Adoption Revolution July 28, 2008

 

For those of you who know me (besides those random people out there in the internet world who will by chance come across my page), you are aware of my passion for ending abortion. I’m not one of those protesters who carry signs with graphic images and yell out “abortion kills”. In my opinion, the subject needs to be approached with love, as Jesus would do it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m angry that over 50 million babies have been murdered and that our world is blinded to the fact that the biggest genocide in history is still very prevalent. Actually, nothing on this planet makes me more upset. However, I am realizing that there needs to be some sort of solution that arises… some sort of option to encourage people to think in a new way.

Will and I made a website called Adoption Revolution:
www.adoptionrevolution.com

My main purpose in creating a site such as this is to mostly make people aware of different options. My main passion is helping young girls who honestly think that abortion is the only way to go. I try to relate with a 16 year old girl; no job, no degree, no family support, no money, depressed, feeling hopeless. That’s just one case. I want to help these girls in any way I can. The girls who feel like they have nowhere to go. Tell them that they are heroes in deciding to keep their child and support them in any way possible to help them (and the baby) get on their feet. I either would like to support the mother during her pregnancy, find families for these children (if the mother decides to give it up for adoption), or help other families find a baby to adopt.

I want to make a difference. So, we made this website to make people aware of the revolution of adoption. It’s not acceptable to kill babies. It never has been and it never will be.

We are eventually going to make t-shirts and other types of products to help support the idea of adoption. It needs more praise than it gets.

If you have any ideas or would like to help in any way, please let me know. Otherwise, add adoption revolution to your top friends on myspace and add a banner onto your page and get the word out. Pray that it will be seen by eyes who will need encouragement to take the step toward adoption.

(this website is just in the beginning stages… we are praying for God to lead us into bigger things)

Pray Conference

Will and I went to the International House of Prayer pray conference on Friday and Saturday and it has changed so much of how I think of God.
God is definitely dealing with both of us about pulling ourselves out of culture and taking out anything in our lives that is or could become an altar in our hearts that we (even unknowingly) place before God. This conference just solidified in both of our hearts that God is definitely moving and active in our culture. He’s also very present in my life and Will’s life and is challenging us to new ways of thinking and new ways of living. We’ve gotten so comfortable in our everyday American lives and that’s NOT OK! 🙂

Allen Hood was the speaker at this conference and his viewpoints are so on target with what we feel like God is doing in our personal lives. It was encouraging, yet very humbling, to hear the things he had to say. He is one of those guys that, the minute he speaks, you can tell Jesus is all over him and his words. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jesus so much in one person.

Anyway, I may blog about all the crazy things that God is doing in my heart and in my life later when I get a sec… but, for now, check out his website www.AllenHood.com He has a blog and you can also go to www.ihop.org to listen to some MP3s.

Believe me, it’s worth your time!

My Temporary Children July 17, 2008

I have many “temporary” children all around the country. Being a nanny for the past 4 years and babysitting since I was about 11 years old has left much room for me to be in the mindset of being a mom. I have come to love these kids like they are my own. They are precious.

Some good news:
The people that I nanny for now just let me know that the mom is 4 cm dialated and should be giving birth here very soon. This means that I will not only be nannying for one little girl, but I will also have a brand new infant on my hands within the next couple days (if not sooner).

Exciting! If you know me at all, you are aware of my obsession with babies. Hopefully this will fulfill my baby cravings and give me my “fix” so that I don’t choose to get pregnant as soon as I’m married 🙂

Here’s some cute pics of Miss Valentina…

Riding on the Carousel at Chesterfield Mall

Crawling after me under the kitchen table

The “List” July 14, 2008

Wow. What a crazy past couple weeks.

It’s looked something like this…
Got home from Florida, got engaged, told everyone, planning a wedding, and still falling deeper in love. Obviously there’s more little details that fit somewhere in there.
Nonetheless, things have been nuts… in the best way possible. I haven’t even had time to blog. What is the world coming to??! 🙂 ha ha.

Wedding plans are looking great. Ordered my dress today, which ended up being a harder decision than I ever thought. Geez. There’s billions to pick from. All with different fabrics, shades of white, fit, skirts, and on and on and on again. I’ve finally picked one and I love it. We are in the process of picking out a place for our reception as well as compiling our guest list. There’s so many little details to be thought of but I am enjoying every single minute of it. I am a bride and I’ll only be one for the next 4 months. There’s only once that I will get to be overwhelmed about the smallest details that I will never care about again in my life. It feels great!

