I have waited to post these pictures with an eagerness that I don't normally experience. You see, this family, they're the Thompsons... and they are the very heartbeat of the Heavenly Father. They haven't been able to post a picture of themselves as a family for more than 3 years. You read that right... 3 years... The youngest three were foster children: Raine, Elijah, and Lily. Notice I said WERE foster children...

This is my sister, Jamie, and her husband Dustin. They had two amazing kids: a beautiful young lady both inside and out - Cadence, and a peaceful river of strength in a young man - Cameron. They were complete, not lacking, full of Christ as a family. Yet God had more...

They started fostering Raine and Elijah about 3 years ago before having the chance to also bring in their biological sister Lily into the just over a year later. Times were difficult. Growing as a family can be hard, trauma can at times seem to be an impossible mountain to climb. But God was healing them together.

The beauty of this entire story of brokenness and trauma to redemption and togetherness is this... God never lost sight, He knew and loved them all through their brokenness and difficult seasons. He did what He always does... He brought beauty from ashes and raised the dead to new life.

My favorite part about this family is... they would want the entire world to know the brokenness and pain you know so well is not the end of your story. Simply choose the One who changes your story's end.

Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James 1:27