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.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Saturday, August 3, 2013
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!
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
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!!
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
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!!
Thursday, June 27, 2013
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!!!
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!!!
Monday, June 24, 2013
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
-T
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
My heart is aching.......
The past few days have been so filled with busyness and excitement, but my experience on Saturday has stuck with me like no other lately and the feeling at the end of the day won't leave. You see, the wonderful church I have be blessed by the Lord to be a part of has an awesome ministry that I was able to participate in this weekend. It is called Mission 615 and it has a dual purpose in which the love of God is shared. First on Saturday mornings buses go into the inner city housing developments in downtown Nashville and pick up kids. The kids are given breakfast, experience a great worship service and the have the chance to visit a clothing closet. Once the kids are dropped back off at home, the buses go to different point in Nashville to bus in members of Nashville's homeless community.
This week my experience was new. I drove a bus to pick up and drop off both groups. Previously, I had worked with the kids' service and kids' class for each group, but today I got behind the wheel and did the pick-ups and drop offs. It was so exciting picking up the children and my bus alone had a total of 35 inner city kids. Dropping the kids back home wasn't so bad, they were going home to a place to lay their heads. Then came the next group pick up...... it seemed like they just kept coming and coming. I believe my bus had a total of 43 homeless including a number of children and 2 infants. My heart sank a little when I realized this. The day went great I had a chance to fellowship and meet some of the group, and watched a baby dedication! Then, after, they got their bellies full with a great smelling barbecue meal and bags of clothes, it was time to take them home. Loaded back up all was well. Suddenly I heard a sweet lady talking to someone about the houses we were passing and dreaming of having a yard or fence etc. like that one day. That began to stir my heart, but little did I know it was only going to get harder as my task went on. As I pulled up to the drop off point, I realized I was letting these men, women, children, families... out on the streets that they call home. I watched a mother cradled a sleeping baby while the daddy loaded all of their belongings back into the stroller to help keep a hold of the other children. I watched as 3 little children,probably no older that 6 or 7, sat on the concrete and played in the dirt under the grate around a tree and then wave at me and say "Thank you! See you next week!" Happy as they could be.
You see I listen and watch as people have so much, but complain about all they have. I myself forget that I am truly blessed above what I deserve some days. Just the night before Michael and I had been looking up houses because our lease is coming up and there are things we don't like. My heart broke as I drove away and knew these people had no where soft to lay there heads for bed that night. As I heard a child ask if someone could play with them and the mom says "Maybe later, we have to try to find food for later." I can not express the feelings that have sat with me since Saturday and won't leave. I truly enjoyed myself and loved interacting with the people, but can't help thinking there has to be a way to provide a suitable shelter. With all the empty foreclosed homes, million dollar convention centers being built and such, why can't we have a bigger rescue mission or even furnished homes that are available for a limited time to help someone get back on their feet. Maybe, I'm just dreaming, but Sunday night it got worse as CNN is doing a series on homeless kids and a little girl was sick and in pain at school and couldn't go home, because there was no gas money. What is wrong with America??? We can send millions to other countries, provide other countries with war weapons, but can't get our homeless off the streets? I pray that one day this will change and no child in America has to live on the streets.
This week my experience was new. I drove a bus to pick up and drop off both groups. Previously, I had worked with the kids' service and kids' class for each group, but today I got behind the wheel and did the pick-ups and drop offs. It was so exciting picking up the children and my bus alone had a total of 35 inner city kids. Dropping the kids back home wasn't so bad, they were going home to a place to lay their heads. Then came the next group pick up...... it seemed like they just kept coming and coming. I believe my bus had a total of 43 homeless including a number of children and 2 infants. My heart sank a little when I realized this. The day went great I had a chance to fellowship and meet some of the group, and watched a baby dedication! Then, after, they got their bellies full with a great smelling barbecue meal and bags of clothes, it was time to take them home. Loaded back up all was well. Suddenly I heard a sweet lady talking to someone about the houses we were passing and dreaming of having a yard or fence etc. like that one day. That began to stir my heart, but little did I know it was only going to get harder as my task went on. As I pulled up to the drop off point, I realized I was letting these men, women, children, families... out on the streets that they call home. I watched a mother cradled a sleeping baby while the daddy loaded all of their belongings back into the stroller to help keep a hold of the other children. I watched as 3 little children,probably no older that 6 or 7, sat on the concrete and played in the dirt under the grate around a tree and then wave at me and say "Thank you! See you next week!" Happy as they could be.
