Two years ago.

Two years ago this morning I was waking up in Beijing, China.

Marc and I hopped on a plane and took a short 3 hour plane ride to the Shaanxi Province.

Two years ago around 7pm in the evening I met Miss. Mei, my daughter.

One of the best things that I have read recently from an adult adoptee is her explanation of the difference between saying that "one was adopted" and "one is adopted".  She said that there is a very important difference between the two statements.  One explains an event and one explains an identity.  She compared it to the rest of us who say "I was born on...." .  You know, we don't say, "I am born...."  Because being born was a one time thing.  It happened once and then we moved on in life with the family with which God had placed us.  This makes SO much sense to me.  Such a subtle difference in those statements yet so important.

Two years ago Meili was adopted into our family.

Today she IS a Skipper kid.....in every single way.  I have NO DOUBT that God designed her in every way to be a part of our family.

Indeed, two years ago a VERY special and important event took place in our lives:  Meili's adoption.  But today, on this two year anniversary of putting my arms around my youngest daughter, I am celebrating our family.  Our family that God made.  We are all equal now, all the same.  God brought each of us to this crazy Skipper family in His own special way and for one reason:  His glory.

God is soo sooo sooo GOOD!

Happy Gotcha Day, Miss. Mei.

I praise Jesus for you every single day!

Two Blogs.

Well, it has almost been two years exactly since I have followed any blogs of people adopting from China.  Prior to our adoption of Mei, I followed them faithfully as they were a sort of life line for me.  Then, once we got our Mei Mei, I didn't need that life line any more.  I never looked back.

And then as of yesterday I have started following 2 blogs that I wanted to share with all of you!  Whoever "you" is???  :)

There is a man named David Platt who is a pastor in Alabama.  He wrote the book, Radical, and the Lord has used this man in very profound ways in me and Marc's lives.  He is a man of God and we have the highest respect for him.  Anyways, the first blog I am glued to (thanks Malia!), since yesterday, is his.  He is in China right now adopting their daughter and he is documenting it all on their church's blog.  It's so awesome.

http://bhglobalblog.org/

The second blog I am following is my friend, Sondra.  The Lord uniquely and powerfully brought her into my life a few years ago.  Then, we ended up (by God's amazing plan) being in China together 2 years ago when we were both getting our kids to bring home.

And where is she TODAY?  She is back in China adopting their 6th child (3rd adoption).  Now, I would be following Sondra's blog no matter who or where she was adopting because she is my friend!  However, this adoption is AMAZING to me because she is this time adopting an almost 10 year old girl.  This girl is Jorie's age!  Sondra loves the Lord and has followed Him boldly, faithfully, and passionately to this point of getting their daughter, Alea, from China.  I am in awe.  They just got her yesterday and guess how Alea greeted her new mom and dad????  I stole this pic from her blog to show you!  She greeted them with a HUGE bear hug!  Oh, praise Jesus.

here is their blog address if you want to follow along......
http://www.followingourheartsagain.blogspot.com/

So, no need to wonder what I'm going to be looking at on the computer the next couple weeks......these two blogs are on my mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Psalm 68:6  

God sets the lonely in families.

Referral

November 1, 2011

It was late in the evening and the call came.

It was our social worker and she said those famous words, "I have a kid for you to look at."

My mind, in one of those rare moments, went absolutely clear and it was as if there was nothing else in the world to think about except soaking in every word, every tone of her voice, and every breath Kathie had to share with me.

After our phone conversation she immediately sent us, via email, a bunch of paperwork  (medical reports, development reports, labs, behavior habits, etc.), about 12 pictures, and 3 short (3 minutes) videos of a very cute little two year old Chinese BOY!

The following days were filled with a mix of emotions.  We spent much time looking up the various medical issues he has, discussing at length his conditions with my sister (who is a Pediatrician), asking our friends to pray for our decision, and crying out to the Lord to give us clear direction about what He wanted us to do.

On Friday morning, Nov. 4th, we notified our agency that we desired to accept this referral and this precious little boy as our son.

