anticipation....

The past few weeks i have found myself in several "serious" conversations about my faith and what I and my family will stand for.  Magic Mike being the most severe; but there have been other conversations with various people over the past few weeks about my views as a Christian.  They seem to be way off from what others believe.  I say to you now, I used to live totally on what I heard in church.  As I grew older my family and I stopped going to church because we started reading our bibles more, growing our relationship with Christ and realizing that preachers were preaching things other then the scripture.  They were teaching opinion, doctrinal beliefs, and heresies.
The past few weeks conversations about what we "The Bartley" family believes has be reaffirmed by several of my brothers and sisters in Christ as truth, not opinion.  I also believe that these conversations and events in my life have been preparing my heart for my next step.  Craig and I agree that we did not go to our first "Impact Class" expecting to become foster parents in a few short months but after just 2 meetings we both knew that this is what is next for us.
A Blog that I posted on facebook a week or so ago was against Magic Mike, the new male stripper movie.  As I have pondered this week on the many comments and arguments I received on the post I am reaffirming what I said there.  There are times in our lives when we realize that we were wrong.. unfortunately this is not one of them.  The reaction I got from that post just let me know where people stood in their walk with Christ.  I never want to look into my childs eyes and tell them to do as I say not as I do.  I think that is the absolute worst parenting style there is.  So if you would take you child to see that movie I guess this is irrelevant to you, but sin is something that can be a choice.  If you choose to not sin often then there is more room for Christ in your life.  So I guess thank you to the ones that persecuted me for standing up for what I believe in.  You let me know that I am just closer than I realized to being ready for the next MOVEMENT that God has for Craig, Sean, and I!
On a different note, there are several things to remember us for in the coming days.  Craig has an extreme fear of needles and we still have to go get our medical exams done and drug screens.  He is probably not going to be a happy camper for a while.  After that it is a short trip to being "foster parents."  Craig told me today he is excited to know that He will be a daddy again soon.  That just makes my heart melt.  I am truly blessed to have a man in my life that can look at a child that is not ours and love them unconditionally, as I know he can.  Sean is also waiting in anticipation on the day he has a brother here to play video games with all day every day.  His dad and I can only take a few hours of Disney Universe before we are ready to pull our teeth out.  So off to bed, church in the morning.  G'night!