I actually wrote this a week or two ago, but I haven't posted anything on here all week so I thought I would post this. :)
Tomorrow is the big day for Shirley and Harry. They get to move into their new house which happens to be just two doors down from me. It’s been exciting to be able to watch the Lord work.
From two doors down let me tell you my perspective.
March 15, 2006 my family moved into the house at 1333 Poplar. When we moved in, there was a man that was working on the house at 1317 Poplar. He bought the house to remodel and then sell it like Randy does. This was the first house that he had attempted to do. He did so many things on that house with top quality in mind. He used tumbled stone on the back splash. He installed a Jacuzzi tub. He refinished gorgeous hard wood floors. The crown molding is as nice as it could be. He made the whole thing very elegant. He finally finished and put a sign in the yard that said, “FOR SALE”.
Then, a very neat thing happened. A woman named Shirley fell in love with the house.
During the school week Shirley blesses me abundantly by picking up my boys from school for me. When she would bring them home she parked at “her house”. That’s what she called it. She parked there daily. She called it “her house”. She peeked in the windows when she went over there. She went shopping with her sister when she came down from California and she pretended like she had that house to decorate. She made plans for how she would like the porch to be decorated. Shirley loved it. One time she even had Randy’s realtor Destry to let her look in the house.
For one whole year she loved that house with her heart, but her mind constantly told her that it would not be hers. She knew that she was settled just fine in the house that she lived in. She knew that her husband Harry liked where he was, and he probably didn’t want to change. She liked dreaming about the house, but she thought that’s all it was…a dream.
Let me insert here a little about her red headed grandson named Spencer. He’s a treasure of a boy with faith that can move mountains. From the first time that Shirley called 1317 Poplar “her house” Spencer took it upon himself to see that it was done. Of course he didn’t have a big stash of cash hidden some where, but he did know that the Lord heard his prayers. He began to pray often that his Grandma Shirley would get to live in the house down the street so he could say good morning to her before school. He knew that was her house. He cried several times when he saw other people looking at the house. He would ask me why other people were looking at Grandma Shirley’s house. I told him to keep praying that God would make a way for her to live there. So, he did.
March 31, 2007 Richard, Teri, Michaela, Giovanni and Francisco Wilson came for a visit to Texas. They gave us the pleasure of staying with us for their long overdue Texas visit. Usually they come to Abilene during Thanksgiving, but for the last two years they were not able to make it. So it was a treat to have them here when the weather was actually nice, and the color green was on the grass.
One day while they were here we were outside when I mentioned to them how Shirley called the house down the street “her house”. I didn’t think much of it. It was just something to talk about it. I told them how she loved it and how she parked there. The next thing I knew was that Richard had told Randy to get his realtor over to the house because he wanted to look at it to see if he wanted to buy it for Shirley. This was on a Sunday, and strangely a party had begun to form at my house although no one was really invited. Family began to come over to see the Colorado Wilson’s and then decided to stay for dinner. As they were all arriving Destry, the realtor came to let us in the house. Richard, Teri, Randy and I wanted to look at the house, but we didn’t want Randall and Andrew and their wives to know what we were doing because we didn’t want to get any false hopes up about buying it. It was kind of tricky trying to look at the house without it seeming like a big deal.
When I saw the house I wanted it for Harry and Shirley even more. It seemed like the most perfect house for them. Since we had so many guests at our house Richard, Teri, Randy and I didn’t get to talk about the house much until everyone left. By that time I had to know what they thought. I was doing the dishes and I asked Teri if she thought that it was possible or probable that she and Richard would buy that house for Harry and Shirley. She quickly replied, “Probable”. My heart was so happy!
From there emotions ran high on every end of the deal. We all wanted Harry and Shirley to have the house, but it was a big deal to get the finances in order, the contract signed, the decisions of who was going to take care of what, and then the biggest part was if Shirley and Harry were even going to move there. I don’t know about other people, but I can tell you that I wanted them to live there so bad I could taste it, but my heart was very guarded against disappointment.
Richard and Teri were doing everything on their part that they could do to get a contract signed. Things just seemed to be taking a long time. I guess we were all just excited.
Monday April 30, 2007 the house became Harry & Shirley’s. Richard and Teri bought them a beautiful home. Shirley’s dream house became her real house.
Next came all the fun repairs. Randy built shelves, fixed windows, made screens, touched up paint, cut back shrubs and several other things that this unhandy girl wouldn’t know anything about.
Now, there’s only one more thing to happen. Tomorrow they will be moved into their happy home. The big moving day also happens to be Harry’s birthday. Sunday Shirley will wake up for the first time in her new home, and it be Mother’s Day. She will wake up in the house that her own son bought for her.
Perfect timing.
Shirley is 72 years old and before now she has never owned her own home.
She allowed her heart to dream. A little red headed boy believed she could have the house two doors down. A son loved his Mom and bought her a home that makes her smile like a little girl. The God of the universe made it happen.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1
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