We still have a long road ahead of us.  We are VERY early in the paperwork stage and still have many months to wait till we get to go get the little peanut.  Best estimates put us in China between August and October of 2012.

As I have been processing this long wait ahead of us and thinking of MY SON and how long it will be till we meet, God has been soooooooooo good to comfort me and redirect my eyes and heart to Him.  He has spoken to me through Isaiah 26:

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.  Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD,the LORD, is the Rock eternal....Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you;  your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.

God has told me over and over in scripture to wait for Him!  Trust in Him!  He will never disappoint.  He is in control.  He has the best plan.  Even more than I want to go get my sweet precious little son, do I want for God to be glorified, for Him to be known, for Him to be praised, for Him and His name to be renown! 

No doubt about it, it's going to be a long hard wait.

But God is so faithful.

I cling to Him.

Adoption, Adoption, Adoption.....

As we have almost completed the birthday celebration (birthdays last quite a while in this family) of my oldest turning TEN, our attention has turned more directly to our adoption journey this week.  We officially started the process in late July and have been patiently and slowly working on paperwork ever since.  With the news this week that our homestudy is complete and we should receive it in the mail any day, the adoption gear has been cranked up a bit; both tangibly and emotionally. 

Tangibly, the paperwork stack is high.  Lots and lots of letters to write, references to obtain (thanks girls.  you know who you are!!!), documents to gather, forms to fill out, mail to be sent off.  It's the stack of papers, that when complete, is called the "dossier" that we will send off to China.  Looking at the list of paperwork could be very very intimidating and daunting.  But working on it together (as Marc and I do.  He's the greatest!) and doing just one thing at a time, it is manageable.  Not to mention the obvious fact that we have done it all before.  And so far, that has been a great benefit to us.  It still seems to be just as time consuming but at least we don't feel so naive and clueless this time.  While we still have to do every stinkin' piece of it over again, most of it is exactly the same.  And so this week we have spent every spare moment (which indeed are hard to come by) at the computer downloading documents, running around town having papers notarized, filling out many forms, and just trying to do all that we can to get our part done.  We are in the THICK of paperwork right now.

Up until this week the adoption has emotionally somewhat been on the back burner.  Just because there has been so much else going on in our lives.  But this week, that has all changed.  I see it in Marc as much as I feel it in myself.  This week, we FEEL pregnant!  Not the kind of baby that is growing in my tummy but the kind that is growing in our hearts.  And indeed, it feels JUST the same in the emotional arena. 

We are adopting a special needs child again from China.  We are going through the same process and using the same fabulous agency again that we used with Mei.  We have told our agency we are open to a boy OR girl this time, aged 1 to 4.  We HOPE to travel to China to bring home our much wanted and already much loved 5th child sometime in late 2012.

May God be greatly glorified in the journey!  Let's do it!

First Day of School at Skipper School

 Alas, our 2011-2012 school year has begun!

I was so excited to start school with the kiddos, I could hardly stand it.

I know this is a bit strange to most people....but me and the kids do REALLY well with routine and although this summer was great, I was sooo ready to get routine back into our family.

And, the fact of the matter is, I LOVE doing school with my kids.  

We have SO much fun together.

They were so excited to examine their schedule this morning.

It has a lot more detail on it this year since I am doing more with Caleb and Mei than I did last year.  I had to be a bit more scheduled this year to make sure I fit all four kiddos in.  :) yikes.

 

The whole day was great, but watching Caleb and Mei spontaneously do math together was definitely my favorite.

 I couldn't live life like I do without the help of this girl.  

Happy first day of 4th grade big girl!

  

  

 I am sooo happy to report that Skipper School is once again in session.

While the days are never without challenges, this adventure of homeschooling is SUCH a gift from the Lord.

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

They are not just idle words for you- they are your life.

Deuteronomy  6:6-7, 32:47

Good bye Wendy!

Last week our exchange student, Wendy, left us to go back home to China. 

Once again, it was a bitter sweet good-bye.

