So many miracles are happening in our family’s home right now. After a year of hard work on behalf of the members of Hearth Professionals and COTF the home is almost complete. The elevator is installed and came in the nick of time as Erica broke her ankle for the 5th time just days after installation.
Friends of ours helped take down cabinets in our home over the weekend so our new kitchen could be installed. In order to save many hundreds of dollars we had to order a new dishwasher that we knew we would not use from IKEA. It just so happened that these same friends were in need of a new dishwasher. They also needed a working microwave. We could not use the microwave that we just bought a couple of years ago so we were blessed to give them both. It is amazing how God can just see the whole of the situation and bless so many people with such small “coincidences”.
Each part of this project seems to be blessed beyond measure. For instance, one of the architects that is a part of Hearth went to discuss flooring options with an owner of a flooring company. The owner asked what the project was about during their conversation. The architect, Brian Schwiederman, explained our situation and the owner told him that he had gone through a stressful time with his son because of a brain tumor. His son is fine now, but he remembered how difficult it was to have a sick child so he offered to upgrade the flooring that they were considering at cost, minus 10% and install it for free! Brian was amazed as he did not even ask for any of it.
Another example comes from near the beginning of the project. Hearth Professionals were presenting our situation to a group of vendors and other professionals. Again, without asking, a man came forward that owns a company that does automation of switches for homes and businesses. He offered to wire the entire house so that lights would turn on automatically when someone entered the room. That doors would open and also there would be personal remotes for everyone in the house to operate most of the electronics.
When the subject of dishwashers came up, Marnie Renda, the occupational therapist that originally presented our situation to Hearth and COTF, suggested that we get a new type of dishwasher that is a single drawer. She thought two of these drawers would help then theorically we would not need to empty a dishwasher. One would be for dirty dishes and the other for clean. When the time came to order the dishwashers, Deb Witcomb, president of COTF, talked to the sales person. The salesman said that the price went up since they first discussed these dishwashers. Deb explained that the price increase put these dishwashers out of reach because of the budget. She also explained the project that she and the others were doing for our family. The salesman said that there is no negotiating room on the price as the distributer sets the price. Deb went home disappointed. Before she got home she received a call from the same salesman that said that he had called the distributer and explained our situation. The distributor not only honored the original price, but doubled the size of the dishwashers to a total of 4 drawer!
“Such light, such joy flows out from this house. It affects all who come here. You told Me it was My Home. I shall use it.” (God Calling April 18th)
The company that Hearth selected to install the tile in the bathroom also blessed us. Apparently that owner of the company had a few boxes of beautiful tile in his garage that he picked up at a low cost over 3 years ago. Hoping to use it one day, no customers wanted it. He brought it out to us and I loved it. It fit right into the color scheme of the bathroom. This is high quality tile that you would see in a 5 star hotel. This tile was installed in the house for free.
The $60,000 that needed to be raised for the project fell from the sky. Plans were made in the early stages to have a fundraiser, but they fell through. Instead, the girls were placed in a Level 1 waiver from the county that allocated funds that could be used for home accessibility. The problem was no one had ever used the funds that way. Sandy Donathan, our Support Coordinator, petitioned the state to use the money in this way. She won her case and the money was used to purchase and install the elevator and part of the kitchen. The other moneys have continued to flow in steadily over the last year.
18 months ago our family felt like it was being ripped apart. I remember vividly embracing my whole family in a circle screaming, “Satan, you will not triumph in this house! This house and the members of this house belong to the Lord! Now get!” Well, Satan continues to try. It seems with each incredible blessing some calamity comes our way like an ER visit or a broken bone, a sprained ankle or surgery. However, I still claim that we are victorious because Christ overcame the world. Now we see His victory over our circumstances in the form of this amazing transformation in our house. People who were strangers to us just 2 years ago have poured their hearts and souls into our “Extreme Home Makeover.”
I told Elizabeth and Erica that a man at church was extremely upset because, “his prayers had not worked. I wanted instant healing for your girls.” Elizabeth piped up and said, “We do have instant healing, it is just in our souls, not our bodies.” Others have suggested that maybe we are not healed from EDS because we do not want to be healed or that there is something within us that blocks our healing. What I say to that is I know that God is with us. He could not be more present to us is He were to sit in the room! I would take a lifetime of pain if it meant that God is so close to us.
