone. Love, Bob, Lisa, and Alexa

Last night in Nanchang.

Well, this is officially our last night in Nanchang. Tomorrow we will be taking Alexa away from everything that she has ever known. It makes me kind of sad to leave, but she will have a great life back home in the states. We will also be leaving our guide James who was the same guy we had here in Nanchang when we got Aleia. He is so wonderful. He has played such a big part of our getting everything official with Alexa and Aleia and has shared such a wonderful experience with us. I will be sad to see him go. We asked him if he could go to Guangzhou with us. No luck. ha, ha.

We went to the police station today to get the girls passports. What fun!!! She can come to the US now. Whew. After that we shopping for porcelain. This province, Jiangxi, is famous for it so we went and got some souvenirs to take home.

This will be our last post here in this city. We fly out to Guangzhou tomorrow (sat) at 2:00 pm (which is 2:00am for you). This city is very americanized with tons of americans with asian girls. Yes you all at Ferris Chevy, they are going to take over the US. ha,ha. We take an oath there on Tuesday about bringing the girls back to the states and promising never to hurt or abandon them. Then we fly home on Thursday morning here which is Wednesday night at home. We miss you all so much. Thanks for making comments on the blog. We love to read them. Love, Lisa, Bob, and Alexa

P.S. the car that I am posting is some kind of a Chevy. Maybe an Aveo?!?

We are very tired this evening and I don't really have much to tell you since I posted this afternoon. We went to dinner this evening to a place where we have already eaten. It has very good Chinese food. Did you guys ever think you would hear me say that?

We go in the morning to the Notary office to pick up the passports for the girls. Another step done!! We are slowly but shirley getting there. Next week at this time we will be home. We really are missing Aleia at this point of the trip. We have been talking to her about everyday which has been so nice. We don't get a whole lot out of her, but atleast we get to hear her voice. That helps Bob and I to get through the day.

Everyone here is sleeping, so I think I am heading to bed too. Love ya, Lisa

A tour of the countryside.

Our group did some touring of the farming countryside today. Talk about depressing!!! It sure is amazing how some people live. Our bus trip there took us about twenty minutes and boy did we see all sorts of things. We saw big hunks of meat hanging from some string, ladies washing their clothes in a dirty pond, and some outhouses made of brick. I don't know if baby Jack could have stood up in them. Very, very stinky. Whew!!! The natives in the countryside just stared at us. Some of the ladies would bring their babies from indoors to see us. They were dressed in so many layers. We were all roasting in our shorts and tshirts.

Alexa is still a doll. She continues to amaze us everyday with something new. I really believe she is getting stronger each day too. She is so tiny and petite. She continues to chatter and is starting to smile. She loves the outdoors just like her big sister, so I can see us spending many days at Tuscora Park.

Well, that is all for now. We are going to dinner with our Phila crew. I'm sure we will have some stories after that. Love, Lisa, Bob, and Alexa