Bitter because when a person lives in my home for a month, they become part of my family.  Bitter because I always want MORE time with them, it is never enough.  There is always that small piece of my brain that wishes I could have done more with her, said more, cooked more, shopped more, hiked more, etc.

But it also was a sweet good-bye as I think back over our month with her. As it has been with each exchange student, I got yet another piece of the puzzle in understanding the Chinese culture. When a teenager comes into our country for the first time, seeing America through their eyes always renews my appreciation and thankfulness  for where I live.  Developing a strong bond with a young girl from another country is priceless to me.  Wendy loves her country, she loves China.  Listening to her heart helps me to not have an elitist opinion of America, and to view China not as a country as a whole but instead a country that is FULL of many many wonderful people, people that were created equal to me...in the image of God.

Unlike my other two exchange students, Wendy's English was very very weak and didn't seem to improve that much.  At times this was frustrating to me, as I LOVE to dig deep into life.  However, in God's great goodness, He kept speaking 1John 3:18 into my heart: 

Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

It was very convicting to me how my gut reaction was to always "speak" and not to "act".  I realized that subconsciously I felt like my actions were not enough and I put more importance on what I wanted to "say" to her instead of simply allowing God to work through my actions.   The cheesy phrase, "I can talk the talk but do I walk the walk?" came to mind often.  How much do Christians (like me) stand on what they (I) know and what they (I) can say...instead of on what God does.

mmmmmm, God is so good.  

and I am so thankful for the gift of hanging out with Wendy this summer.

God is always at work.

To Him be the glory!

We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, "I know Him", but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But if anyone obeys His word, God's love is truly made complete in him.  This is how we know we are in Him:  Whoever cliams to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.

1John 2:3-6

the hike.

 Sunday was Marc's day to sneak off and do his thing. 

 Marc, his dad, Luke, and Wendy, all went and hiked a trail close to Mt. Hood.

 Oregon is a very good place in the summertime!

beach day.

 On Saturday, Wendy and I took a road trip.

 We had planned for our whole family to go but because of 2 of my kids being sick, Marcus stayed home with all of them and let me sneak away with Wendy to make sure she did not leave us without seeing the glorious Oregon Coast. 

 I hated leaving my family behind, but as it turned out, it was so special for Wendy and I to have that day alone.

 I cannot tell you how many times Wendy said, "beautiful, beautiful, beautiful....".

For I am the LORD your God,
   who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
   the LORD Almighty is his name.
 I have put my words in your mouth
   and covered you with the shadow of my hand—
I who set the heavens in place,
   who laid the foundations of the earth,
   and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’

 Isaiah 51

It was indeed a glorious day.

 A day she will never forget.

 Only 2 days till she leaves us for her home.

She will be taking a piece of my heart with her.

My sweet-spirited and adventuresome Wendy!!!!!

 Life continues to go well with Wendy.

Last week we took her on a family vacation to a lake in Washington.

She is sweet and quiet-spirited but she has a bold and adventuresome spirit that of course I love!

 She LOVES hamburgers and HATES "red" berries (she insists they taste like "Chinese medicine").  ha.  She eats anything/everything I put in front of her (except berries), despite me continually telling her that I will NOT be offended at all if she doesn't like something.

 She definitely has an attitude of wanting to embrace all that America has to offer and live the "American life" to the fullest while she is here.  Have I mentioned that I love this girl?!

 I can only imagine what she thinks of us.  

While she is with us we are pretty much (totally) doing life as usual and so she sees it all.  The good and fun, and the loud and crazy.  The other night we were sitting at the dinner table.  We had just gotten back from the lake and we were all exhausted.  Marc had gone back to work so I was alone getting the car unpacked from the trip and a last minute trip to Costco (crazy but necessary) and was just getting dinner on the table at 7pm (very late for my kids).  Did I mention how tired we all were? During the dinner, the dog ran inside with muddy feet, Caleb had a coughing attack and threw up inches from where Wendy was sitting, and Jorie (who had been helping Mei in the bathroom) came out to the table carrying Meili's pants that had a huge CHUNK of poop on them to show us all (ARE YOU KIDDING ME????).   And by the way, my family only takes about 10 minutes to eat a meal.  So, all of that "crazy" happened in that time frame.  All I could think throughout all of that was, "well....she is seeing it all!"

ha ha.  I can only imagine what she is thinking.

