A man has adopted six children after falling in love with their single mother.
Tony Thomas married Lexy four years ago and wanted to make sure her kids had a father figure.
The couple met on a dating site and Tony flew to Kentucky to meet Lexy and her six kids Elijah, Isaiah, Ethan, Sheldon, Simeon, and Iridius.
"Within the first month of being on a dating site, called Christian Mingle, I saw Tony and reached out to him," Lexy said.
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"I introduced him to my children as Mr Thomas and they called him that for the longest time up until we got married.
“But that was so crazy.
"I had prayed for all the great characteristics in a man that I see in Tony.
"I didn't pray for like a super weird husband, but that's what I got. But then I got all these other things."
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Tony added: “The fact that I was on Christian Mingle was direct response to a prayer as I had been praying over the qualities that I want in a woman, and I heard God tell me to get on Christian Mingle.
“It's so funny, you know I’m a Black city boy from Fort Lauderdale and I fell in love with a white country girl from the small town in Kentucky."
They hit it off and decided to get married.
Four years later, Tony adopted the six kids.
“The boys all have the surname Thomas, and Tony is on all the kids' birth certificates as their father. One of the boys even changed his first, middle and last name when he was adopted," Lexy said.
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“I booked last minute flights for all the boys to see Tony and because I was granted full custody of them, they never went back to Kentucky.
“The judge said that it's been one in two cases where she has ever permitted the biological parent to move to another state from the other biological parent.
“I see us as a very blended family because there has never been this dynamic of his kids, my kids. We are a family, there is no separation."
Tony said: "We see us living in Florida as a blessing because initially, there was no way for her to move or relocate. But we really felt like God was telling us that we would live in Florida, and we just had to have faith.
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"She had more kids than I had ever considered that I wanted. But I prayed for a boy, and she had six of them."
He added "Everything just miraculously happened, and we could have a whole hour-long session of the blessings that God has had in our lives, and I am just so grateful!"
Tony and Lexy have now had two children together and Tony also has a daughter from a previous relationship.
Topics: Parenting
Stewart Perrie