Blessings and Glad Anticipation

I am blessed to be doing life with my best friend. I don't thank God enough for one of the biggest blessings in my life. Kevin is so loving, and patient and helps keep life in perspective through this crazy process.

Last night, Kevin called Taiwan to check on how our court date went. He spoke to Anna, who said the court hearing went well. Thank you, Lord! Titus' birth mother did appear in court and waived her rights. However, the judge still issued a waiting period. Which means we will have a 1-3 week wait until we receive our first decree. We are praying that Titus' birth mother will receive the documents in the mail without a glitch and will sign and return them ASAP. We can only hope and pray! We're expectantly waiting for the Lord to unite our family soon.

As I reading in Jesus Calling this morning I was reassured. Reassurance always comes at the times that I need it most:

Be willing to follow where I lead. Follow me wholeheartedly, with glad anticipation quickening your pace. Though you don't know what lies ahead, I know; and that is enough! Some of My richest blessings are just around the bend: out of sight, but you must walk by faith-not by sight. This doesn't mean closing your eyes to what is around you. It means subordinating the visible world to the invisible Shepherd. Sometimes I lead you up a high mountain with only My hand to support you. The higher you climb, the more spectacular the view becomes.

Also, as for our I600A (immigration approval), we turned in our paperwork on May 18th had our finger printing appointment June 22nd and we still haven't received our approval. I was starting to get very worried. Boy, am I glad I got worried! I called the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to check on our approval to do what they label "bringing an orphan into the U.S." We MUST have this approval to bring Titus into the US. On Monday, I was told by a receptionist that it could be another 4-8 weeks before we received approval. Obviously, I was upset, so every day this week, twice a day I called and left a message for the officer assigned to our case. I guess I annoyed her enough and she finally returned my phone call yesterday. :) She said she just ran both of our prints and everything looked good. She is going to run another scan on Friday morning and we should have approval in the mail next week. Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!

This process is definitely a crazy ride, but I already feel the abundance of blessing that has been brought to our family as a result. I can't imagine what it will be like when the sweet little bundle of blessing is finally ours for the taking, loving and keeping!

Father, thank you for your abundant blessings throughout our adoption process so far. Thank you for the community that you have surrounded us with that is so eager to be a part of loving Titus home right along with us. We thank you for the amazing care our little guy is receiving as he is without us and we without him. We know you are doing a mighty work in and through this process and we pray that you will continue to use us, as willing vessels doing our best to glorify you every step of the way.

Calling all Prayer Warriors

Photo of Taiwan court house courtesy of Matt Mehaffy

Today is an important day! First, it marks 365 days in our adoption journey. Secondly, and more importantly it is Titus' court day. Please join us in prayer today as Titus and his birth mother will be in court. Our case will be at 9:00 CST tonight.

We are specifically praying for several things. That God would soften the heart of the judge and that he would issue our first decree and waive the waiting period and that our second decree would be issued very quickly.

We are also praying for peace for Titus' birth mother and family. I cannot even begin to imagine the emotions she will be feeling today as she looks and holds her son for possibly the last time and waives her rights. I pray for this woman often and am so grateful for her courage and her gift of life. It makes me sad that I don't even know her name, someone who is entrusting Titus to us and changing our lives forever, and I can't even pray for her by name. Please help me lift Titus' birth mother up in your prayers, that the Prince of Peace will calm her heart and comfort her. I pray if she doesn't know this great God we serve that He will soften her heart and make Himself known to her. I pray that God would place people around her that would encourage her and, if she doesn't know the Truth, teach her. I am beginning to long to meet her in person, to give her a great big hug, to get to know her and reassure her that we will love and take care of Titus. Being realistic, I know I probably won't get that chance but am reassured by the fact that God can comfort her and be by her side and whisper reassurances in her ear for me.

