We all want wisdom.....

As we get older we usually get wiser. This is due to the fact that we have experience situations and events in life that have changed who we are and how we think. Have you ever read a book or article and then read it at a different moment in time and because you were in a different place in your life than before. This happened to me this morning as I was studying Proverbs. A few scriptures really stuck out to me and made me dig a little deeper as my interpretation of them was different than in the past.
      Since our women's group a few weeks ago, I have really been focusing on "wisdom" as I study. Today a few things really stuck out to me. First in Proverbs 2:2 it says we must incline our ear to wisdom and apply our heart to understanding. Then in verse 2:6 we see "For the Lord GIVETH wisdom: out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. As I continued to read I found in Proverbs verse 3:13 "Happy is the man that FINDS wisdom, and the man that GAINS understanding.
     Some may wonder were I am going with these three scriptures. As I was reading and these three continuously jumped out at me, I decided to write them all on paper and compare what I was interpreting them as. This is what I came up with. The LORD GIVES us wisdom, however we have to FIND it. How do you find it? You make the decision to live for the Lord. You ask him into your heart as you risen savior and the one who gave you new life. I have never seen a person make this decision to give their life to the Lord and not become a happier person. Henceforth the idea that the Lord gives wisdom and a man who finds wisdom is happy.
    However, it is not hard to look around and find someone who found wisdom and happiness, but lost it. For knowledge and understanding come from the mouth of the Lord. While I believe the Lord truly can speak to us individually, I also believe that it takes growth and maturity in a relationship to understand the still small voice. On the other hand, any one that has chosen to receive the wisdom of life through accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, has the ability to gain knowledge and understanding through the written word, the Bible.
     In 2 Timothy 2:15, we learn we must study to show ourselves approved! So if we open our hearts today and believe that the Bible is truly the word of God, we can GAIN knowledge and understanding. Through this  God given wisdom and sought after knowledge and understanding, we can grow deeper  in our relationship with the Lord and others. Today I challenge you ti dig deeper. Pray for wisdom and seeking a deeper understanding of the wisdom given unto you.
   

PRAISE!!!

Today I had the pleasure of seeing God work once again through the amazing ministry of Mission 615. A few weeks ago, I wrote about my experience driving the bus for afternoon service and how heart wrenching it was to drop families off on the streets afterwards. Well today I picked up in another location, but was able to see many of the families I had driven the previous time while working in the nursery. One encounter made my day even more special than all others today. I heard a lady asking for twin sheets and blankets. I offered to send some for her through the pastor's wife next week. Later as she was picking up children from the nursery, I realized this was the exact same woman who's family was part of the reason I felt so distraught last time. She and her family including three small children  have found a home!! Some may wonder why this is so exciting to me seeing I have really only had a few encounters with this woman. However, it truly excites me because I believe in answered prayers and this is an example of God never leaving those who choose to follow Him!! Week after week she has brought her family to Mission 615 and God has seen her act of faith and provided!!! WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!

Letting your light shine......

    Today I logged on to face book and my mom had posted this picture on my timeline and said it sounded like us. I totally agreed and realized something. As much as I may not realize it, others or definitely looking towards our family as an example.Just this past Sunday I taught that we must let our light shine to show God's love to others. However, I never really thought about the fact that our family itself is an example of God's love. I have always just looked at it as God's way of blessing us!

  You see, we have opened our home and hearts to children who did not come from our genetic make up, but have from the day we met them been our children and we were willing to fight tooth and nail for them. The above picture really tugged my heart strings, because one of our precious blessings has had some very hard times in the past three years and while it has been heart-wrenching, tough love was a necessity. After being away from home since March, we were able to welcome her home again last Tuesday and finally have our family whole again. Many people can not understand how we can "put up" with so much from her, but they can't see our hearts. It looks as if finally years of tear drenched prayers have been answered and things are looking up.

  With all this being said, our children are only young once. We must remember that no matter the circumstance we must do what is best for them. At times that means letting them fall on their face in their own mistakes. however, we must remember even in those times we must let the love of God shine through us. While we are continuously taught to let our light shine to others, many times we forget we must first let our lights shine to the people in our immediate home. Without doing this our children are not feeling the love God has put us here to share. If we build our homes in a way that all those looking in the windows can see is a reflection of God's love, we may win that one soul hanging in the balance by our family dynamics! 

   Our families are our first ministry given to us by the Lord. We must be careful that we are not too busy "shining our light to others that our family misses out! This week take a moment to ponder, how do my actions towards my husband/wife and children reflect God's love to those looking in from the outside.

~Tonya

I'm baaack!

We have had such a crazy month in July! As tomorrow draws the month to an end I am finally able to take a deep breathe and relax again. The month started out lovely with vacation and some wonderful time spent with my mom, stepdad, brother, niece, sister-in-law. Then after we came home it hit full throttle! Are lease was up on August 1st and we had to decide rather to stay or go. I was all about staying, because let's face it who in their right mind wants to move a family of 7! However God has truly blessed us with a new HOME. You see we had lived in our rental house for over 18 months, however it really never felt like home. The new house immediately felt like home. On top of that feeling, it is cheaper, bigger, and most importantly closer to church, family and friends! So now that things are calming down, I am eager to put my thought out there again! Hope everyone has had a great month!!

