Their first space shuttle launch

He just turned the tv on to see what was going on in the world and they said it..."The space shuttle Endeavor is scheduled to lift off tonight at 7:55pm from Cape Canaveral" David lit up like a Christmas tree and said, "Let's get in the car and go see it blast off!" Um...okay...lets go!!!

So, we piled in the car, gassed it up, grabbed some lunch and headed south. NASA/Cape Canaveral is only about 2 hours away. Neither David nor I had seen a space shuttle blastoff in a number of years, but we really wanted the girls to have the experience. You should have seen us trying to explain it to them...two little girls who have basically no knowledge of what space is much less a space shuttle!! Anyway...we figured that we wouldn't be able to get too close as we got a late start, but hey...we can actually see a blastoff from the street in front of our house, so any farther south we got was gravy...right?

Well, we ended up on US1, in a marina on the banks of the Indian river DIRECTLY across from the launch pad. We were about 10 miles away with a picture perfect view!! We took our lawn chairs out, grabbed the bag of juice boxes and snacks and settled in to watch the show.

The weather was absolutely PERFECT...a light breeze, pleasant temperatures and not a cloud in the sky!!! It was actually so clear that we saw a satellite go over about 30 minutes before blastoff...it was amazing!!! The girls were running around making new friends and having a blast (pardon the pun).

Then...promptly at 7:55...we watched them light the engines , which then lit up everything and the Space Shuttle Endeavor rose majestically into the night sky. It was truly a sight to behold! I had both girls in my lap and they just sat there perfectly still with their mouths hanging open. It was the only time I have ever seen Lili speechless...she just sat there.

We were fortunate enough to be sitting near a couple of guys who were here from Norway studying aeronautics. They were a wealth of information to us. (They are the ones who pointed out the satellite...lest you think I am that smart!!)

After it was all over, we piled back in the car and headed off in search of some dinner. I mean, it was only 8:30 or so...how hard could it be to find food???

Well...about 11PM we finally got to eat dinner!!!!!!! We went all the way to Daytona Beach before we found something!!!! Traffic was a nightmare and next time we will take dinner with us thank you very much!!!

We finally pulled into our driveway at about 1:30 that morning. The girls were wiped...Aly just walked into her bedroom, crawled into bed and continued sleeping. She did walk in the house under her own steam, but I am not really sure she ever woke up!!

Anyway, it was so much fun!! I'm so glad that David turned on the tv to check the news!!

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment...

Aly & Lili with their new friends

Aly and her DaddyMan

Daddy and his princesses

Me and my beauties

Ignition...


liftoff... (official NASA picture)

light up the sky...

and we're off!


Isn't it just beautiful??

I love this shot... this is the smoke trail floating in front of the full moon.

We came here to see THAT????

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

Inquiring minds want to know...

NO...WE HAVE NOT CLOSED ON THE *&%$^*(*&^&*** @$*# HOUSE YET!!!!

We are leaving Johnson City tomorrow after a wonderful few days spent relaxing and seeing old friends. We are heading back to Columbia and hopefully will close either tomorrow or Friday. YEAH RIGHT!!! How many times have we heard that story???? I'll believe it when I am holding that check in my hands and am on the way to the bank to cash the blasted thing!!!

I know...it is all in God's timing!! whatever!!!!

It has been wonderful to spend this time here visiting in JC and we are looking forward to getting back home, with the house closed and FINALLY able to start our life again for the first time in so many many many months!!!

Okay...so that is about it.

Still don't have pictures uploaded yet, but I promise to post amazing and wonderful pictures of our amazing and wonderful children very very soon. Yes I promise to post videos too Stacey!!!!

Keep praying...love to you all!!

Shelley

A look back...

After our multiple computer crashes over the last year I am finally getting around to uploading some of our older pictures onto my current computer. I, of course got sucked into sitting and looking through all 9 million of them and came across some fun memories. So, I thought I would go back and share a few pictures with you from the early days...pre blog.

In the months before we went to China to get Liliana, I began to try my best to prepare Aly for the trip. We were advised by several people not to take her, but that was not even an option. I knew she would be a good traveler and besides not even being able to comprehend being seperated from her for three weeks, neither David nor I wanted her to miss this moment in our family...becoming a family of four.

First official "Big Sister Kiss" by Aly

First moments as a Family of Four!! Priceless

Adoption complete...she is officially ours!! I can't imagine not having these pictures!!

Anyway, back to preparation...Aly does really really well in most any situation as long as you give her information about what is going to happen. So, I thought that we should check out the airport since we would be seeing lots and lots of them on the trip. These few pictures are of the two of us on a rainy day at TriCities Regional Airport in Blountville TN. (This is the airport we flew out of and came home to on trip #2.)

checking out the runway

checking out the planes

Is there where I take my luggage Mom?

uh...has anyone seen a large Pink suitcase with polka dots all over it?? I've been waiting here forever!!