You see I listen and watch as people have so much, but complain about all they have. I myself forget that I am truly blessed above what I deserve some days. Just the night before Michael and I had been looking up houses because our lease is coming up and there are things we don't like. My heart broke as I drove away and knew these people had no where soft to lay there heads for bed that night. As I heard a child ask if someone could play with them and the mom says "Maybe later, we have to try to find food for later." I can not express the feelings that have sat with me since Saturday and won't leave. I truly enjoyed myself and loved interacting with the people, but can't help thinking there has to be a way to provide a suitable shelter. With all the empty foreclosed homes, million dollar convention centers being built and such, why can't we have a bigger rescue mission or even furnished homes that are available for a limited time to help someone get back on their feet. Maybe, I'm just dreaming, but Sunday night it got worse as CNN is doing a series on homeless kids and a little girl was sick and in pain at school and couldn't go home, because there was no gas money. What is wrong with America??? We can send millions to other countries, provide other countries with war weapons, but can't get our homeless off the streets? I pray that one day this will change and no child in America has to live on the streets.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Today has been such a busy day! I had my four littles and 3 extra all day today! They just went home around 9:00. I am so tired, but the quiet in nice. As I sat reflecting on the day, I was thinking back to this morning as I was driving into town. I passed a cop and I immediately took my foot off the gas and checked by speedometer. I know I am not the only one out here that does that :). It was a quick relief to see that I was indeed doing the speed limit and had nothing to worry about.
It made me think for a moment. The Bible says Jesus is coming back in the twinkling of an eye. It's going to be so quick we are not going to have that brief moment to check ourselves. We won't have time to ask forgiveness for sins not yet repented. We must be ready at also times to face our Maker. When that moment comes, rather the Lord's return or just your time to depart from this earth, we will not have a chance to sweet talk the Lord as so many try with police when pulled over.
I pray that each and every day my life is pleasing to the Lord. That when it is my turn to meet Him, I will hear "Well Done my Good and Faithful servant." I am so thankful that even in little moments like this I can see ways to grow in the Lord. I hope this gets someone thinking today and possibly helps them realized the importance of always being prepared! Good night all!
It made me think for a moment. The Bible says Jesus is coming back in the twinkling of an eye. It's going to be so quick we are not going to have that brief moment to check ourselves. We won't have time to ask forgiveness for sins not yet repented. We must be ready at also times to face our Maker. When that moment comes, rather the Lord's return or just your time to depart from this earth, we will not have a chance to sweet talk the Lord as so many try with police when pulled over.
I pray that each and every day my life is pleasing to the Lord. That when it is my turn to meet Him, I will hear "Well Done my Good and Faithful servant." I am so thankful that even in little moments like this I can see ways to grow in the Lord. I hope this gets someone thinking today and possibly helps them realized the importance of always being prepared! Good night all!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Joy=Strength
Today, as Pastor Josh was talking to us before entering our weekly staff devotion, he talked about how if we don't keep our ministry jobs fun we loose our joy in doing them. He also talked about the scripture stating the "joy of the Lord is our strength." When we loose our Joy we are truly loosing our strength.
As we were standing there, my mind quickly went to the thought that it is the same way when being a parent. As the days drag on you may get in a rut with you children. It becomes so easy to look at parenting as a job instead of the blessing it really is. The larger your family the easier it becomes to fall into the mentality of parenting as something you have to do rather than opportunity you have been blessed with by God.