Family Time!

Having a great time on vacation with the family. We have been so blessed to celebrate the finalization of adoption with a visit to my mom's! The kids loved going to her house and I hate that we only get to visit once a year. :( However, we have been busy swimming, sightseeing, and such. I have had a topic on my heart for days now, but what to be able to give it my full attention. So stay tuned for a post that has been a real eye opener for me. Have a great day!!

Our LONG journey to becoming a forever family

On May 28th, 2005 the love of my life and I were married on a quiet beach in Florida. We later adopted our fist foster child April in April of 2006. We closed our home for a while and began taking in more foster children in late 2006. We had numerous children come in our home, but that forever connection we felt with April was never felt. Then one night in November of 2007, I seemed to be surrounded by pregnant women. I was happy for them, but also devastated. We had been trying and trying to have a baby with no luck and no reasoning on the lack of conceiving. I had listened to the soon to be mothers complain about being pregnant all I could and that night broke down at the altar. I prayed for a very long time. Not a simple prayer, one of those prayers where you can feel that you have touched the hem of the Master's garment. As I got up from that altar, exhausted and tired yet feeling a peace I had never felt before in the area of wanting a baby. I thought "Yes! God has heard me and is going to answer my prayers.

Well my friends, I will tell you be careful what you pray for and specifics are a great thing to pray :). See the next night as we were returning from the grocery store, I received a phone call. It was the agency we fostered through and they had been contacted by our local DCS about 3 small children. These children were in dire need of a home that would be able to provide them shelter, medical attention, nourishment and most of all LOVE. We were told it may be a few weeks, months or even a longer you never know. I talked to Michael and we agreed yes we needed to accept this placement. I called back and said yes, we would love to have the kids. I hung up and waited to see if it would be accepted by DCS and if we were indeed getting the placement. Of course, you can tell the call came. Reality hit as I hung up the phone. We were about to go from being parents of one 10 year old little girl to parents of 4! Ages 10, 4, 2, and 1!!!! I kicked into super speed and found beds to get us through the night thanks to my best friend and went to Wal-mart not knowing what size diapers to get or anything. As I was going through the store asking people how old their children were and what size diapers they wore, Michael called and said HURRY they are here!

I left Wal-mart in a flash with a variety of diapers :) and headed home. As I entered I saw a sight I never imagined experiencing. Two little bitty boys asleep in car seats neither one of the looking a day over 2 and a little baby girl who looked more like a 4-6 month old than someone who had three days earlier celebrated her first birthday. As I tried to contain my shock, the DCS worker informed me that the little lady whimpering in her arms had been that way all afternoon and evening. She wouldn't let my husband take her, so i attempted. The moment I took her in my arms, she laid her head on my shoulder and won my heart. The next days were quite overwhelming, but we quickly adjusted. We realized, both boys were non-verbal and our new baby girl was developmentally about 3 months old. God had given us our baby three times over.

The next week we were in our first meeting with the biological parents and to our surprise the mom was evidently pregnant, 6 months to be exact! I looked at Michael and I said these kids are not leaving anytime soon right? He agreed. Sure enough 4 months later we welcome our first newborn baby home. She was (and still is) perfect!

By the end of 2009, parental rights were terminated and we were preparing to adopt. We were so excited. Then we learned both parents had appealed the judges ruling and waited for the appeal court's decision. Over and over we were told no worries we've only had one case over turned in appeal with this judge. Then in Sept. of 2010 we received a call, the ruling was over turned and we had to start all over. The kids had to be reintroduced to a "mom and dad" they had had no contact with for over a year in mid- 2011.

My heart broke as my babies cried, vomited, had accidents on themselves and began to become completely different children for a period of time every other week when they knew there was a phone call about to take place. I contacted congressmen and women, everyone I could and it was pointless. The biological parents had more rights than the children who were suffering. Fortunately, after much prayer God gave me the words to say and I spoke with the biological mother and she agreed she wanted what was best for the children and surrender her rights, BECAUSE she loved them enough to do so. The bio-dad on the other hand was another story.

We again had to return to court and his right were terminated again. He appealed again, but this time the judge's decision was upheld and after much anguish, prayers and testing of our faith, the end or should I say beginning is finally here.

Tomorrow we will stand before a judge and become a FOREVER FAMILY! While I have left many details out of this story, you can see what a long heartbreaking yet joyous road it has been. There may have been fear at times, and family members who did not accept our children as true family, but I can say I have always known these were my babies!

This story is just an example of why I am so blessed and definitely believing God has a major plan for our family. One day we will change the world..... however today we are just thankful for a chance of a "normal" life and receiving full custody :)


Good night all we have a BIG day we have been waiting 5 years, 7 months and 20 days in the making!!!

The wait is almost over!!

So sorry it been a few days, but we have had such an exciting past week and a half! After what has seemed like FOREVER......we are finally completing adoptions on the four youngest children who have been our children in our hearts since the day we met them. We just received word that the mandate allowing adoption came in today and this Friday is the BIG day!! More later the hubs in home and we must have supper!

-T