Little Miss Kaia

Her little fingers, so tiny.

We have a new little cousin!  Miss Kaia Liv Green was welcomed into the family on August 12th.  This means that not only do we have another little girl, it means that Miss Anna is a big sister!

She's grown up a lot since those pictures were taken...

...just had to put that in there.  Aunt Kera told Anna to "show us her smile", so she did.  And that was the result, complete with graham cracker and everything. :)

So anyway, after I finished school this past Thursday, we went down to see the Green's and meet Kaia.  And of course I had to bring my camera and take some pictures of our new cousin.

She is so precious. :)

Right when my Mom picked her up, she fell right to sleep.  

I also got to hold her for a little bit.  I find it hard to believe that there is something more sweet than holding a newborn baby.

She started waking up after I had already been holding her for a while.  She was trying to open her eyes here, it was so cute!

She's up and awake now!  And she was just looking around. :)

Her little fingers again, but I couldn't help adding the verse in. :)

A Little While and A Nice Break

Well, I'm not even going to say it.  Except that I know it's been a little while.

Anyway, the Alexander household has been quite busy lately.  Just in May alone did we finish raising 250 chickens, received the surprise of eight Great Pyrenees puppies (sooo adorable), celebrated Mom and Ashlyn's birthdays, finished school for the spring, participated in a wedding (I was Maid of Honor actually), studied for the big tests and small ones, had my first student piano recital, played in four recitals of my own, graduated from our "Homeschool" High School (say that five times fast), attended three other graduations, applied for scholarships, and somehow managed to fit eating, sleeping, and breathing into everything.

I also decided to be absolutely crazy, and sign up for twelve hours of summer courses at college.  But hey, nine of those hours are music theory classes, and piano lessons.  So...I'm good.  But I'll let you know in August. ;)

But anyway, we had one week where our whole family didn't have anything planned.  So, we decided to take an impromptu trip to the lake.  Besides the fact the it rained at least everyday (and every night...at like, three in the morning), it was a blast and I loved every second.

I loved being able to see the sunset over the lake every night.  Every night brought a brand new spectacular view.  Every sunset was different - some were more colorful, others were more subdued.  Some had brilliant flaming colors, and other times you could barely tell the difference between the reds, blues, greens, purples, oranges, and yellows.

And for a photographer, it was nice. :)  But even if I wasn't, I am always amazed by God's creation by sunsets.  They just seem to give a small tidbit of the glory that is coming.

We camped in tents for the first night, but then our grandfather blessed us by letting us borrow his camper.  It was so nice to not have to worry to much about making sure rain wouldn't carry us off.  It almost did once in the tents, but thankfully I have brothers and a father who will make sure those stakes are down.  But, things did end up a little wet, and so it was nice to have the camper to sleep in.

We also got to borrow our Dad's Uncle's boat.  Oh my goodness, few feelings can describe that of riding on the very front of the boat.  The wind blowing, the sun gleaming over the lake, the cool spray...bliss.  I loved it, and I can't wait until next time.

Another view of a sunset from our campsite.  Again, completely gorgeous. 

But you know another great part? Was able to be right next to the lake.  From where we were camping, it was a two minute walk to the lakeside.  I ended up spending everything from my afternoons there, late evenings there, and even got to talk on the phone with a dear friend of mine while walking alongside the lake.  Needless to say, the morning we were back home I was somewhat sad.  I know it seems silly, but it was just so peaceful there.  Great place to take a break from technology, school, books, business, and just chill.

...And lots of reading of course.  I finally want to tackle some more books from my, ahem, somewhat long (eight-ish pages long) booklist.  But again, that whole summer classes thing has been a bit time consuming.  :)

So anyway, here are a few pictures from our week at the lake.

So I might be obsessed with the clouds.  And the lake.  And both together. 

Photo credit by Nathan. :)

They are getting so big.  My goodness. 

Writing in the sand.

I love her little curls. 

And of course, we did a little jumping off rocks too. 

Two Years: Part 1

February 8-21, 2011 happened two years ago.  It's is really hard to believe so much time has passed by.  

