Another adoption journey begins.....

Shortly after we came home with Levi last fall, we entered into the hardest season of our lives thus far.  Within a couple of weeks time:  we began to get confirmation that Levi had some pretty serious developmental issues going on, a really good friend abruptly ended her friendship with us, we encountered some extremely hard challenges within our church family, my husband and daughter were losing their eyesight, I wrecked my car, and I discovered a lump in my breast.  It was seriously unreal.

I remember feeling like a gold fish that was about to die and just trying to suck in whatever oxygen I could manage to try to stay afloat.

And yet through the intense reality of drama and confusion and pain that we had to walk through, God's presence was equally strong and our marriage was strengthened a hundredfold. 

The words from God in Isaiah 43:2 were close to my heart during those weeks:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;  the flames will not set you ablaze.

God does not say "IF" you have to pass through those rough rivers, or "IF" you have to walk through the fire....No, He says, "When...".  It was indeed rough but He carried us through it and we have soo sooo soo much to give praise to Him for. 

Anyway, late in January we felt like we were finally coming through the fog of the hard previous few months and it felt GOOD to be able to breath a bit again.  I definitely felt like my relationship with the Lord had been tremendously strengthened and I came through all of that with a stronger resolve to follow Him.  And I noticed the same in my man.

It was at that exact same time that I started feeling like the Lord was telling us to adopt again.  And I could. not. believe. it.  Every time I thought that, I would quickly shove that feeling to the back of my brain and wonder if I might just be going cuckoo.  :)  And then one day....out of nowhere....Marc said to me, "I am afraid to tell you this, but I think God is telling me that we are suppose to adopt again."  I was like, "OH NO!  Me too!" We laughed and agreed that we must being going crazy.  Even though we knew....we knew...

Over the next few months we talked just a little bit about it and started gathering some info on what it would take to adopt again using our same dossier that we used with Levi.  I had much to discuss with the Lord about this adoption during that time.  I wondered why He didn't think that I needed MORE TIME to heal and recover and get REST since bringing Levi home....I wondered how in the world He thought we could manage one more child when we feel sooooooooooo maxed out in every way... I wondered how He was going to provide more money for the large amounts of FOOD that our family already consumes....etc.   And through it all, He kept telling me over and over again, "trust Me."  "trust Me."  "Go."

And then....on Easter Sunday....my husband said, "It is time.  We need to adopt now."  Woe.

I looked and looked over the files of kids....I prayed for God to show me the child that He has perfectly planned out for our family.  I began to doubt that we would adopt anytime soon...thought (and maybe secretly hoped) that it might be a couple years away......

And then, on May 6th, I found her.  We poured over her file, researched her medical conditions, sought the advice of doctors, prayed, discussed her with and sought the opinions of our other kids....and within a couple days, we were united and elated that she was indeed our daughter.

She is a beautiful little 3 1/2 year old girl (just 2 months younger than Levi). We are working at lightning speed to get our paperwork through all the hoops it has to go through so we can reuse our dossier that we used for Levi.  This will save us a couple months wait time and a few thousand dollars.  It will be very very close to beating that deadline, but we are trying. 

When I think about where I was 7-8 months ago and where I am now....I think of Psalm 30.  LOVE that Psalm.  For anyone reading this that is walking through the rivers and the fire right now;  be encouraged!  Lean hard into the Lord.  He hears your cry!  He is refining you!  And He LOVES you!  Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning!  He WILL turn your mourning into dancing! Trust!

Psalm 30

¹ I will exalt  you, Lord,
    for you lifted me out of the depths
    and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
² Lord my God, I called to you for help,
    and you healed me.
³ You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
    you spared me from going down to the pit. 

⁴ Sing  the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
    praise his holy name.
⁵ For his anger  lasts only a moment ,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping  may stay for the night,
    but rejoicing comes in the morning. 

⁶ When I felt secure, I said,
    “I will never be shaken.”
⁷ Lord, when you favored me,
    you made my royal mountain  stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
    I was dismayed.

⁸ To you, Lord, I called;
    to the Lord I cried for mercy:
⁹ “What is gained if I am silenced,
    if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
    Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
¹⁰ Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me;
    Lord, be my help. ”

¹¹ You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
¹² that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
    Lord my God, I will praise you forever.

a note from my oldest.

 One of the top 5 questions I get about adoption is, "How do your other children feel about it?"  So, I thought it would be appropriate for our oldest daughter who is 11 years old to share our news.

Hi my name is Jorie and my mom gave me the privilege to announce this exciting news for our family!  Well I really do not know how to say it.

BUT, WELL, WE ARE ADOPTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT IS A GIRL! She will be four years old in December, 2013. Yes, another birthday in December. That makes four birthdays for our family in December!

