Our one year. together. forever.

Most call it Gotcha Day.

A friend calls it Family Day.  My sister called it Mei Day.

One year ago today we met and fell in love with our daughter.

I have been looking at her this week.  And I have been thinking....are you really the same girl?  Are you really just one year older?  Because when I look back at the pictures, from one year ago tonight, I see a baby.  I see a scared, young, timid little baby girl.  And then the pictures from this week....I see a beautiful young girl.  A girl who is strong, independent, confident, funny, and oh so sweet.  It truly is hard to believe that so much transformation has happened in a year. 

What has been on my mind most THIS week is her transformation.  And God.  And the two together really really paint such an incredible tangible picture of what God has done for us, who believe in His Son.  In the midst of our sin and darkness He reached out and chose us to be His own, to inherit all that is His, to live in His love forever.  Not because of anything we have done.   And then after He chose us, He transformed us.  Of course, as followers, we are continuing to grow in Him, but our transformation is complete.  The old has gone, the new has come.  Colossians says, "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."  We have a new name, a new identity, a new family, a new way of thinking.  Simply stated, He has adopted us.  What He has done in our lives, as believers, He has also done in grafting in our adopted children.

When we had our first child, for the first time we felt like we understood a little more of God's love for us.  That unconditional powerful love you feel for your own children, can only be compared to God's love for us.  BUT then when you experience adoption, it's like your eyes are opened up more to just what it is that God has done for us.  I am reminded of where I used to be and where I would be without Him.  I am reminded of how I have done NOTHING to deserve all that He has given me, all that I have inherited.  I KNOW that He loves me the same as His chosen people.  I know that He now views me as one of His chosen people.  He has grafted me in.  I look at Mei,  and I get it.  I look at how He has transformed her and I get it.  I look at how she so strongly identifies with us as her family, and I get it.  I look at how she so perfectly fits with her own unique gifts into our family, and I get it. I look at her and am amazed at how I so passionately love her the same as my other kids, and I get it. 

Oh, God is so freaking amazing!  Adoption is so amazing.  Meili Maria Skipper is soooooooo amazing!  Tonight, as I look back, I am humbled and in complete awe that God allowed me a front row seat to experience the miracle of adoption.  Oh, I praise you, Jesus.  Thank you for my baby girl.  I give You all glory!

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will. Ephesians 1:5

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen. 

Ephesians 3:15

A year ago today....Happy Thanksgiving!

Alas, we arrived in Beijing at about 9pm....the next day. 

The airport was such a weird first impression.

I remember we were like, where's ALL the people?  And the airport actually seemed to have smog in it?  We were like, are you kidding?  Is this possible? 

 Our awesome agency took SUCH good care of us with EVERY single detail of our trip, beginning from the first moment.  They were there and greeted us and took us straight to our hotel.  We got our computer set up right away so we could Skype the kids.  Then we called them to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving.  It was a little weird that we actually flew right over our Thanksgving.  I was ofcourse GIDDY with excitement.  I rememer just sitting at our hotel window starring out into the big city.  It had been many years since I had been there before.  My mind was filled with memories from the past and anticipation of the future.  It was a profound moment/time for me that I will never forget.  It was hard but we tried to force ourselves to sleep.....



Let the memories begin! One year ago today.....

Can it be?  A year has already passed?

 It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.....the day had finally come!  We had a normal morning, getting the kids off to school and then my mom came over to watch Caleb.  At about nine in the morning my dad picked Marc and I up and graciously drove us to PDX.  I'll never forget my dad's hug that he gave me when he said goodbye.  He squeezed me so tight, had tears in his eyes, and said he was so proud of us. 

Marc and I LOVE being alone together.  Perhaps because it happens so seldom, but we love it.  We still have so much fun together.  The flight to China was long.  But it was GREAT!  It was a GREAT day! 

I remember that day as a day of enjoying the company of my husband and having hours and hours of quiet time on the plane to take many breaths and totally relax before our next adventure in life that was about to begin.

In honor of Mei and God's call to defend the cause.....

 I have started another blog. 

You can go take a peek at it if you want. 

http://www.fopow.blogspot.com/



counting down.....

I'll be honest,

I didn't expect the one year anniversary of Meili's Gotcha Day to be that big of deal.

Her birthday is just a couple weeks after our Gotcha Day so I thought that would always be the big celebration.

