Treasure in Heaven

Tonight our oldest daughter was baptized.  It was a very special event that I was greatly looking forward to.  She has been ready to make a public commitment to the Lord for some time now.  But what made this event even more special was the fact that Matthew got to baptize her.  I didn't find out that he was going to do it until right before the baptism.  So I pretty much cried non-stop from the moment I found out until after she was baptized.  Our kids are such a blessing to us.  And our greatest desire for each of them is that they would have a personal relationship with the Lord and follow him with their whole hearts all of their lives.  They really are the treasures we are storing up in heaven.

I did manage to see through the tears to get a few pictures.  :)

I did it!

I just managed to add a button to my blog from a source that was incorrect! But with a little research and using someone else's html code with my changes made, I fixed the problem and now I have a beautiful "Drawn from Water" button on my blog!

Drawn from Water is very near and dear to my heart. It is an orphanage in Africa that rescues "Mingi" children who are marked to die because of tribal superstition. Our church started this orphanage to rescue the children and find adoptive homes for these kids who would not have survived otherwise. The picture you see is of the first child rescued, who has now been legally adopted by a wonderful family in our church. They are heading to Africa in a few weeks to meet her and bring her home. Please take a minute to read the blog. I'm pretty sure that this is one of God's favorite ministries on earth right now. ;)

And Now About School

This should be a shorter blog. We're applying to send our kids to a charter school called "The John Adams Academy." It's a school that's being started by a previous home school family who has the vision to raise up "servant leaders" in the next generation. They use a classical approach to education with an emphasis on teaching critical thinking. We have never found an opportunity for the kids better than home schooling. But this could be one. I never planned on stopping home school. I love schooling the kids, even after the hard days. I love having them home and would miss them if they were gone for the day. But this school could offer them some learning opportunities that I can't give them here. And in addition, the morals they will be taught there are in line with the morals we are teaching them here. So the school will actually be reinforcing the character training we work on at home. At this point, they have 500 plus applicants with only 400 spots open. So they are going to be doing a lottery for the spots in the school. We'll see what happens. But this could really change the way life goes around here!

Promise of Laughter

I mentioned in a previous blog that the Lord has called the baby that is coming "laughter." You can read that here: http://thestroupsgrowingfamily.blogspot.com/2009/09/laughter.html
Since then, almost anytime I've been prayed over the last nine months that word has been repeated. The Lord is bringing laughter and joy with the birth of this baby. I'm all for that! Life is intense and hard! Raising children is hard and often not fun. I really need the joy of the Lord every day or I get pulled under the challenges of the day. I have not even come close to walking in the joy of the Lord during my day. So this promise has me excited because I know that the Lord is doing a work in me and in my family. And when it is His work (not mine) and His promise, I know it won't return void. But He is faithful to complete the work He has started.

Along that strain, I may or may not have mentioned that about a year and a half ago, the Lord challenged us to trust Him with the size of our family. So we stopped using birth control. This has been a huge challenge to me as far as trusting the Lord and surrendering control to Him. I was SURE I would be pregnant by the time Aaron was nine months old. But he was actually 14 months when I got pregnant with this baby. In addition, the way the Lord has surrounded this pregnancy with prophetic promises, including one before I ever knew I was pregnant, has helped my weak heart to trust and know that this child is just as planned as all of our other children, who we planned ourselves. God is so good to us.

Our new baby's name is Sarina Karen. Finally, another girl! Sarina means "princess who laughs." Karen is Matthew's mother's name. She died in 1995 and we have been waiting for eleven years to pass on her name! Karen means "pure." I find it very cool that our baby is "pure laughter."

Catching Up

It's been pointed out to me that I haven't blogged since October and people want to know what's happening in my life. So, I'm going to post two or three to catch people up over the next few days.

I thought I would start with our fostering/adoption situation. Joshua did go back to his first foster home last November. I heard that he adjusted really well back into the home. But I have not heard anything since then. That's kind of the way it goes with fostering. So, I just pray for him and his parents and hope that they are ok.

After Joshua left, I told Matthew that I felt like we had gotten an "F" on fostering. It was very challenging trying to teach him how to behave when he had very little discipline up to that point in his life. I was amazed at how adept he was at manipulation at such a young age. And he seemed to know exactly how to push my buttons. It took a few months after he left before I didn't feel anything except a sense of relief that he was gone. Now, as Aaron is approaching two and reminding me of Joshua all the time, I do have fond memories of him. And I wish I could go back and love him better.

Since that time, we have been looking for open and closed doors as to whether or not we're to foster. Given the fact that we're expecting - I'm due in three weeks - Koinonia put us on an unofficial break. In addition, we just found out that the state of California has passed a law that a foster home cannot have more than a total of six children in the home. This was actually a policy at Koinonia already. But they may have made an exception for us. But now that this law has passed, I think the door is closing. The law only applies to state foster homes at this point. But there are plans to expand it to private foster agencies in the future. So, at this point, we may be done with fostering.

I have wondered why God would have us go through this process just to foster one child for three months. But we can't know all of His purposes. I don't know what God's plan for us in the future is regarding fostering and adopting. But I am very sure that He will be faithful to lead us every step along the way.

Next blog...the new baby!