I still can't believe how little Alyson is in these pictures...this was just a month or so before we went to get Lili. How time flies!!!! She had a ball at the airport even though we did run into "Grumpy Gus" at the entrance to the security gate. We just wanted to stand there and watch (DUH...I knew we couldn't go THROUGH security!) But he wouldn't even let us stand there and watch!! Bear in mind that there was NOBODY at the airport that afternoon...and the two people who were there had already boarded their planes!!! I know, I know...those Chinese two year olds pose such security risks!!! Oh well...I would post a picture of our buddy Gus, but he was so hateful that the picture didn't even take!! :-)

Little Miss Sunshine!


I hope you enjoyed my quick trip down memory lane. :-)

More later...

In HIS Mighty Grip

Early morning thoughts

Emily, our neice, spent the night with us last night in our hotel room. The girls love her to pieces and so I guess that I shouldn't be surprised that Aly, who had a 10 minute meltdown the night before about sleeping anywhere but between David and I, was all to excited about sleeping with Lili and Emily in the other bed! :-)

I just got up a little while ago and everyone else is still snoozing. I went over to check on the girls and they are all huddled up as close as they could possibly be to Emily. It is so precious. I love to watch my girls sleep! I guess for Aly it the ONLY time she is still. She is such a live wire at all other times. To watch her sleep is so soothing for me. She is he most peaceful soul I know when she is taking those long deep breaths. I just love it. I told her one morning after she woke up that I loved to watch her sleep and that I love knowing that I can roll over in bed any time and see her beautiful face next to me. She smiled and said, "I love watching you sleep Mommy and knowing that I can roll over in bed any time and play with your hair!" That child loves to play with my hair! Most nights she won't go to sleep until she has given it the onceover. Of course now I have cut it all off short, so she wasn't too happy with me!

Sleep has been an issue for Lili since the day we got her. She wanted nothing to do with it for a long time. Some of the hardest times in my life have been in the last six months trying to help that child to adjust! She slept (sort of) in a pack n play just outside our bedroom until about April! The only way to get her to sleep was to hold her with something on her head to cover her eyes until she passed out and then run like the wind to get out of the room before she woke up again. But slowly we have gotten her into her crib in the nursery. We don't have to use the hat anymore, but she does like it very dark. Finally after nearly six months I can play a little music and rock her for a few minutes and put her, awake, into her crib and off she will go to dreamland. She ususally doesn't even wake up until around 9:30 or 10 in the mornings!!! Now I can enjoy watching her sleep! This child has so much anger still and is still super sensitive, but when she sleeps...it is all good!! That furrowed brow, which is her trademark, goes away and it is all peaceful in her beautiful little face. I must admit that I didn't know if this would ever happen. I mean it has been hard fought 6 months for us with her, but God is good and we have finally found our way with her.

She and Aly don't ever sleep together unless we are traveling like this or something, but i love to watch them sleep together. They snuggle up together and their arms and legs are all intertwined and it is such a special thing to see. They love each other so much and that is the best time to see it.

Have a happy Monday! I plan to spend most of today at the pool with the girlies...it doesn't get much better than that!!!

Hello from South Carolina

Well, we made it and spent the afternoon with David's Mom yesterday. She was asleep for most of the visit, but it was good to see her and for the girls to see her as well. The nurse finally told us that she would most likely sleep the rest of the day and so we came on back to the hotel. It was so good to get in the pool with them and relax for a bit. David's sister, her husband and our nephew came over to swim with us.
Lili looked so cute with her ladybug float! She was NOT AT ALL happy with this whole pool/water thing, but she finally relaxed and began to enjoy it a little bit. Aly, on the other hand just jumped right in and was about three steps from spastic the entire time. She absolutely LOVES the water and would stay in it all day if we would let her. This is the first time she has been swimming since last summer, so I thought she might be a tad cautious until she got used to it again, but NO WAY JOSE!!! She kept swimming up to Lili and telling her it would be alright and that it was just water and it wouldn't hurt her. She really had a good time with her cousin Christopher and can't wait for them to come back later today.
Lili is enjoying our stay in the hotel. We all tried to bunk together in the big bed, but one night of no sleep was quite enough thank you!!! So, last night we pulled out the sleeper sofa and propped pillows under the edge of the matress and Lili had her own bed all to herself. She LOVED it. She promptly pulled the sheet and the blanket up over her head, took one long SIGH and passed out for the duration.
Okay...so one more Lili/Aly story and then I will add some pics and end this.
We didn't get into town the other night until about 1am. I really thought the girls would be asleep since they didn't sleep all day traveling, but they were wide awake and ready to go. We had to stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things for breakfast and such and I just left them in the car with David. I fully expected to come out to the car and find them all losing their minds, crying and frustrated wanting to get out of the car, but instead David said that Aly started trying to tickle Lili with her foot (both of them in their carseats). He said that Lili started laughing and Aly kept trying and it made Lili laugh harder. Then Aly started laughing and before he knew it they were just cracking each other up having a blast! The funniest things will make little girls laugh, won't they?? I love it!!!!
Okay so I was going to post some pics since I am on David's laptop, but I can get them to post...so I'll try to get him to help me figure it out tonight.

Bye for now...
~