In early 2010, we became restless at the church that we were going to. This was the church that I grew up in, Mike and I were married in, and we started our family in. Nothing had happened, we just had the urge to go look for a new church. So, we started an adventure of "where is the church we belong in?" We went to several churches, and they were all very nice, but there was always something that did not feel right. Then one day I thought, "Oh, the family down the street goes to Lindale. Maybe I should call her and see what they are all about." So I did. Julette and I had a great conversation about the church and I was thinking, this just might work. Another girl I knew that goes to that church found out that we were coming to visit and she invited us over for dinner, before we had even set foot in the church. (talk about being welcomed!!) We tried the church and found that the fit was perfect for our family.
At the time we were still living in the starter home that Mike and I had bought right before we got married. We were starting to feel a little tight in the house. We knew one day we would like to move, but I had a lot of criteria that I wanted to be met. There were many times I thought, "surely that house is not out there, and if it is what is the chance it would ever come for sale-and be in our price range?" I should mention here that I love to look at houses. I would look on the website, just for fun. One day during the summer of 2011 I was driving around and I saw a sign that said a house was for sale near the neighborhood I grew up in. I got a little curious, so I drove to find out who was moving. It turned out to be a house that I used to baby-sit in. When I got home I looked it up. The house would have been perfect, but the price was out of the range I had set in my mind. I could not stop thinking about this house. So, finally one evening I talked to Mike about it. He said, "Let's look at it for practice. We will only consider it if they come down to $_____." Okay, I agreed. It was a drastic price reduction so it was highly unlikely that would ever happen. We made an appointment to look at the house, got Mom and Dad to watch the boys (they only knew we were going out to dinner). We were looking at the house and as we were in the basement looking at the guest bedroom and bathroom I casually said, "we could have a student one day." As we were finishing the tour, the owner/agent said, coming next week we are lowering the price to $_______, it was almost exactly the same number Mike and I had set. We got this wonderful house, settled in, and I never thought of that comment again about having a student.
In March of 2013, a friend from church called and wanted to talk to Mike. I thought it was strange, he is a friend, but not one to call and talk on the phone. Mike was out and we never got back to him. The next Sunday was Easter Sunday. We went to the Easter breakfast at church and our friend Mike S. found Mike and started talking to him. Let me note here that my Mike is not a talker! However he was talking to Mike S. for quite a while in the corner. As we got into the service I asked, "What was that about?" Mike told me that Mike S. said there was job opening at the local private high school and he would like for Mike to put in an application. I will openly admit, I got nothing out of the service that morning. My mind was swirling. Mike loved his job as a 2nd grade teacher, but I could see how he would love this new position as well. Many meetings, many phone calls and lots of paperwork later, Mike had the new position. Austin started 6th grade there and that has been a good change for him as well.
As a parent at the school they send out e-mails about various things. Over Christmas break they sent out an e-mail that a host family was needed for a 16 year old Chinese boy named Jason. I read it and thought, "wow, I hope they find someone quick before break is over." Then they sent out the weekly schedule, at the bottom was an announcement that they were still in need of one more host family. I thought, "Okay, I will talk to Mike about it." At supper that evening, I mentioned it to him, and he said, "we are not ready, the guest room is full of our stuff, someone else will take him." I reluctantly agreed. However, I could not get this boy that I had never met off my mind.
One thing I love to do over the Christmas break is to pull out a good puzzle. One Friday evening, Mike found one at the store that he just knew I would love, so he got it for me. I started it that very evening. Saturday morning, I woke up and I immediately thought of my puzzle I popped out of bed to get moving on that puzzle. I thought, "it would be nice to listen to the news as I do my puzzle." I turned the TV on and found that the news was not on but some science show for kids. As I glanced at the TV I saw a boy of Asian decent, then they flashed his name up on screen. His name was Jason. This of course was not the Jason that the school was e-mailing about, but it sure made me think that God was trying to make a point. Then the comment about the guest room and hosting a student came back to me. I went and woke Mike up and told him I really felt I needed to see if he had found a placement, and if he hadn't I thought we should offer. I called the person in charge of the international students and she was so happy to hear from me. She said, "I just kept praying that God would put it on the right family's heart to take this boy." That was Saturday. By Sunday afternoon he had moved into our basement guest room.
I never saw this coming. However, looking back, I think God had this in his plans all along. The way things fell into place are just something that no human could plan. Had we not changed churches we would not have met Mike S. Had we not met Mike S. Mike would not have this position at his new school. If he did not have this new position at the new school I would have never gotten the e-mail about needing a host family. Had I never gotten the e-mail about needing a host family, we definitely would not have Jason with us now.
