My precious birthday baby...

Well, this is how we started out almost five years ago with our beautiful Lili. This picture below was actually taken just as we got off the airplane after a grueling 36 hour trip home from China to adopt this little monkey. She hadn't smiled too much up until this point...didn't smile too much for quite some time after this either. It was a pretty rough transition for this little angel.
Now, here we are five years later...celebrating Miss Lili's SIXTH birthday. I can hardly believe it!!! She has grown ...a little bit...still pretty tiny!!! She has grown up...so smart and so amazing. She has turned Six and I could not be prouder of my little Lima Bean...I am so blessed that God chose me to be her Mommy and I can't imagine having missed this precious little life!!!!


Smiling as we set foot on Tennessee soil!!!!


The six year old budding artist with her new markers.


Oh man...Dora cupcakes...does it get any better than this??? No, REALLY...does it get any better????


"The Face" I love this face...she makes this expresion all the time and I love it!!!


Liliana and her Daddy Man. She requested Cracker Barrell for the birthday dinner.

While we waited on our table...Lili enjoyed honing her Xylophone skills. Love the "Chinese Squat"

And now here we are five years later and look at the amazing little beauty she has become.

~Thank you Father for my beautiful and amazing children...please let me be one day be worthy of them!!!!!~

In HIS Mighty Grip~

PS...please let us know you stopped by!!!! The comments are open and appreciated and I'll be sure to pass on any Birthday greetings to Miss Lili!!!!

Fun times!!!

Sunday afternoon our friends Eileen and Joe came over with their kids to spend the afternoon swimming with us . We were having a blast when someone suggested that we should go up to Clark's Fish Camp for dinner. So......Everyone piled out of the pool, got dressed and off we went!! Boy...was that a GREAT idea!! We had so much fun!!! We had never been there before, but we WILL be going back!! Enjoy the pictures~

Sorry for the foggy pics. It was so very muggy outside and I had just stepped out of the air conditioned car. Anyway, I was trying to get a good pic of the girls in front of the place, but Lili wouldn't cooperate.

We tried again, but then she went from "non-cooperative" to "non-compliance". Rather...she started to pout!! I just LOVE it when she pouts!!! NOT

Finally Alyson decided to help by forcing her to smile!! Lili still refused to smile but everyone standing there in the parking lot was smiling and laughing from ear to ear!!! :-)

Aly, Lili, their friends Sarah and Elizabeth posing in front of one might big stuffed cat!!! The whole place is full of 'em!!! (Check out the link for some more pics )

Joe, Eileen and their beautiful daughters Sarah and Elizabeth.

The Swindler Tribe...

Lili had to check out the catfish we were bringing home to Poppi (my dad)

Lili after she got to taste the catfish we were bringing home to Poppi!!

This was the view right over our heads...I kept waiting for Tarzan to swing through!!

The camp is right on the banks of the St. Johns River and this time of year they get a good bit of flooding. This day was no exception. Only a few hours before we arrived, the majority of the place was flooded. They seem to take it all is stride as it is pretty normal for them. When you pull up to the front you literally either go straight on into the water or take a sharp left into the parking lot!

Anyway, thanks Joe and Eileen for the really really fun evening and the

reat company!! We had a ball!!

Oh...that reminds me. Quick Lili story...When we got home it was late and the sky was very clear and we stood in the driveway for a few minutes looking at the most amazing display of stars in the sky. Lots of oooohs and ahhhhhs and finally Lili said, "Mamma...it's darker than chocolate out here!!" I love that little little wombat!!!

Have a great Friday!

In HIS Mighty Grip

a few days in the life...

Well, it's Saturday night and I am about to head to bed, but first...I wanted to share with you the last few days.


Thursday, Aly and I went to get haircuts. I really didn't want to cut her hair, but it was starting to get rather ratty looking. You know...that length where it ALWAYS looks like it needs to be brushed and it always appears as though animals have taken up residence somewhere up in all those locks? I had finally been able to put her hair into two precious little pony tails on the sides of her head...that looked SO STINKIN CUTE!! But...it needed to be cut!

Okay...aren't those pony tails the cutest??? I personally LOVE the look Lili is giving the most!!