For those of you who do not know a lot about me, I am not your ordinary mom. For years, I begged and pleaded with the Lord for a baby. My heart broke watching those all around me with growing families and knowing that my husband and I had so much love to share with children, but seemed to be missing out on the blessing. We had our adopted daughter April, but longed for more children. You see April was 7 when she came into our lives, and we longed to enjoy the experience of a baby. After a night of desperate cries at the altar of a little church I felt a peace that God was at work and he was about to blow my mind! Little did I know just how insane his plan would be!
Nearly 24 hours later, I receive a placement call asking us to take a sibling group of 3! They were 4, 2 and 1...... all were developmentally behind and the one year old was truly at a 3-4 month developmentally level. We were finally going to have a chance to experience the 1st steps, words, etc.!! Talk about being careful what you pray for! Over night we went from a family of 3 to a family of 6! Then to our surprise the next week when we met the birth parents of the new additions, and the mom was pregnant!! 4 months later we brought home our baby girl. That was over 5 1/2 years ago.... tonight we sit and wait on a date for adoption finalization of all 4 littles!!
You can imagine how crazy life with that many little ones is, but imagine how much more chaos is involved with case workers, court dates, monthly paperwork, etc. After years of the same old same old and trying to keep up with all the requirements of fostering along with my job and then school at times it became so overwhelming. I didn't take the time to indulge in studying God's Word or worshiping as I should. I also began to see all the "nonsense" as pointless and interfering with life. When in reality, this "nonsense" is how I became such a blessed woman!
I have learned to find a little bit of JOY in every situation. Nothing lifts me up more than the giggles of my children or the sounds of them singing to K-Love as we drive down the street. So what I am trying to say is it takes strength and energy to endure the day to day activities of being a Godly active parent. We receive the Joy required to be an effective parent by staying close to the one who has given us this opportunity and treating our children as the blessings they are. If you have lost your Joy in the parenting process, please do not be discouraged. Draw close to the Lord and renew your Joy in HIM. When you are refreshed and in the right frame of mind you have the ability to affect your child's life in such a positive way!
As I draw this to a close I feel the need to say a prayer for anyone reading this.....
Dear God,
Please touch the heart of anyone who reads this post. So many times we loose ourselves in our "roles" in life and forget the Joy from the beginning of the journey. Lord, I pray that if anyone who is reading this has lost their Joy in walking with you, parenting the blessings you have bestowed upon them or even being that friend you want them to be to others, that they will draw close to YOU and also remember the Joy they once had in order to renew their strength and and help them be the best Christian, parent or friend they can be!
In Jesus' name AMEN.
As we were standing there, my mind quickly went to the thought that it is the same way when being a parent. As the days drag on you may get in a rut with you children. It becomes so easy to look at parenting as a job instead of the blessing it really is. The larger your family the easier it becomes to fall into the mentality of parenting as something you have to do rather than opportunity you have been blessed with by God.
For those of you who do not know a lot about me, I am not your ordinary mom. For years, I begged and pleaded with the Lord for a baby. My heart broke watching those all around me with growing families and knowing that my husband and I had so much love to share with children, but seemed to be missing out on the blessing. We had our adopted daughter April, but longed for more children. You see April was 7 when she came into our lives, and we longed to enjoy the experience of a baby. After a night of desperate cries at the altar of a little church I felt a peace that God was at work and he was about to blow my mind! Little did I know just how insane his plan would be!
Nearly 24 hours later, I receive a placement call asking us to take a sibling group of 3! They were 4, 2 and 1...... all were developmentally behind and the one year old was truly at a 3-4 month developmentally level. We were finally going to have a chance to experience the 1st steps, words, etc.!! Talk about being careful what you pray for! Over night we went from a family of 3 to a family of 6! Then to our surprise the next week when we met the birth parents of the new additions, and the mom was pregnant!! 4 months later we brought home our baby girl. That was over 5 1/2 years ago.... tonight we sit and wait on a date for adoption finalization of all 4 littles!!
You can imagine how crazy life with that many little ones is, but imagine how much more chaos is involved with case workers, court dates, monthly paperwork, etc. After years of the same old same old and trying to keep up with all the requirements of fostering along with my job and then school at times it became so overwhelming. I didn't take the time to indulge in studying God's Word or worshiping as I should. I also began to see all the "nonsense" as pointless and interfering with life. When in reality, this "nonsense" is how I became such a blessed woman!
