Friends-Because of your prayers for Denny and I this story, I’m about to tell you, is extraordinarily true and proves God hears your thoughts, even the silly ones 😊 Again-Friends your prayers for us has brought about something wildly unbelievable, I have no doubt. Just a little over three weeks ago I was watching the home show on HGTV called Fixer Upper you know Magnolia, Demo Day Chip and Joanna Gaines, the Show that put Waco on the map for something super positive, combining family, faith, faithfulness to their marriage and friendships. I was watching the episode about a Woman named, Patti Baker, who had lost her Husband to cancer and had moved to Waco to be with her Sons-it was a sweet story-but oh that backsplash, those cement counter tops, Farm House Sink, the cute indoor shutters, those restored original 1950’s floors, oh my goodness! Chip and Joanna remodeled this home for Patti as a place for her to feel safe, secure, loved and cared for. I thought, in the midst of all we were facing with Denny’s Alzheimer Disease mmm, the chances of us enjoying a Chip and Joanna Gaines designed home was zero to none-but-well-I thought, having no complains about our current life-gosh-God goes to prepare a place for me, I smiled, I believed and was comforted by the thought-I will have Shiplap in Heaven-haha 🙂 Now, I have to give you the readers digest version or you’ll be reading all day-so here is my best effort-not more than 12 hours later our daughter Brooke sends us a text-“Check this out, she said. This Fixer Upper house, is for sale, you two should buy it!” Honestly, I hardly even looked at it that closely, but wrote back, Ok with a happy face, kind of kidding, but I did have a strange peace about it-God would have to do crazy miracles to make this happen, I figured well He’s big, it would have to be super easy, knowing God knew I could NOT take on one more stressful thing in my life. I was maxed out and had actually, understandably, gotten myself into a little dark hole, trying to keep a stiff upper lip, feeling in a stuck place that, at the time, caused me to be exhausted, edging toward the D word (depression), wildly trying to keep my head above float, but, I, of course, had hope, it was something, with God’s help, I would eventually dig myself out of. I hoped. Adventures, being adventurous with Denny seemed a thing of the past, our days had become filled with questions “did you take your medication today?”or “did you have breakfast?”or so on. I called Brooke a few hours later,
“Hey, have you looked further into that house-no not yet, we’ll, go for it, I said, give them a call”, truly thinking, hmm, this was crazy, but while still having this steady calm and peace about it-I then looked closer at the house and realized that “this was the house I had just seen”, the Patti Baker House, but why was she selling, what’s wrong with this darling, cedar shingled house?
Brooke soon called me back, “Mom, I reached the Realtor, she said that she has had 17,000 inquires on the house, but no offers. The woman, Patti Baker, got married to a Pastor and had to move away, it’s been empty for 6 months, but couldn’t sell it until the show aired.” Note: I know now that the Realtor, Shelly Negrete, that works for Magnolia Realty was so overwhelmed with her voice mails that she just spun her finger down the list and with out hardly looking just clicked on Brooke’s message randomly.
Now I’ll cut to the chase-After speaking to, whom I now refer to as “Sweet Shelly”, in less than 24 hours, we were in Escrow on the house I’d seen the night before. Oh no God didn’t oh yes He did! 😊❤️
We loaded up the car and drove to Waco, closed Escrow in two weeks, Daughters Brooke and Natalie flew in the same day we arrived, the four of us made a house a home in two days, forged new friendships with scores of precious people, including Patti Baker and her new Husband, PJ (Pastor Joe), met Joanne’s Prayer Warrior Mom in the most miraculous way, as if this whole thing wasn’t miraculous enough. More to come on that story…
So I thought our adventures were over, but because of your prayers I was wrong!
We are back in Cali, with plans to return to the wonderful people and town of Waco often.
Thank you for reading, I hope many God adventures for you too! ❤ #Glory2God Romans 11:36 #Shiplap #Magnolia #TheSilos #ChipandJoannaGaines #PattiBaker #MagnoliaRealty #HGTV #Waco #Texas
Our Alzheimer's Story 