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!!