But ever since the calendar turned to November I am out of control emotional about it.

It is really just so amazing to look back over our journey to her and to think about all that God orchestrated to bring her to our family.  It is just simply awesome. 

Her Gotcha Day is still 24 days away......but it's all I can think about......

She is all I can think about.....

She is SUCH a gift from God.

wow.

birthdays.........

Have I mentioned that I love October?

Could have SOMETHING to do with it being BIRTHDAY month!

Jorie's first celebration started off with Grandma and Grandpa Skipper.

That evening she had some dear friends over for a slumber party.

How can it be that my oldest is NINE?  How can it be?

The morning of her actual birthday she was serenaded by her siblings and enjoyed her breakfast of choice: coffee cake and bacon and OJ.  While she made her birthday wish that morning, her and I enjoyed remembering both of our wishes from last year that had come true:  Meili is home!  Praise God!  I am sorry, I cannot tell you what I wished for this year.

Party at my parents house!  Thanks mom!

sweet cousin, Kylie Grace.

yes, she DOES get this excited over every gift!

thanks, Aunt Suzy.

My sister, Jor, and myself were all born within a few hours of each other....on separate years ofcourse.  So, our birthdays are always celebrated together at my parents house.  A fun tradition.

this picture accurately represents a bit of our dysfunction.

the boys were probably off wrestling somewhere while us ladies took care of the candles.



Pumpkin Patch!

One of the first of MANY ways that God confirmed our decision to homeschool this year was leading MANY of my friends to do the same with their family.  I treasure them!

Meili is just like her momma.....she LOVES her girlfriends!

The boys were actually given the choice of going to find their pumpkins in the mud OR getting a nice clean/dry one from the store.  Hmmmmmm.......

These boys LOVE animals.  Too bad their mom doesn't.

BEST buds~

We were there for over 4 hours.

Play, play, play.

It rained almost the whole day.

It was so fun.

Lots of apple cider and doughnuts.

Almost every activity was under cover.

Our family was in agreement, it was our best time EVER at the pumpkin patch.

Thank you, Lord!

Oh October, how I love thee.

October.

My most favorite month of the year.

The month started with a road trip to Utah to visit my sister and brother-in-law.

the Great Salt Lake.

warm.  salty.  smoggy.

glad we saw it.  don't need to go back.

My most favorite thing we did in Utah was visit Arches National Park.

I have to admit that I am not a National Park kind of girl.  I am a vacation-on-a-beach-in-Maui kind of girl.  However, knowing that this was probably going to be my only visit to Utah coupled with the fact that my husband most definitely IS a National Park kind of guy, we seized the opportunity and planned a 3 day adventure hiking the rocks of the Park.

Any guess who the matriarch of our family is???

Loved having my momma along for the fun.

So, it took no more then 2 minutes of playing on the rocks till I realized that this place was AMAZING.  I had never seen/experienced anything like it.  It was majestic, really.  Huge, massive, red rocks in the most amazing shapes/forms rising above the earth in the most interesting ways.  It was as if God was whispering over and over again throughout those 3 days into my ear,

 "Jennifer, I wanted to remind you of who I am.  I am powerful and majestic and creative and awesome.  I know that there is a lot of sin and problems that you see in the world.  But I wanted to take these few days and get your focus back onto Me.  If you focus on those problems, they will overtake you, consume you.  But if you keep your focus on Me, then I will overtake you, I will consume you.  And then My power, My power that I used to create all of this, will be in you.  I love you."

Oh, He is so good.  So good.

"I have never let schooling interfere with my education."  -Mark Twain

my youngest sister and my momma.

Needless to say, I am now a National Park kind of girl!

Meili taking a rest after a long day of riding on Dad's back.

We all loved the adventure of hiking through the rocks, especially the boys!

Matt and Suzy were SUCH great hosts!  We all had so much fun with them and loved every minute of being together!

precious family memories.

On to Canyonlands National Park.  Another amazing creation by God.

after taking the gazillionth picture, it was time to get a little creative.

mother dearest.

Another fun thing we did on our Utah trip was visit Park City, the site of the 2002 Olympic games.

oh, how I love this guy.

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;

let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before Him with thanksgiving

and extol Him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God,the great King above all gods.

In His hand are the depths of the earth,

and the mountain peaks belong to Him.

The sea is His, for He made it,

and His hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture,

the flock under His care.

Psalm 95