The middle of the house story (also known as 'The Amazing Lady We Hope to Buy a House From')

I know it's ridiculous when I do four posts in a day, but that seems to be the way blogging is for me. Silence for weeks, then motivation that equals a spurt of several all at once. Oh well. This is my version of scrapbooking, so I guess it serves its purpose however the posts get up.

So anyway, that night I was thinking through how everything could work out, worrying a bit about large up front costs like a riding lawn mower and hating the idea of another person waiting on our house to sell. The next morning I got an email from her that said that she would be leaving the riding lawn mower with the house and that she wanted us to know that she was not in any hurry to move. She believed that God knew the best timing to work everything out, and if it happened right away, she could work with that, but she would be willing to wait on us to buy her house if it took a year.

It was so sweet of her, to begin with, but then just felt like an awesome gift of love from God that He responded to my two biggest worries about the house the morning after I'd been struggling with trust. Each step just feels like another down the road of learning to believe and trust more.

So we went and looked at the house again a couple of weeks ago with the kids (they love it, by the way). I meant to take her a gift, but forgot to get around to it. And guess what? Instead, the lady was baking homemade braided bread and sent a loaf home with us. It was delicious and gone before we got home. (It WAS lunch time.) :)

We continue to communicate, and almost always she says something that is uplifting and faith affirming. Yesterday I called to ask her about a survey, and she told me how she had thought of it about three weeks ago and had just received it from the bank this week. She told me how their paperwork was not in order as far as being prepared for a death, but that right before she needs something, she thinks of it, or it shows up. She told me how she just feels God is leading her through every step.

Today I went to pick up the copy of the survey. I was glad to have a cute little Christmas baggie of caramels to bring to her. (And by little I mean it easily fits in your hand.) I called to let her know when I was coming, and she asked if I could wait 10 minutes. I figured she needed to get dressed or something, but when I got there I found out that thiswas the reason.

She had done a cookie baking party for some girls and was giving us a bunch of stuff from the event, in addition to other stuff. She told me that she didn't want any of it back. Not even the cake stand or the basket.


This gingerbread bag had these delicious sweets inside.

This picnic basket has cookie dough, her own cookbook, tons and tons of cookie decorating tools, candies, fancy frostings, etc.
I thanked her and said, "Seriously, it just goes on and on with you, doesn't it?!"

How do you respond to these kinds of things? These gifts are the types of things I think would be fun to do with my kids at Christmas (but even far beyond what I dream of), but they rarely happen. I guess I just hope that someday when my kids are grown that I take the time to do this kind of things for others. Knowing her has been such a blessing to us in so many ways.