So much better!! It is amazing what just a 1/4 of an inch will do!!


Okay...I know I biased, but isn't she just beautiful?????

Friday morning we got up very early (my girls are late sleepers) and headed out to Cracker Barrel (or Barrel Crackle as Lili calls it) to meet some dear friends from Tennessee. Let me back up...when we lived in Tennessee, we were a part of a wonderful group of families all of whom were either in the process of or had already adopted amazing and beautiful children from China. Aly had some good friends there and calls them all her "China cousins". Anyway, there were two families from there who were on their way through on vacation and we met them for breakfast. It has been about a year and a half since we all saw each other and Aly was so very excited to see her cousins!! The girls had such fun and we got to catch up with our friends as well.

Eliza, Aly, Lili, Ruby, Jaida...I can't believe that we got them all to smile AND look at the camera at the same time...it's a miracle!!

The two youngest members of the group...Ruby and Lili. They are about three months apart in age...almost three.

I had to post this one of Lili in the GATOR rocker!! GO GATORS!!!!!!

Aly is so totally dreaming of the day she has long hair like Jaida!! One day babe...one day!!

Sheila and Richard (Jaida and Ruby's Mommy and Daddy)

Donna and Joel with their precious Eliza



Yours truly and my crew...that would be Lili, David, Aly and moi
God is so good to bring us sweet moments and occasions in our lives like that. We left there with smiles on our faces talking about how good it was to see everyone and catch up. It was a great way to start out the weekend!!

Today I took the girls to the church I grew up in for their VBS kickoff party. VBS starts Monday at this church and Aly will be attending. Sorry Lili...you are too little this year!! Lili did enjoy going to the party today however!! They got to play some games, sweat a little, get their face painted, sweat some more, drink gallons of lemonade to counteract all the fluid loss from sweating so profusely, sweat some more, register for VBS, pray that they won't be outside too long next week at any given time for fear of heat stroke, sweat some more, drink some more lemonade, play a few more games, and head home!! I'm here to tell you that poor Aly sweats more than me...I was really getting worried with how much water was pouring off her sweet little head!! She looked like someone had poured a bucket of water over her...it was NUTS!! That poor kid just cannot take the heat AT ALL!! Lili was sweating too, but it was normal...like the rest of the people there. Not Aly...she was sweating like she was trying to break the Guinness World Book record for most sweat by a 4 year old!!! She absolutely did not want to leave, but since what she was saying with her mouth was most definetly NOT jiving with what her body was saying...we left. Sorry...no pictures :-(
We had to run by Target to get diapers and of course the girls found dresses that they simply could NOT live without...so of course we got them...DUH!! They are beautiful...see?


Okay...am I stylin or what??



TA DA!!!!! Look at my new dress!!!!


Um Mom? I know you are busy showing everyone these stupid pictures but I have my new glasses on and I'm ready to go swimming !
Okay...I stole them! There...I said it! I stole the glasses from Lili...but they look better on me anyway!!! Can we please go swimming now?????

We brought home lunch and then Dad, the girls and I hit the pool!!! WHOOO HOOOO!!! Cool refreshing chlorine...gotta love it!!!
Aly is becoming quite the little swimmer. David has been working so hard with her both swimming on top of the water and underwater as well. She is struggling on top, but is like a crazy 4 year old torpedo under the water!!! It is hilarious!!



Lili has gone from terrified of the water a month ago, to swimming with her face in the water with her floaty suit on. It is a great suit by Speedo that has these zippered pockets on the front and back. In those pockets are these inflatable thingys that you can adjust how much air is in them. So you start with them fully inflated and then as your child gets more confident, you let a little bit of air out. They don't realize it and they get more confident and before you know it, they are swimming all by themselves. She is doing really well so far!!



About 3pm it just started raining out of nowhere. I had just gotten out of the pool for a bit and was under the gazebo. There was no thunder or lightening or anything. As a matter of fact the sun was out for most of it. A couple of times it was really coming down pretty hard...the girls loved it! Right before the bottom fell out, my dad wandered out to check on the little swimmers, and he got caught out there in the gazebo with me for the duration. He really did enjoy himself ...he always enjoys himself when it comes to his grandbabies!! The sun rises and sets with them in his eyes!!!

