A Stroll Down Memory Lane

 days ago I took some time and looked through all of my posts.  I found out that my first post was 2/21/08... WOW! Time has FLOWN by!  I can't believe that it has been over 2 years since we started Ella's adoption.  I remember the day we got the call to adopt her just like it was yesterday.
As I looked through post after post, I was reminded of all the feelings that disappeared the second Ella was placed in my arms for forever.  The aching, the longing, and the dreaming as I waited for my baby to come home.  I am reminded daily how faithful God is and that His timing truly is PERFECT!
The road of adoption is full of bumps and detours.  It is by NO MEANS easy, BUT the outcome is incredible!  The moment your baby (toddler, child, teen) is placed in your arms is indescribable.  At that moment, all the pain you have gone through disappears.  All the nights I stayed up praying, longing for my baby girl are worth it; the million trips to the post office to next-day all of our paperwork are worth it; the many phone calls, emails, and meetings with congressmen, the DNA lab, and lawyers- ALL worth it!  Nothing goes as planned, but God shows up and is with us EVERY STEP of the way.
I can see God's hand in Ella's adoption.  It is simply a miracle that she is with us today.  When we committed to adopt Ella on December 6, 2008, we knew that it would take a miracle to get registered by December 30.  All the papers and appointments that normally take months to complete had to be done in less than 30 days.  And on January 16, 2008, when many families were told news that no adoptive parent wants to hear (they were not registered, and their adoption would not be completed until adoptions opened up again), we were blown away and praising our Father for the approval to adopt Ella.  This was just the start of the troubles that we faced as Guatemalan adoptions were closing.  They put many new steps in place and made the process harder and harder, but God stayed faithful and brought His daughter, Gloria Esmeralda, to our family.  We met so many wonderful people during our adoption journeys, both from the U.S. and Guatemala.  Because of every little thing, we are where we are today- a wonderfully blessed, crazy family of eight-, and for it we are forever thankful.

I will never forget those 10 and a half months of waiting for Gabriela Marie.  I had to surrender every single day to God. During those 10 and a half months (and the 7 and a half months with Joe), I saw God in a way that I had never seen Him before.

So, as I looked back through my archives, I was reminded of God's greatness... and of the feelings that I went through.  I found a poem that I wrote almost two years ago in March.

Dear Ella,

Today's a day we wait for you,

Not knowing actually what to do.

We cannot stand the time without you here,

We want to hold you close and near.

But we must wait and trust our God above,

He's covered you with so much love.

So wait we will, and dream about the day,

You'll be home with us, home to stay.

You have so much family loving you,

Mama, Daddy, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, Great Papa, too.

We love you though we have not met,

The love for you grows deeper yet.

Love, Mommy

As a family, we have changed a lot.  And, sweet Ella has changed too.  She is a social butterfly, waving and saying "Hi!" to everyone she sees.  She talks up a storm and loves to sing!  She's always walking around singing "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!".  Isn't that what it's all about?  She knows that we love her, but, most importantly, she knows that Jesus loves her!!!

Some people may praise US for changing ELLA'S life, but really it was ELLA who changed OUR lives.

Room for One More is on a roll!

We have made lots of progress with Room for One More!

1.  The "Help ONE in Haiti" bracelets are IN!  They are available at the website under "Urgent Needs" (http://www.roomforonemorechild.org/Urgent%20Needs.aspx)  They are $2 for one or $18 for a dozen!

2. The Running for One More Nashville Marathon run is in high gear!  20+ people have signed up already to run the race with us and many more have pledged to come out and support us or buy a t-shirt even if they aren't running!  We are training, planning, and fundraising!  People from all over have agreed to run with us!  If you want to join us as we raise money for adoptions and have a great time in the process, go sign up (http://roomforonemorechild.org/Side%20Story.aspx)!

We are having a contest for the Running for One More t-shirt design!  You can be a part of our fun by voting for the t-shirt!  Go here to vote for the design (http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=298570651851)!!!

And, last but not least, ROOM FOR ONE MORE HAS OFFICIALLY JOINED THE REST OF THE WORLD!  As of tonight, Room for One More is on Facebook!  Become a fan of RFOM so you can know about our latest news!  You can look at pictures of families and add your family picture to our Forever Families album!  CHECK OUT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND BECOME A FAN OF ROOM FOR ONE MORE!  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Room-for-One-More/293254198951?ref=nf

Surviving Snow and the Flu!

To begin, I never followed up on the Nashville trip.  We had a blast!  Six out of 8 of us made the trip (the oldest boys decided it would be more fun to stay home and play in snow with friends than go to their sister's cheer competition).  Six of us in ONE hotel room!  The snow was beautiful!

I've been abandoning my blog lately, but now it's time to get back!  The past two weeks have been filled with snow and the stomach flu.  I THINK (hope) we are all over the stomach flu.  Greg and Sarah are the only ones who made it out without being hit by the bug!  Lucky!
We have also had lots of snow (at least for where we live).  Our big snow storm about a week ago gave us 8-10 inches and since then it's snowed on and off.  We love snow and snow days in the Stroup household!  Every time we hear of a possibility of a snow day, we are on our knees praying!  Tonight the weather channels are calling for 3-6 inches.  So we are getting our snow boots and warm clothes out and stocking up with lots of hot chocolate and chicken noodle soup!  We love us some snow days!

Two cutie pies posing for the camera while they wait for big sis to cheer!

I think it's been a while since I've put some Ella cuteness on here! We love her SO MUCH!  She is talking up a storm now and loves her older siblings!

Pose!

Sarah got creative with the camera!  I love this picture of Ella!!! Pure Sweetness!

I'm officially back!  I JUST now finally got my new camera to cooperate with my computer so there will actually be some pictures on here now!