It’s a little surreal to be in this place though, I do I have to say. I really don’t think it’s sunk in quite yet. I find myself staring at the ring on my finger, that is worth far more than anything I’ve ever owned, and I just smile. I can’t believe I’m here. The place I have thought about over and over since I was small. Not just in a “I can’t wait for my wedding day” kind of way… more in a “I can’t wait to fall in love” kind of way. The ring is a reminder of the one guy who is meant for me and how much he truly does love me. It’s a reminder of a commitment that I will be making that will last a lifetime. It’s a reminder of my worth. It’s a reminder of all things good happening right now.

I was looking back in my journal and studying past verses that I really felt like spoke to me. I noticed a common theme… most were about relationships, love, or fear. I was struggling with surrendering my all to God because of past hurts that wouldn’t so easily go away. I had been mistreated, used, emotionally abused, and scarred from past relationships. I was left thinking, “are there really any good guys out there?” With culture being the way it is with girls flaunting themselves all over, morals being disregarded, and truth being shut down, I was sure that there would never be a way that I would find (or deserve) someone set apart from the world. In my mind, I wasn’t good enough to be with someone of high character and I convinced myself that too many guys were drowning in their own sin.

Little did I know, now looking back, that all those emotional journals of crying out to God to take my heart and to heal it were God’s way of preparing me for this moment. He had my heart that entire time, comforting it, restoring it, and filling it! Thank you, Jesus!
There really was no reason to fear.

God’s best really IS best. It’s hard to trust that sometimes, but He only wants the best for us and will provide that in His timing. It just takes patience to see the fruits of it.

Now, as God promised, I was able to perservere under trial and become more refined. In HIS own timing, I now see God’s best day after day in my relationship with Will. It couldn’t be any better even if I dreamed it up in some far away place. It’s perfect. Although I know that things won’t always be necessarily “easy” in our relationship, I know that he is the one that the Lord has chosen just for me and, because of that, I can have peace. It was when I gave up my own plans and finally cried out to the Lord “I need you!” that He provided everything that my heart desired.

So, that’s all I have to say about that. I feel SO blessed and SO honored to be where I am sharing my life with Will.

Just for entertainment purposes, and simply to talk up Will some more, this is the “Future Husband” list that I made prior to Will and DID NOT compromise on under any circumstances.
I quickly saw that Will had every one of these characteristics and more (and I can tell you that now that we are engaged and I no longer have to use this stupid list) 🙂

Some are obviously of higher importance than the others, and some you may laugh at, but I had to be specific here. If you knew the losers that I dated before Will, you would understand why.

I won’t call the list “Future Husband” anymore. It’s now called “William”…. 🙂

William:
-Loves the Lord and shows through his actions
-Funny
-Honest
-Opens up about past
-Confident- not arrogant
-Trustworthy
-Not afraid of commitment
-Knows what he wants out of life and is driven to do it
-Won’t compromise on his values
-Will support me in my God-given passions/talents
-Good manners
-Romantic
-Challenges me in my faith
-Can lead a relationship physically and emotionally
-Doesn’t care too much about his looks or mine
-Wants to reach out to missions
-Doesn’t have to live in one place his whole life
-Doesn’t drink alcohol
-Is ok with just hanging out– doesn’t have to go out to have fun
-Understands my humor
-Makes me feel comfortable around him
-Respects that I’m saving myself for marriage and is also saving himself for marriage
-Has a family that believes in Christ
-Independent from his parents
-Has an appreciation for music
-Loves kids
-Likes style/looking nice
-Doesn’t ever avoid my family
-Respects my feelings and emotions
-Will NEVER put me down
-Doesn’t support abortion and wants to do something to stop it
-Has a passionate spirit to change the world by serving Jesus
-Embraces the gifts of the Holy Spirit
-A natural leader
-Consistently seeking God’s best in his life
-Not afraid of change
-Is willing to do whatever it takes to separate himself from culture/the world

….if you know Will, you will probably agree that this list is dead on for him.

He pleasantly surprises me more and more every day. What a keeper.

Wedding Website July 8, 2008

I made a wedding site. It’s not too extravagant, but hopefully you’ll enjoy it.

 

www.mywedding.com/willandlaurastern

Pictures. More pictures. July 5, 2008

Some pics from the Florida vacation at my parent’s house and my grandma’s 80th birthday party in Orlando 🙂

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072910&l=3fa9d&id=57202150

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072678&l=56b6f&id=57202150

Proposal Video July 4, 2008

Here it is folks. The laughter, the crying, the surprise, the joy, the craziness, and the weirdness all packed in one little video.

First kiss, first “I love you”, and first (and last) “Will you marry me?”

🙂

 

 

Engagement Pictures…. July 1, 2008

Here they are….