I have learned to find a little bit of JOY in every situation. Nothing lifts me up more than the giggles of my children or the sounds of them singing to K-Love as we drive down the street. So what I am trying to say is it takes strength and energy to endure the day to day activities of being a Godly active parent. We receive the Joy required to be an effective parent by staying close to the one who has given us this opportunity and treating our children as the blessings they are. If you have lost your Joy in the parenting process, please do not be discouraged. Draw close to the Lord and renew your Joy in HIM. When you are refreshed and in the right frame of mind you have the ability to affect your child's life in such a positive way!
As I draw this to a close I feel the need to say a prayer for anyone reading this.....
Dear God,
Please touch the heart of anyone who reads this post. So many times we loose ourselves in our "roles" in life and forget the Joy from the beginning of the journey. Lord, I pray that if anyone who is reading this has lost their Joy in walking with you, parenting the blessings you have bestowed upon them or even being that friend you want them to be to others, that they will draw close to YOU and also remember the Joy they once had in order to renew their strength and and help them be the best Christian, parent or friend they can be!
In Jesus' name AMEN.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Making the best of a mess!
I am blessed to have 5 beautiful and healthy children. There ages are 16, 9, 8, 6, and 5 and while I am thankful beyond words that God has entrusted them to my care some days get overwhelming! Today has been one of those days that you just knew from the first hour things were not going to go as planned. Overslept, had a kid in the bed with feet in my face and missed my devotion time and that was just before getting out of bed!
Then, our planned trip to the $1 summer movie express was canceled, because I forgot I had scheduled an appointment for Brandon at 9 this morning! Next, the doctor's office called and asked if we could bring Dakota in at 1:45 instead of 3:20 for his 8 year well check, and I quickly agreed. I wanted to get the kids out of the house, but in a cool spot since the heat index is so high today so we decided to rush to story hour at the library after Brandon's appointment. The kids had fun at story time, and enjoyed adding their hand prints to the garden fence. All was going well and then we stopped at the store to buy some things to bring home and make lunch. That is when the well-mannered, straight-line listening ears on little ones suddenly turned into what would look like an uncontrollable half of a ball team to those without children!
Let me clarify, they were in no way being "bad" for a lack of a better term, but had definitely had a major change in attitude and were feeding off each others' attitudes. I started to get frustrated, but somewhere in the back of my mind I heard that still, small voice say "The choice is yours." At first, I was like "what". Although, I knew I wasn't the one pouting because I had to get out of the van or the one who was having a complete tear-filled melt down because mom was buying the bowtie shaped pasta instead of the elbow macaroni for lunch, somehow the choice was mine....
I then realized, wait for it......, the choice was MINE! I am the parent, I am the adult, I can choose rather to get frustrated with the children and gripe, complain and yell or I can take a stand and get our day back on track! So, i chose the latter! I got all the kids home, and as I made lunch I called and rescheduled the 1:45 doctor's appointment, ate lunch with the kid's and pulled out the I'm the MOMMY card and declared nap time! Yes, I know they are older and don't usually take naps, but today after watching my children's behaviors change so drastically in a 15 minute span I knew something was up.
After an exhausting few weeks, these kids were overly tired and needed rest. It took some less than twenty minutes and all four littles were asleep and all was right in the house again! Mommy has had time to clean up from lunch, sit and enjoy her daily devotion and set up this blog!
This day was just a reminder to me on how important it is to know your children. I could have easily gotten frustrated with the kids, took them all tired and cranky to sit in a little doctor's room for what was sure to be a lengthy visit and made us all miserable for the rest of the day. Instead the quick prayer used to start my day helped keep my level-headed and keep control of my little ones' behavior.
People without children, well and some parent, do not always understand how a parent doesn't do this or that when their child is not acting as others think they should. As a parent we must remember to be patient and kind with our children. We must remember we are the adults and make decisions that our best for our children. So please, if you see me out and about with my kiddos understand I may not parent the way you think I should, but I strive to be the best parent God wants me to be. A parent that is caring, compassionate, slower to anger and being a great example to your children and others around you.