The past several days I have become anxious about today and am fervently praying several passage that God has used to keep me focused on Him during this time is 1 Peter 5:6-7: "Humble yourself under God's almighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your cares on him, because He cares for you." and 2 Corinthians 12:9“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I have been daily casting the anxiety and fear I feel about today, and gradually I am learning to leave it there, as well.

Please keep praying and interceding on our behalf, and most importantly on Titus' behalf! We know that God can make this happen.

Showered with Love

The wonderful girls of my Life Group from church threw me a beautiful baby shower. Thank you Jamie, Sarah, Molly, Ashley, and Amy for all your hard work and creativity! The theme was "Cutting Through the Red Tape". Such a cute theme and perfect boy colors-red, black, and white. Also, red in the Chinese culture is a symbol of good fortune and joy. And what a joy our Titus is!

I felt so honored to be surrounded by so many beautiful woman to celebrate in the coming arrival of Titus. Both of Titus' grandmas, all of his aunts, a few near and dear family friends, a couple of cousins, my sweet Saturday morning Bible study ladies, and of course my wonderful Life Group girls were present. The love and joy was indescribable! We spanned the globe-Japan, Russia, Massachusetts, (Washington in spirit-thank you Jenny) Kansas, and Missouri. Titus, you have no idea the love that is in store for you! Despite all the differences in locals there was one very near and dear common denominator-all are sweet sisters in Christ. I am so thankful that the most important women in my life could celebrate with me and that Titus' will have such a Godly example in his life. Thank you!

We enjoyed a delicious brunch of quiche, fruit salad, yogurt with berries, and pastries galore. A journal was also provided for those in attendance to write their prayers, thoughts, and favorite Scripture for Titus, Kevin and me. It was such a joy to read later at home. After our yummy brunch we enjoyed chatting and laughing and playing a couple of fun games. Then we had a sweet time of prayer for Titus and our family's journey. The presence of the Lord was truly felt by all the heartfelt love and prayers. It was a time that I will never forget and will treasure forever!

We concluded the shower with very generous and thoughtful gifts. Very adorable, cute and handsome boy clothes, toys, books and items to finish Titus' room. Thank you dear friends and family, everything was just lovely and we were so encouraged by your kindness, thoughtful gifts and generosity.

Taking a leap of faith

I hesitate to write this story for many reasons... But, after a sleepless night and lots of prayer I feel that it is part of Titus' journey that I want to share. One, I want to record a part of our family's legacy of God's perfect provision and care. Two, I want to encourage others who might be contemplating starting a journey based solely on faith.

Last week was an amazing week and God has shown His hand and provision in our journey to Titus once again. I feel so blessed, awed and humbled and am so thankful that we had the faith to follow God's calling despite some of our doubts in how all the details would come together. One of the BIG details/hurdles for us when contemplating adoption was the financial aspect. Could our finances handle it, how could we cash flow the expenses, and ultimately could we could trust God?

By nature I am planner. I love Excel spreadsheets and have months in advance of budgets planned, our checkbook is always balanced to the penny, and all purchases must be planned out in detail. But, God had a whole new plan: to trust Him and completely turn my world and plans upside down. While I think the above is wise for good financial stewardship and it will continue to be my practice, I am awed how God has worked out each and every detail. Every time a new expense came up, we always had the money. Our electric bill was cheaper than budgeted, a rebate check came in the mail, our groceries were cheaper because there was a fantastic sale and on and on and on. Each and every expense has been covered completely every time.

Our latest concern has been the last bit of money for our travel expenses. Flights are not cheap at this point in time and by my calculations based on the current flight prices I have no idea where we would come up for the money needed for August/September flights. Kevin and I have been crunching numbers, coming up with plans for making/saving extra money, and once again praying and trusting God to work out the details. Several weeks ago I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning playing around with our budget and ultimately throwing my hands up and pouring out my heart to God. I knew God would not bring us this far in our journey to Titus to leave us, but by my human calculations there was no way our budget could absorb these costs. But, God in His perfect provision had a plan.

