The Skips Great Adventure: FULL

Wow.

This is really the great adventure, isn't it?

Life.

Full, so full.

I have been so thankful the last couple weeks to have had "things" slow down a bit. Slow down enough to take a breath and pause and reflect on everything going on in our lives.

Here are a few things I don't want to forget:

The weather the last few weeks has been incredible.

Sipping my diet Coke while sunbathing and discussing "life" (aka Homeschool) with my kids is seriously my idea of a perfect day. Only 3 more days to go and we will wrap up our second incredible year of Homeschool. It has been nothing short of FANTASTIC!!!!!!!

The last couple months we have been watching a precious little baby while his teenage momma tries to finish up her GED. What a BLESSING for all of US this has been!

For some reason I have been gifted with more alone time with this little girl lately. What a treat for us this has been. When I run out the door to do a quick errand, she is always right at my heels, eager to go along. She is one smart little cookie who doesn't miss a thing. And I am so in love with her.

My niece lives right behind us and what a relationship that these two little cousins have.

Ah, the month of May has brought Mr. Luke's 9th birthday.

It's a big deal in our family to take the day off from school when it's one of our birthdays. Luke has two loves: drawing and playing sports. Since we didn't really all want to sit around and draw together, we decided to venture out and play a family game of Disc Golf. Oh my gosh, it was so much fun. I have no doubt this was the beginning of a new love for our family.

Lucas is definitely my most simple kid. And I LOVE that about him. While I would do anything for that kid on his birthday, all he wanted was to hang out with his besties. And that, he did.

To me, birthdays are not just a time to celebrate a precious life that God has created for an amazing purpose, but also to reflect on "parenting" and all of the ways that God has carried me through, in this case, 9 years of raising a BOY.. ... An experience that I never dreamed I would have. wow. It's been incredible. love this kid sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much.

did you know? it's Mustache May! Well, that is what he tells me, anyway.

I just have to say, after 14 years of marriage, I am more in love with this guy than ever.

Totally totally totally in awe of the goodness of God to give him to me. wow.

As we continue to wait wait wait for our important "paper" from China saying that they officially accept our adoption of this little cutie pie, we are thrilled to get occasional updates and pictures. This is the newest picture we got of him just this week. We got some new measurements of him and a little more info of the foster family he lives with. We won't have a good idea of when we are going to get him until we get this "paper" back from China, but it probably won't be before September.

And so we wait....we wait upon the Lord....because HE never disappoints!

While my days are FULL of blessings and lots and lots and lots of fun, my mind has also been really really challenged by the heartaches and brokenness in this world that surrounds me, and at times, overwhelms me.

The deeper our relationships get with our friends at the apartments, the more brokenness that is unveiled. Just this week, one of my friends there went to jail. Two guys from our Bible study there were threatening to beat each other up. Drug use, casual sex, and rumors of child abuse abound. How do these two worlds, theirs and mine, come together? How? How do you make sense of it all? I KNOW that we are all broken and desperately in need of a Savior. Believe me, I am deeply aware of my "issues". But to have so many friends, that I really do care about, who are sooo broken on sooo many levels (financially, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, physically, etc.) Oh, wow. Life is FULL for them too. FULL of stress and heartache. Broken.

This weekend Marcus is down in California at a funeral of a really good college friend who died this week from cancer. Stupid stupid cancer.

And so, LIFE and death are on my mind.

What the heck is this adventure all about?

If it were about feelings, I would be a WRECK! If it were about me, I would be a wreck. If it was only about the 147 million orphans in the world, I would be a wreck. If it were about ANYTHING other than the Lord, it wouldn't make sense.

But God, in His freaking AWESOMENESS, has been soooooooo good to keep bringing me back to Him, gently reminding me that IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM. I don't understand it...but I know it. And when it's all about Him, I can just take a deep breath and relax. He is good and He is in control. And I trust Him. And so the days FULL of life and death just keep coming and we just keep going, with our eyes FIXED on Him, on the journey He has for us. Because its all about Him.

My days have been unbelievably FULL and great. And soo soo hard.

And I am soo soo thankful.

A heart FULL of thankfulness to God that He has it all under control.

And it's not about me....

But I do get to enjoy the ride.

And enjoying the ride, I am.