But you might be wondering what I'm referring to. 

Two years ago a group of four girls and two adults went to India for a short term mission trip.  The group consisted of myself, my friend Elizabeth and her parents (Mr. & Mrs. L), and my friends Kat and (her cousin) Mykaela.  This would be the first really big experience for me going outside the country, flying (for fifteen hours...it got kinda long.), and ultimately it was one the biggest times of spiritual growth.  It was unbelievably hard for me to be separated from my family for just two weeks, especially in a country that is in such a spiritual depression.  But no matter how hard or how broken we all were, our sincerest prayer was that God was use us, and that He would be glorified in everything.  

Kovalum, India

The first place we visited was called Kovalum.  We were all quite exhausted—India being eleven hours ahead of America—and it was ten in the morning.  Needless to say, we were all jumbled up from lack of sleep.  However, I will never forget that first car ride.  We zoomed down those filthy dirt roads at breakneck speed; nearly missing it seemed like every other car, wagon, or cow that was on or near the road.  Arriving at our hotel about thirty to forty-five minutes later, us girls, barely keeping our eyes open, piled into one of the hotel rooms.  Even though we were utterly and absolutely drained, we couldn’t help cracking jokes, talking a mile-a-minute, and giggling and laughing like maniacs.  Then we crashed. :)

Us girls. :)

Nevertheless, Kovalum will forever remain near and dear to my heart.  Sitting only about one hundred feet from the ocean, this exotic town is filled with the sound of sea-gulls, the smell of spices, and a glorious view of rocky cliffs and tall trees. Us girls explored the little shops and tried on all different kinds of scarves, jewelry, and shoes—prickling our noses at the vast fishy smells.  We marveled at the busyness, and yet the tranquil peace, that this small tourist town held.  It was a wonderful, relaxing place to get over our jet-lag and prepare for the rest of the trip.  But before we left, I had an experience I will never forget:

"I remember clearly when I first saw the crippled, homeless man coming to beg from me.  He walked using his worn, dark, callused hands—dragging what stumps of legs he had remaining behind him.  As he crouched in front of me asking for “just one ‘Merican dolla,” I felt like running away.  I couldn’t bear to see him.  It tore at me from the inside.  My stomach tied in knots and I couldn’t get any kind of communication to come out of my mouth.  Again, I felt overwhelmed, but for a different reason entirely than that at the airport: I was terrified of this lowly, mutilated man.  My heart wept for him.  When he reached out his hand towards me, I felt as if he was giving me a taste of the pure hopelessness that shone through his eyes.  I had never known, truly known, what it was to be without faith or comfort.  I had never truly known what it was like to be in utter, total despair.  In the two minutes I stood there, still feeling that soft breeze from the ocean, my heart—and life—forever changed.  But this was just the beginning.  Throughout the whole course of this trip, my heart was repeatedly broken into pieces by Him who I call my Savior.  But, it was also this One who made me whole again."-taken from my journal

It really is hard to describe everything.  I mean, it's been two years and I still can't fully comprehend all that God taught us.  But it is so amazing to look back on my life before the trip, and then on my life afterwards.  To look back and see how God orchestrated absolutely everything in our lives at just the right moments, just the right times.  To look back and see how He still does this--no matter what we're going through.  

These people are such an amazing people.  But without their hearts given to God, they will be forever lost.  But you know, so will everyone.  If we do not realize the incredible sacrifice that Jesus paid for our sin, if we do not repent of this sin, we will be lost.  When I realize that all the sin I've ever committed or will commit is completely paid for, I'm overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed by His grace. 

This theme of grace continued throughout all the trip.  But it wasn't the only thing that we realized as a group--so many other aspects of God and His relationship with us continued to astonish and bless us.  And one of those many blessing, were "the girls" of the charity home we were to visit.

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Because I tend to be quite wordy and like to explain absolutely and positively everything, and because it's realllly hard to decided between pictures, I've decided to split this into parts.  Hence, the "part 1" part of my title. ;)  Also, all photos were taken by either myself, the girls, or Mr.& Mrs. L.