Big Hearted Quotes

“The holes in her heart had been repaired. When she came home from the hospital, she began to emerge as the heart of our family, and the holes in our hearts were also repaired. Her little personality began to captivate us, and all the boys fell deeply in love with their little sister.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“We decided it would be best to just say that our new baby was a girl, and if anyone asked how she was doing, we would then explain, “She has a heart issue, which is very common for babies born with Down syndrome.” I told the older boys, “Guys, the world often defines a person as ‘perfect’ when he or she is pretty, handsome, athletic, intelligent, and wealthy. Yet, these are not the qualities that God judges us on. He looks at our souls because it is the pure souls that experience the eternal glory of heaven.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“It felt as though God had played a mean trick on us. Be open to life, accept seven sons, accept a pregnancy later in life and then, I will give you a daughter, but she will have a disability. Besides the anguish of a disabled daughter was the anguish that I felt such little love in my heart for her. My pleading to God began. Lord, please help me to love my daughter the way you do. I knew it was wrong not to love her the way I loved my sons. I began a relentless pursuit to learn to love like God loves.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“An uncle continued to pay the fees for Calvin to attend school, but it was a long walk from his hut to St. Patrick’s Elementary School. Since he rarely had dinner the night before, his feet felt heavy as he trudged along. “If only I could go to school in the United States,” Calvin often thought on these long walks. And again, he prayed. When Calvin revealed his prayer to his older brother and an aunt, they laughed.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“A recent event in our family showed us even more how fleeting physical perfection is. Our oldest son had a brain aneurism rupture two days before his high-school graduation. For nineteen days, my son, who planned to attend the Naval Academy, clung to life in a neuro-intensive care unit. Thankfully, he recovered. During his recovery, after waking from a coma, we asked him if there was anything he wanted us to bring him from home. “Just bring Grace,” he said.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“to love Grace unconditionally—to be blind to her condition. Bonnie had already reached that point. In fact, as she realized that our culture would not affect Grace in the same way as other girls, she began to see the advantage of having a daughter with Down syndrome. On the day of her surgery, Bonnie could not bear to be the one to hand her over to the medical staff. As I held Grace in the early morning hours prior to her surgery and then eventually walked down the hall to the operating room with her, my heart swelled with emotion. I was falling in love. Suddenly, I couldn’t imagine losing my baby girl.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“I was amazed at how easily those words came to me, but I was disappointed that my love for my daughter was not coming as easily. Why couldn’t I love her the way she is? Why couldn’t I be as happy about her as my younger sons were? I simply told them that they had a sister and her name was Grace. They went bananas, jumping up and down. “It’s a girl, it’s a girl!” they yelled. Lord, help me to love like these little ones, I prayed.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“On the day of Calvin’s arrival, Mark was on a business trip with our high-school kids, so I went to the airport with the younger ones. I greeted Calvin as he got off the plane; mom and son—total strangers. He smiled nervously. I loaded everyone into our van and began driving. As I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Calvin talking with the younger children, a wave of peace washed over me. Everything was going to be okay. When Mark returned with the older kids, Tyler, the same age as Calvin, was thrilled that his long-awaited “brother from the other color mother” had finally arrived. Luke, our seventeen-year-old, had persistently warned us that taking in another child would be too chaotic. Before he went to bed on Calvin’s first night, he told me, “I’m glad he’s here.” I thought we were just trying to be good Christians and help someone in need, but when I learned the rest of the story, I realized that we were the ones who had been blessed.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“Big Hearted offers a glimpse into the lives of large families of all sorts: blended, biological, foster, adoptive, and inter-generational. These families may lack designer clothing, but they are blessed with a superabundance of people to love.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“This book is a like a glorious block party with warm, wise families who are all earnestly endeavoring to live a life of joy and grace. You will come away with a bigger heart for having read it.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“What kind of relationship, you may wonder, can these two siblings have, being so many years and worlds apart? It’s just past 7:00 pm. Football practice ended half an hour ago, and David and his brother Michael walk through the door with hearty appetites and mountains of homework. I hear the door creak and the thump of equipment hitting the floor. Next I hear David’s husky voice cooing, “Come on, baby” to his little sister, whom he has rescued from the swing in the front room. I peek around the corner just in time to see her respond by grabbing his face and wiggling towards him. “Shh… shh… shh…” he says, as he cradles her in his arms and bounces her gently back and forth, holding her securely against his chest. Back and forth, back and forth—they are engaged in a dance, two unlikely companions frozen in a single moment. For a short time they will be under the same roof, in the same world. Then suddenly, their lives will diverge into strikingly separate paths—hers of blocks and ABCs and babyhood, his of college term papers, interviews, and adulthood. But for now, they are in the same plane. She is learning from his strong arms to trust. He is learning from her vulnerability to give. He is a father of tomorrow, in an internship of sorts, learning gentleness and devotion from this little bundle called Sister.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families

“During his senior cross-country season, Joash broke every course record except one. In his senior year, at the Nike National race in Portland, Oregon, Joash came in third against 199 of the fastest runners in the country. This boy, who once struggled at home and school, received a five-year full-ride running scholarship and was awarded Academic All American during his freshman year of college. Joash eventually hopes to become an U.S. citizen and work in the medical field. Calvin graduated from University of Mary in respiratory therapy and will graduate from medical school. His goal is to one day open a clinic in Kenya. These two brothers from Kenya brought much unexpected joy and adventure into our lives. They became our sons; they became brothers to our other children. Most of all, they expanded our hearts.”
― Theresa Thomas, Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families