 One of the many frequent comments that Wendy has made to me is, "Mom, that boy/girl does not look like his/her family?????", with a VERY puzzled look on her face.

We have MANY friends who have adopted "international" children in their family.  Wendy is seeing what "adoption" looks like in all of them, including ours of course.  She is aware that there are orphans in her country but previously was not aware of adoption and continues to have a hard time understanding it. Her English is weak enough that we won't (while she is here) be able to have an in-depth conversation about it.  I have peace that God is at work though and am just trying to trust Him to work on her heart and mind concerning this issue.  Oh, how I hope pray that she will see the deep BEAUTY of these children while she is here and that her thoughts about them would not be shaped by a culture that says they are "worthless" and "bad luck", but instead by a God who says that they were created in His image and therefore have GREAT value!

We are already half way through our time with Wendy.  It is going by so fast.  And it has been very very good!  To Him be the glory!

Meet Wendy

Our awesome exchange student arrived late last evening from China.

She is much more extroverted than our last two exchange students.

Her English is minimal, but enough to communicate the basics.

 Today was a super full day:

 Church, friends house for lunch and sad women's soccer game,dinner at the Homeless Shelter, and then long walk around the neighborhood.

 Her personality is fabulous and she gets along GREAT with all of us.  She even loves our dog.  She has THREE dogs at home in China.  Are you kidding me?

No surprise, I love her!

Foreign Exchange Students

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why more people do not want to partake in the adventure of hosting a foreign exchange student.  I have talked with many many many friends over the last several weeks seeing if they want to host and NOT ONE of them is signing up.  :)  Ofcourse I know that the circumstances in each family is so different and everyone has their reason, which despite what you may be thinking, I totally respect and do not think ANY less of them.  I just simply am baffled why more people, generally speaking, won't give 3 1/2 weeks of their summer to embracing a teenager from another country.

Since my "salesman" techniques are obviously seriously lacking, I have decided to go the only other route I can think of and that is to document on this silly blog my heart and our experience of hosting a foreign exchange student.  My hopes are that whoever reads this thing will see that it isn't so bad and that in fact, it is totally the opposite,  an awesome experience for an American Family to partake in! 

So, here we go.

Tonight we will be meeting and taking home a 16 year old girl, our third exchange student from China. 

I was one of the first ones to sign up (shocking) for this batch of  kids coming to our city so I got to take my pick at choosing which student I wanted.  I ended up choosing this female student based on one thing:  she has 2 younger brothers in her family.  #1, I thought that her experience with brothers at home will have prepared her to come into our (somewhat loud/wild/crazy) home.  and #2, I am dying to know how her family gets to have THREE children....a characteristic that is EXTREMELY rare in Chinese families.

We will be picking her up around 7:30 tonight.  I am most curious to see how she responds to Meili, which will no doubt be SHOCKING to her.  I will encourage her to get to bed by 10 so that she can get to work immediately on getting over that jet lag.  And then tomorrow our family has a full day of activities planned. A day full of going to church, cheering on the American women's soccer team to victory, a bar-b-q at a friend's home, and then finishing the day by serving at a woman's homeless shelter.  Can you imagine what she is going to think of ALL of that???? 

more to come.......

Cousins!

 My cousins.  I love them.

The girls having a ball with the "park creeper" looking on.

aw.

 Miss. Kendra.  You have always been so special to our entire extended family.  You have grown into a BEAUTIFUL young lady inside and out.  Your sweet and gentle spirit shine!  Know that you are loved.

 they have just a little bit of their mommas in them.  :)

Barbara showing some love to Mr. T.

what's up Mr. Troy?  You sure are a handsome dude!  

Love to see Ronald T.'s amazing spirit shining through YOU!

 sisters!

thanks for letting me crash your party, cousins.

i love you.