Dance Recital/Baby dedication.

Aleia with one of her buddies, Lili, as they ham it up before the dance recital begins. They don't look like they are having too much fun do they?
CHEESE!!!
Daddy with his girl presenting the traditional flowers after the dance routine. Would you say that is a proud papa?
Alexa Lin getting dedicated at the church last Sunday with Pastor Dwight.
Lunch with Lisa's parents after the dedication.
Aleia had her first dance recital the night before we left for vacation. All I can say is it was quite entertaining. Aleia and ten of her dance mates performed on stage in front of a couple hundred people and everyone was laughing and carrying on. Their routine lasted about two minutes, yes you read this right, two whole minutes, but we all got our monies worth. They danced with their dolls which had the same dance costume to match the theirs. They all came onto the stage with their dolls in hand looking for their designated spot on the floor. The music starting playing pretty quick. Some of the girls danced, some were looking for their parents waving, some just stood there and smiled, and some of the girls froze when they saw all of the people. It was priceless!!!!!
Alexa was dedicated at church last Sunday with some of her Asian friends as Aleia refers to them. We were with the Bichsels', the McConnell's, and the Browning's. After the dedication we all went out to the lunch with all of our families to the Good House in Ragersville. It was a very special day for all.
Life continues to get better and better with each passing day. We are so happy with Alexa's day to day progess and just love being a family of four. Love to all, Lisa

Aleia, the flower girl, in Ashley's wedding.

Aleia Mei with Ashley, the bride.
Alexa and Aleia before the ceremony started.
Bob, Aleia, and Victoria hanging out at the reception.
Ashley trying to teach Aleia a few moves!!
Cheese!!!
We spent last evening at the wedding and reception for Ashley and Chris Wagner. Ashley is the second of six children of the family who babysits our girls. This was Aleia's first flower girl experience and she did great. She had so much fun. Our morning began going to a salon and getting Aleia's updo. She loves to be pampered already. Watch out Daddy!!! This was followed by an awesome brunch. It was then off to the church for pictures and the ceremony. Aleia walked down the aisle with the ringbearer and threw flower petals the entire way as she smiled. It was then off to the reception for boogy woogy as Aleia calls it. She was a big hit there too. She just doesn't meet a stranger. Thanks for sharing in Aleia's big day.

Our first trip to the pool.

Alexa loves to play with Mommy's cell phone.
Kaitlin and Alexa being pulled around by Aleia.
Mom are you sure about this?
Aleia loves to pretend she swims with goggles.
One of our bathing beauties!!
I took the girls to the pool for the first time on Memorial Day. Aleia of course loved it and Alexa wasn't quite so sure. She was pretty clingly. It may have been the fact that the water was kind of chilly too! ha, Ha!!! We went to the pool again this afternoon (Wed) and Alexa didn't want to get out of the pool. The moms sat on the bottom of the baby pool while the girls floated around. We had four of the girls Asian buddies in the pool. We had the whole baby pool to ourselves. The girls had so much fun and the moms enjoyed visiting. Life is good. Lisa

Mother's Day.

Our first Mother's Day with our three girls. Priceless!!!
Aleia loves to pull her little sister around in the wagon.
The best of buds hanging out watching cartoons together.
Alexa wasn't real fond of any more pictures. This is her great -Grandma Patrick and her cousins Logan and Kaden, along with her big "sis".

Our first Mother's Day as a family of four was wonderful. We could not have asked for a nicer day. We had lunch with all of our family, followed by lots of relaxation. Being a mom with these two girls is the best Mother's Day gift ever. What a blessing!!! Love to all, Lisa

Alexa turns one!!

Well, the newest Alsept addition is officially one. Her first birthday was Saturday the 28th. We had her big party on Sunday with lots of family and friends. We had a great time. We had a big cookout and the weather was perfect. Alexa absolutely loved her cake which you should be able to tell with the photos. She really destroyed it. Ha, Ha. She received tons of nice gifts. It was just a great day spent with many people who are so dear in our hearts. Love, The Alsept girls.

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.