Check them out here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072690&l=ebdd9&id=57202150

 

Future Mrs. Stern!

I’m sure by the title of this blog you can guess what I’m about to write about!!!

Yep. I’m ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m not only engaged… I’m so in love with the man that God has been preparing for me from the very beginning. This is the guy that my parents and my grandma have been praying for me about since the day I was born. This is the man that fits me in every way perfectly that it even surprises me sometimes with how much. He is my true love and I can finally say that (although I’ve been feeling it for a while). I can finally allow my heart to be given away. I no longer have to guard it and keep it inside. I’m giving it away and it’s the best thing that I’ve ever experienced.

So… on with the story… since I know everyone will want to know.

I took Will down to Florida with me for my grandma’s 80th birthday party that was planned for my family and all my extended family in Orlando. We went down on Thursday morning really early and got back last night late. Will and I have been talking about marriage really seriously for the past couple weeks but I had no idea it was actually right around the corner. Being a girl and wanting to know all that was going on, I was getting frustrated that we were talking about it so much because it felt impossible for me to guard my heart at that point. It was a scary thought. Especially with experiences in the past. I knew this was different though and that he was DEFINITELY different. Things with Will and I have just fit exactly how they are supposed to from the very beginning of our relationship. It blew me away how much we were able to understand each other and relate and, most importantly, just have so much fun all the time. He really is my best friend.

So, anyway, I knew that he wanted to get together with my dad while we were down in Florida just to talk to him about our relationship as a whole and just have quality time with him. Little did I know, until last night, that Will had called my dad the week before telling him that he needed to talk to him in Florida because he wanted to marry me. He had already bought the ring at this point. He told me last night that a few weeks ago during the early service at church he just knew that God was giving him the go ahead to marry me. Right after that service, one of the 13 year old boys at the church came up to Will shaking saying that he had to tell him something and he wanted to talk to him alone. The boy told him that God told him that he had to tell Will that “he picked right one.”
At this point, there is no way that this boy knew anything about what Will was thinking that day or even anything about our relationship. It was obviously a word from the Lord. Will wanted to make sure that God was definitely telling him that he should go for it before he made a move.

He was going to ask me to marry him in Florida but he didn’t get a chance to talk with my dad until Monday morning which left little time for us alone after that. He later told me that he was so excited after my dad gave him his blessing that he almost asked me in the airport and then almost asked on the airplane. Ha ha. We drive home and both of us are feeling closer than we’ve ever felt because of our trip together. Sunday we spent the whole day together… we got Indian Food (our favorite), walked on the beach for a couple hours and talked, and got ice cream. We got home feeling like we had experienced a whole new side of each other and we were both excited. We got in his car and drove to my apartment after Jim picked us up from the airport (and Jim had even seen the ring way before). We had been keeping ourselves busy in the airport by making funny videos on his mac and right before we went inside Will said that he wanted to finish off our video before we went to bed. So we went inside and set up the computer. As I went to grab my mail outside, he went in his bag and put the ring in his pocket. We sat down on the couch and started recording and then I got a kiss. We had not kissed until this point and it was a shock. I thought he was doing it just out of strong emotions or something. And then he said “Laura, I love you so much.” And I knew something was up because we hadn’t yet said those words to each other. Then he said, “I need to ask you a question”….got on his knee and asked me right there. My mind hadn’t caught up to my emotions yet and I honestly felt like I was in a dream. It didn’t feel like reality. The moment I had dreamed of my entire life had finally happened and I wasn’t sure how to react or how to feel. We were so excited! He apologized that it couldn’t have been more extravagant and planned out but his exact words were that he “really couldn’t go another day just as me as his girlfriend.” I thought it was perfect and wouldn’t want it any other way. Today is our 6 month anniversary so we will get to celebrate all of this on our big date on Wednesday night 🙂

I’ve never been the type of girl to think into all the details of getting married and engagement and all those things. I have always been the girl, since I was little, to dream about true love. I knew it would be different than any other love and I knew it would tug on my heart unlike anything else. It was amazing to know that we had both never felt this way before, and that God was obviously in the middle of it. If anything, it proved to me the love that God so freely shows me every day.

William Robert Stern is the love of my life and there is no one else for me. How exciting!

It just happened last night, so even Will and I haven’t gotten a chance to soak it in that much. We are thinking a wedding date somewhere in November. I will keep you updated.

I’m going to put pics up and a video of our engagement as soon as Will sends them to me 🙂 so, keep checking!

Thank you for all who have supported our relationship and have encouraged us. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

I hope this blog made sense. I’m pretty sure it was pretty incoherent and just me rambling on and on. I want it as documentation. I don’t even want to forget a small detail.