We have been incredibly blessed a couple of times this past week by some financial gifts. Once by sweet friends and a second time by complete strangers. Both encounters were out of our comfort zone. That's so like God, isn't it, to bring us out of our comfort and to provide for us? Kevin and I are so humbled and completely overwhelmed by these selfless and sacrificial acts of blessing us. Not to mention all the prayers and emotional support that have been given as well. Thank you sweet friends!

Also, for the last month I have been planning a garage sale with a friend who lives close by and has a great location for garage sales. Despite my past efforts with garage sales and really not making much money for the effort, I decide to trust God and put forth the effort to make some cash for our travel expenses. After all, some money is better than nothing. We went through our house top to bottom and found 5 car loads worth of stuff to sell along with some items from family members. After two days of blood (very minor injuries), sweat, and tears all of our junk brought in a little over $1200!!! Who knew we had junk that was worth that much!?! ;) We are still praising God for such a fantastic sale.

Despite the stress, worry, and anxious prayers I am so glad that we'll never know the blessings we might have missed. We live in blessing day by day because of our choice to step out in faith and go where the Lord is calling us. Are you turning a deaf ear to something God is calling you to do? I encourage you to step out in faith after all, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

It's a God Thing

During my teen years I read a series of Christian books by Robin Jones Gunn called the Christy Miller Series. Throughout the books one of the characters, Katie Weldon, uses the phrase, "It's a God Thing". She uses the phrase to explain when something happens in your life, and you look at it and can't explain how or why it happened, but you know there's a reason for it. You know that God is doing something. There's no other way to explain it except to see it as a "God thing".

Today, we had an "It's a God Thing" moment. A couple of weeks ago we received word that we have a court date of July 22nd, however, we didn't know what time it would be. We wanted to be able to specifically pray while court was in session so we sent an email to THOGL asking what time our court date would be. Lo and behold, we found out that it will be at 10:00 am on July 22nd. Taiwan is thirteen hours ahead of us so our court case will be at 9:00pm CST on July 21st.

Are you ready for the God moment?

Exactly one year ago to the date and the hour Kevin and I made the decision to start the adoption process to Taiwan. I can't explain it, except to say "It's a God Thing!"

I know that "God Things" happen in all of our lives everyday. It's just time to time when we open our eyes and become very aware of the presence of the Lord in our lives, that He showers us in His grace when we did nothing to deserve it. What a wonderful God we serve!

July Update

Titus is doing well here at THOGL this month. Something tells me he is missing his hair a little though-he has been more fussy than usual. He often grabs for his long hair while he eats and sleeps, even though it's not there anymore! Titus has been eating very well lately, 120cc's very quickly 6-7 times a day. He often needs an extra bottle to settle him down before bedtime as well. He sleeps soundly until about 2 or 3 each night, when he gets up, he eats, and goes right back to sleep. He has also been testing out his vocal cords-he could be a singer someday! We love hearing Titus' voice and having him around here, but we can't wait to see him your arms!

With Love, Adrian on behalf of Bev Skiles and all of THOGL

Trusting God with the details

It's been a whirl wind of a week!

Monday we received rather bleak news and we are still uncertain how the new court change will affect the timing of bringing Titus home. However, what we do know is that God is in control and we are trusting Him for His perfect timing and provision. We are aching to get to our Titus but we know that God is holding all three of us in the palm of His hand.

Tuesday morning was our appointment day to be fingerprinted for immigration. After our last fingerprinting fiasco, I was extremely nervous that we would have another "same song second verse" on our hands. However, the wonderful man who administered our fingerprints assured me that the KBI had nothing on him and he would get a good read. :) We are praying that he is correct...