Hope you have a blessed and stree free day!
Then, our planned trip to the $1 summer movie express was canceled, because I forgot I had scheduled an appointment for Brandon at 9 this morning! Next, the doctor's office called and asked if we could bring Dakota in at 1:45 instead of 3:20 for his 8 year well check, and I quickly agreed. I wanted to get the kids out of the house, but in a cool spot since the heat index is so high today so we decided to rush to story hour at the library after Brandon's appointment. The kids had fun at story time, and enjoyed adding their hand prints to the garden fence. All was going well and then we stopped at the store to buy some things to bring home and make lunch. That is when the well-mannered, straight-line listening ears on little ones suddenly turned into what would look like an uncontrollable half of a ball team to those without children!
Let me clarify, they were in no way being "bad" for a lack of a better term, but had definitely had a major change in attitude and were feeding off each others' attitudes. I started to get frustrated, but somewhere in the back of my mind I heard that still, small voice say "The choice is yours." At first, I was like "what". Although, I knew I wasn't the one pouting because I had to get out of the van or the one who was having a complete tear-filled melt down because mom was buying the bowtie shaped pasta instead of the elbow macaroni for lunch, somehow the choice was mine....
I then realized, wait for it......, the choice was MINE! I am the parent, I am the adult, I can choose rather to get frustrated with the children and gripe, complain and yell or I can take a stand and get our day back on track! So, i chose the latter! I got all the kids home, and as I made lunch I called and rescheduled the 1:45 doctor's appointment, ate lunch with the kid's and pulled out the I'm the MOMMY card and declared nap time! Yes, I know they are older and don't usually take naps, but today after watching my children's behaviors change so drastically in a 15 minute span I knew something was up.
After an exhausting few weeks, these kids were overly tired and needed rest. It took some less than twenty minutes and all four littles were asleep and all was right in the house again! Mommy has had time to clean up from lunch, sit and enjoy her daily devotion and set up this blog!
This day was just a reminder to me on how important it is to know your children. I could have easily gotten frustrated with the kids, took them all tired and cranky to sit in a little doctor's room for what was sure to be a lengthy visit and made us all miserable for the rest of the day. Instead the quick prayer used to start my day helped keep my level-headed and keep control of my little ones' behavior.
People without children, well and some parent, do not always understand how a parent doesn't do this or that when their child is not acting as others think they should. As a parent we must remember to be patient and kind with our children. We must remember we are the adults and make decisions that our best for our children. So please, if you see me out and about with my kiddos understand I may not parent the way you think I should, but I strive to be the best parent God wants me to be. A parent that is caring, compassionate, slower to anger and being a great example to your children and others around you.
Hope you have a blessed and stree free day!
Welcome to Blessed and Believing!
My name is Tonya and I am just as the blog title suggest, blessed and believing! I am continually blessed by the Lord daily and believe what the Word says in Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says
the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a
hope."
I have been entrusted by the Lord to be the wife of an amazing husband, the mother of 5 beautiful children and a children's pastor at a wonderful church. This blog is something I have felt led to do many times, but for some reason (usually lack of time) not done so. Today, however, I feel extremely compelled to commit to this adventure and share with you all my heart in regards to three aspects of life that are my entire being, serving the Lord, being a wife and a mother.
I hope that somehow each post I compose will in some way help someone be a stronger Christian, Wife and/or Mother. May the Lord Bless you and your journey through life always be pleasing to Him!
-Tonya
I have been entrusted by the Lord to be the wife of an amazing husband, the mother of 5 beautiful children and a children's pastor at a wonderful church. This blog is something I have felt led to do many times, but for some reason (usually lack of time) not done so. Today, however, I feel extremely compelled to commit to this adventure and share with you all my heart in regards to three aspects of life that are my entire being, serving the Lord, being a wife and a mother.
I hope that somehow each post I compose will in some way help someone be a stronger Christian, Wife and/or Mother. May the Lord Bless you and your journey through life always be pleasing to Him!
-Tonya
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