It is sorda not a surprise! I mean mom and dad (if they could) would probably adopt every orphan.

I knew even before they told us that we were adopting. They thought I was reading but really I was listening to their conversations! (HAHAHAHA)

When mom and dad told me that we were going to adopt Meili, I was super duper excited.

Then when mom and dad told us that we were adopting Levi I was excited but not as much as i was with Meili. And when mom and dad told me we were adopting LITTLE SISTER I was like O WE ARE ADOPTING AGAIN.  I  was not even surprised! I guess that is the new normal thing in the Skipper house hold. If you are surprised that we are adopting again, you do not know my parents that well.

I am pretty excited about this adoption. I mean we need another girl in this house. There is a little problem: there is no way a bed is going to fit in our bedroom. Mother says we do not need to worry about it. We are thinking about girl names.  But mom says I can't tell you what they are yet.

Thanks for listening to our exciting news,  Jorie

the glorious wrecking.

 I have been thinking A LOT lately about how God started the journey of adoption in our family.

I was 19 years old and out of nowhere the Lord broke my heart for the orphans of the world.

 The older I get, and as more and more time passes since that amazing summer in China, I am realizing that He broke my heart in a truly profound way that continues to dramatically affect me and my life and my family.  

My sweet friend, Katie, brought me a book this week (Silent Tears), and the book is dedicated to "China's orphans.  You are not forgotten."  And when I read that simple start of the book the next day, it got me.  It connected with me right where my heart has been recently.  I will NEVER forget those babies lying in their cribs barely moving.  Lying in a pool of urine.  Shaved heads.  No sounds.  No crying.  Sick.  Mostly naked.  Lonely.  Hot.  I will never forget my weeks with them.  I will never forget holding them and loving them with a love that I felt flow through me that I didn't know existed.  I will never forget.  I wondered why I had never known about this situation.  I didn't want to leave.  Strangely, I felt at home there.  As I left the orphanage that last day in China, I remember pausing and looking back, taking in every ounce of detail I could fill my brain with and all my senses could hold on to, and thinking, I'll be back.  I was sure of it.  However, what I didn't know then, but I do finally see now, my heart never left. 

Tonight I heard Steven Curtis Chapman use the phrase, "the glorious wrecking".  I think he said something like:  God is in the business of wrecking our plans for His glorious purposes.  He then said, "Thank you, God, for messing our plans up!"  I was like, YES YES YES!!!!  This is something that I am sure people who don't follow Jesus don't understand.  But when you follow Him, and He leads you down paths in life that you would have never chosen, and you experience His power and His strength and His awesomeness....and it truly feels glorious!  It IS indeed GLORIOUS!  Amen.  Halleluiah! 

My prayer tonight is that He will continue to wreck all our plans that are not a part of His will.  That our lives will look less and less like the world's and more and more like a very weak family that serves a very very very MIGHTY God!  That He will be GLORIFIED!!!! 

I am so thankful that 18 years ago He began the work of wrecking my plans and replacing them with His.  I will never forget the Chinese orphans that He used to begin this most important work in my heart.

China's orphans.  You are not forgotten.

unstained

After a bit of a dry spell, the last few weeks God has renewed a hunger in me for His word. 

This week I have been hanging out in James.  Wow.  So much there.  This is currently what I can't get out of my mind:

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:.....

to keep oneself unstained by the world." 

(James 1:27)  

Unstained. 

Unstained by the world.  Doesn't that sound wonderful?!  And impossible?  Wow, I want that though.  I want that.  I have been chewing on what being unstained by the world means and what that would look like.

Ofcourse my thoughts went straight to:  less facebook, less eating at McDonalds, less TV, less..... 

But then I came upon James 2:13, "mercy triumphs over judgement."  gulp.  Once again, He speaks to me at this intimate heart level....and it hurts....but it's sooo good.  And I am sooo in need of Him.  I told my Creator that I want to follow Him and be unstained and I asked Him what that looks like...and then He told me that, for starters, I need to be a girl who hands out mercy, not judgment.  God is soooo good to lead us in the way that He has called us.  My heart is the issue.  It needs work...it needs some serious spring cleaning!   He has called me to be unstained....and now He is gently (yet somewhat painfully) leading me in that path.  Will I have the humbleness and perseverance to follow?

Charles Swindoll  said, "Christian growth comes through hard-core, gutsy perseverance of applying what you hear and obeying it." 

I wonder if Charles was thinking of the book of James when he wrote that quote?  Here's to hoping that the mighty Holy Spirit will fill me with His gutsy perseverance to follow what He has called me to do!


"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." James 1:22

Unstained by the world.
Unstained.
Unstained.