While at the immigration office Kevin and I were surrounded by so many different ethnic groups all seeking one thing, United States citizenship for themselves or someone else. As Kevin was in the office being fingerprinted and I sat in the waiting room waiting for my turn, I couldn't help but sit there and pray. I prayed for our country and that the US would be a country that Titus would love and be proud to be a citizen of. All of sudden my thoughts and prayers were interrupted by a door being thrown open and an older Asian woman screaming with joy. Her entire family erupted into celebration and there were many hugs. I have no idea the words that were exchanged, but the joy was contagious. The entire waiting room erupted into smiles. Wow-what an amazing thing to witness a fresh brand new citizen of the United States.

This morning there were tears and rejoicing as I opened Anna's email that announced we have a court date set for July 22nd. We have been praying for two weeks for this news and it is finally here. God is in the details and we are praying specifically for several things.

• That God would soften the heart of the judge and that he would issue our first decree on July 22nd or VERY soon after
• Peace for Titus' birth mom/family for her decision
• AIT would quickly give us an appointment after we receive our second decree from court
• Continued safety and health of Titus
• That we will be able to hold Titus by his 6 month birthday-August 25th. (a mama can always hope)
  
• Our fingerprints will be readable and we will receive our I-171h (immigration) approval
• The last bit of money we need for travel
• For God's perfect timing, and His glory to be recognized in everything that happens in this adoption that He alone has orchestrated!

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. I John 5:14-15

In honor of Father's Day, I wanted to post a couple of my favorite funny stories about my father and father-in-law.

I was only 19 when I knew I wanted to marry Alicia, pretty much a kid looking back. I had been to her parents' house a few times, and knew her parents fairly well when it was time to ask for Alicia's father's blessing. I was up visiting them, trying to find an opportunity to get Leon alone to ask his blessing. The opportunity finally arose and I worked up my gumption. I told Leon that I loved Alicia and wanted to marry her with his blessing. Now, Leon is a pretty quiet person with a subtle sense of humor. When I asked for his blessing, he paused, smiled, rubbed his chin and said, "I don't think I'm the one you should be asking." I told him I was pretty sure what Alicia's answer would be, but I wanted to ask him first. He smiled again and said, "Welcome to the family."

And now a slightly embarrassing story about my dad. He's told this story many times, to many people so I'm going to go ahead and share it. Growing up, the Tooth Fairy was my dad in his sleeping apparel, a white under shirt and tighty-whiteys. The house I grew up in was an old farm house that had counter-weighted windows. To open or close them took some effort and was very noisy. The house didn't have air-conditioning, so upstairs where my brothers and I slept was very hot, and we had to keep our windows open and pray for a breeze. If it started to rain in the middle of the night, my dad would get up to close our windows. The first time I remember dad doing this I was old enough to know he was the Tooth Fairy, but still pretty young. I woke up to the window closing (clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-BOOM!!!) and I saw Dad, in his usual sleeping attire. I was still mostly asleep, and I thought, "Why is the Tooth Fairy closing my window?" To this day, we still refer to Dad as the Tooth Fairy, especially when referring to his sleeping attire. :)

Happy Father's Day to both my father and father-in-law.

Titus' First Haircut

It was a big month for Titus!
Titus got his first haircut and loved every minute of it.
He just smiled and laughed as everyone oo-ed and ah-ed at how handsome he is.

He looks like such a big boy!

Along with the pictures Jess reported that Titus is doing really well. He is eating better and is now drinking 120cc (4 oz) 6-7 times a day. He is talking and smiling a lot more and has been sleeping better at night too.

We love you Titus and can't wait to hold you and love on you in a few months.

Adoption Arithmetic

2 sleep deprived, exhausted adults
- 1 trip to the bank
+ a 6 hour trip
+ 1 very nice SoS notary
+ 1 quick tour of the Capital
- 1/2 a tank of gas
+ a trip to the TECO in downtown KC
- 1 more trip to the bank
+ 1 more trip to the TECO
- $225
=paperwork ready to be overnighted to Taiwan by Thursday afternoon
with a remainder of 1 happy daddy and 1 overjoyed mama,
that are still sleep deprived and exhausted