Swimming in the rain is awesome!!!!

Well, showers, lotion, dinner and a little play time are done, the girls are in bed, I have one load of wash that needs to be done before I go to bed and then I am off to bed!!!

"May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord show you his kindness and
have mercy on
you. May the Lord watch over you and give you peace."
Numbers 6:24-26

In His Mighty Grip

I finally found the cable for the camera!!

Okay...I haven't been looking too hard...sorry! This week has been NUTS NUTS NUTS!!! Aly has been coughing her guts up with allergies, I now have a sinus infection, the house is in total disarray, I can't find my desk...I'm typing on a mound of papers, Aly has been begging me to do schoolwork and I finally was able to scrounge up some stuff for her to do yesterday. It was more busy work than anythings else...just to get her off my back so i could continue to attempt to get this place back on some sort of even keep! WHEW!!!

This is the week for me to get my act together and start getting this place into a working, functioning home!!! I am going to sit down later today and come up with a game plan and a set some time frames up for what I want/need to get done. We are officially starting homeschooling in September, so it MUST be done by then!!!

I must say that it has been nice this past week to not have the WEIGHT OF THE WORLD on our shoulders any more!!! Don't get me wrong, we still have a good ways to go to dig out of all of this, but PRAISE GOD...it actually seems doable now!!

---

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for
his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

---

Okay...how about some pictures of the beautiful babies???

Aly helping Aunt Babs blow out her birthday candles

UMMMMM...birthday cake is finger licking good!!

On Sunday we went to Henry's parents house for lunch. After a wonderful meal, we went out on the back porch and let the girls run their little tooshies off in the back yard. We all had such a wonderful day!!

Do you see that tiny blue dot just to the right and up from center? That would be Lili on her way back from visiting with the cows farther off. She wasn't scared, she just ran right up to them.

Poor thing was so far away from us that she got all disoriented and was running all over trying to find us. Uncle Henry and Aly went after her after she took off around the other side of the house next door!! :-)




Explorer Lili coming home after her exciting adventure...thanks Uncle Henry!!

Lili stuck kind of close to Aly after that!!


Gotta love the love!!!

Portrait with the Lili's...unfortnately there was NO WAY they would open their eyes into the sunshine!!! Smiles...YEP Eyes...FORGET IT!!

I thought Aly would pass out from all of her running around, but Lili was the one who was down for the count. She was totally wiped out!! Babs rocked her for about two seconds before she passed out. Poor Babs...I know she had better things to do that to sit and rock Lili for the better part of two hours, but she never complained!! Yeah...right...I challenge any of you to have gotten her out of Babs arms without losing an arm of your own!!! :-)

The absolute highlight of the trip for Aly was getting to see her precious friend Allie Loos. Aly and Allie were both born in China. They are 9 months apart in age and were adopted one year apart. They both have really missed each other since we moved from TN and the one thing that Aly wanted to do on this trip was to get to see Allie Loos. They are so funny...neither one calls the other by their first name. They call each other "Allie Loos" and "Aly Swindler".

It was so precious when we came in the house and Allie came around the corner. They just stood and stared at each other for a moment and then said in their adorable little squeaky voices, "Allie Loos!" and "Aly Swindler" and then they just walked toward each other and hugged. Such a special moment!! Oh how I hope these two can stay close as they grow up!!!

Lili passed out in my bed at the hotel in Columbia

This was hilarious...I came in the living room at the hotel and found Aly in the recliner watching tv like this. She's definately a wierdee!!

Okay...speaking of "WEIRDEE" This wasn't on our trip, it was just yesterday evening. David had been swimming with the girls and when they came in their hair was nearly dry, but I still needed to put their conditioner on them. They, especially Aly, have coarse hair that turns to straw if not conditioned well. So, I have this WONDERFUL thick creme conditioner that I use and I just slathered it on them for a little while and then rinsed them out in the sink. This was Lili running around with the goop in her hair!! I just love this pic...it is so Lili's personality...a little monkey!!!!

Hope you enjoyed the week in pictures!!!!

Til next time....

In His Mighty Grip

Shelley