SNOW OUR WAY!

We live in ice central.  The past three years we have had HUGE ice storms... causing school to be out for a week and no power.  With every weather channel calling for bad snow storms coming our way, what do we do?  WE HEAD TO TENNESSEE for a cheerleading competition, of course!  Our oldest, S, has a cheerleading competition in Nashville this weekend, so we have packed our bags, loaded up the kids, and gotten the car ready!  6 out of 8 of us are headed to Nashville for the weekend!  (the oldest two boys decided that they would rather stay with friends and play in the snow storm than go to a boring cheerleading competition for the whole day... I don't blame them:) ) It's snowing like crazy outside and supposed to get worse as the day goes on.  We just plan to drive slowly and carefully.  We'll make it when we can; we aren't rushing!
The little ones are excited!  They get to go visit their cousins in Nashville while S (14) and AG (7) and I hang out with 18 cheerleaders!  Nashville is probably our favorite place to be!  Greg's whole family lives there, and it's such a beautiful city!  S and I love the shopping, too!
The blizzard (as the kids call it) doesn't stop our family!  We are headed out the door... with a few extra outfits in case we get stuck in Nashville (Nashville is supposed to receive a snow storm, also) and lots of movies to watch on the way!

I'll take lots of pictures and, if the camera and laptop cooperate, I will try to upload a few while we are in TN!

I hope everyone stays safe this winter!
Blessings,
Shari

Help ONE in Haiti!

Most everyone has heard of the earthquake in Haiti so I'm not going to go on and on about what happened. But, I am going to tell you what I am going to do to help the devastated people of Haiti.

There is not one minute that goes by that I do not think about the millions of people who have been affected by the earthquake. I am constantly praying for the hurting people and the wonderful people who are going to Haiti to bring hope. My heart is overflowing with compassion and hurt for the hopeless people of Haiti. I mean, seriously, what would you do if your home got shaken to a rubble and everything around you was hectic and hopeless? What would you do if you were stuck in the ruins of your city, pleading for someone to come save you, but certain you would die right then and there? What would I do if everything that was familiar to me got ripped away and I was left with nothing to cling to? To tell you the truth, I don't know what I would do. I would call to my Father in heaven, but I would be a mess. I would pray that someone would hear my cry and bring me hope... hope in the form of food, shelter, and water... Hope in the form of life. I would pray for Jesus to show up and save me.

Even though I personally haven't been hit by an earthquake, I need to be hope to people, just as I would want if I were in their place. In truth, "Each one of them is Jesus in disguise" (Mother Teresa). Each child, each mother, each criminal is Jesus calling out to us. We are being called by our Savior to go and help our neighbor in great need. We need to see Jesus in the face of the hurting people of Haiti.

This is why I want to (need to) do something to help the people of Haiti. Jesus is in the face of the starving, He's in the face of dying, He's in the face of the little boy and girl who lost their mom and dad in the earthquake.

I want to go to those children and tell them they will be okay. I want to hold the grieving little girl in my arms and tell her everything will be fine. I want to hug the frail mother of 4 kids who lost them in the disaster and tell her that her kids will be okay..... but I know it's not going to be. It's not going to be okay; it's just not. But, through God's Word, we can show the people of Haiti that there is HOPE in the midst of death and destruction.

Through Room for One More, we are going to show the true Hope to the people of Haiti.

We are selling bracelets that say "Help ONE in Haiti". If you want to buy one, you can go to the website, roomforonemorechild.org, and purchase one. They won't be up on the site for a week or so because I just ordered them today, but if you want to purchase one in advance, just leave a comment and I'll save one for you.

EDITED: Bracelets are $2 each.

"Help ONE in Haiti" bracelets

They say "Help ONE in Haiti" on the front

and "roomforonemorechild" on the back

They are red rubber bracelets with blue writing

(the colors of the Haitian flag)

The bracelets are $2 each

Buy one (or more) and show your support for Haiti

100% of the sales from these bracelets go to straight to an orphanage in Haiti.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:40

Training Has Begun

The new running shoes are out of the box and into the gym!

Day 1: Half Marathon Training has officially begun!! Let me tell you, I would NEVER be doing something like this if it weren't for helping orphans! I haven't run in a long, long time. It is going to take a lot of persuading myself to wake up at 5 AM several days a week. With 6 kiddos at home, that is the ONLY time I could find to get the training in... What did I get myself into? Lots and lots of coffee will be a necesity now until April!

Who wants to join me? As I said yesterday, we have roughly 15+ people joining us in this crazy race. We are adding more and more people everyday! Also, if you want to come but don't want to run, we would LOVE it if you want to get a t-shirt and cheer us on! Trust me, I will need some support and so do the 163 million orphans! We all have a voice and a cheerleaders, but the children whom we are running for do NOT. We will be running and raising awareness for the millions of children who don't have someone to support them or to love them.
Just go HERE to sign up!!!!

I have a giveaway in the works.... so check back later tonight or tomorrow to see what I'm planning!

Running for One More!!!

I am officially crazy! I just signed up to run a 1/2 marathon! The good part: I will be running to fund adoptions!!!

Here's the gist- A group from Cape, about 15 as of now, are going to run in the Nashville Country Music Marathon on April 24. We will be raising funds and awareness for orphans and adoptions. AND we get to wear some pretty cute turquoise t-shirts! If you want to join me and about 15 other crazy, orphan-loving, God praising, marathon training people, email me (sharistroup@charter.net) or go to the Room for One More website: roomforonemorechild.org.

Oh, and while you're there, go ahead and check out the new and improved Room for One More website!!! It's all up and ready to be of good use!!!

roomforonemorechild.org