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."