Just a "Tid Bit".......
It's been 3 years ago this week I was driving through Grand Rapids while working and saw that the house that Don has been inlove with for over 33 years was for sale........I then called him and told him you will never believe what house is up for sale! (You see, on Sundays to get away from our kids we would come up and sit on the swing behind LaRoe's and just take in the peacefulness that Grand Rapids offers. We felt home here and drempt of someday living here so we could just go outside and see this place that was heaven to us. Before we would go home he would say, "lets go see my house! And we'd drive around the house 2 times and the second time we would always have to get out of the car and peak over the fence and he'd say, can you imagine what it would be like to have that garden and house? Tid bit - he did this with his ex wife also! lol this was always his dream. He's been to every applebutter festival. It's the highlight of his year! I hide during applebutter fest. I'm not a crowd person. I like peace and mountains and water and trees. lol... he loves NOISE!) so back to the story... sorry :) When I told him what house was up for sale his exact words (not mine) were... "For Shits and Giggles", lets just go through it so I can see my dream house just once! So I called Lance Tyo up and set up a time and we arrived to tour what was Larry Dillin's house of Levis Commons. We got as far as the dining room and Don stopped and just stood looking out the window and I asked him what he was doing and he replied, "I'm making a mental picture - I want to remember this view forever". :) Wow! We had no idea God's plan for us! No idea. I have always known that I was created to be a servant. I LOVE to serve people, to take care of their desires, details and needs. Don has always loved this house. Lance went back to Larry and told him about my experience with living in Lake Tahoe area and running a 15 bedroom bed and breakfast and all our dreams of what this house needed to be used for and Larry asked to meet us. We met. Larry saw my passion for giving back to the needy and those wanting to be a part of an old 1883 historical home by starying there and experiencing all we have to offer. And now it's The Housley House Bed and Breakfast, named after Richard A. Housley who built it for his second wife and step-daughter. So the moral of this story is - when you have a passion and you try to forget it and not let the flame build inside of you - sometimes God doesn't let it blow out! Sometimes it lets it stay hidden until you turn the corner and he ignites the flame of passion within you with a great big phewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww and all at once the vision is clear and you have an WOW moment and you know that it didn't happen because of you. It was all HIM doing it because it was far better than you could ever have dreamed!
To further this story just a tad...... and sometimes, you know that you are where you are suppose to be , because He shows you that too. I have had a brass candleobra for years. Since I was in my early 20s. And that candleobra was given to me by a friend, it was enjoyed all through a previous marriage, it was taken on a road trip to a new life, once, it should have been stolen when everything else I owned was, it was given then, by me to a dear friend who I thought could enjoy it more than I because I was a single mom, having alot of trials and learning lessons, and then a week before we moved into Don's dream house, she gave it back to me and said now you enjoy it. You have the beautiful home now and the man who adores you. :) So it came full circle back to me. But the store doesn't end. Larry Dillin called me and said he left us somethings that he couldn't use anymore that we might want for our B&B and we were so excited. And we arrived to see the things. Some had been gone through by other hands that shouldn't have. but :) that is ok... life isn't about "things" to me. It is about connection, relationships and love :) As we walked into the dining room, sitting on the floor in the center was a matching brass candleobra! Same company. Same everything. And the best part. Larry's never seen or been told about mine! Now..... with all my heart I know I am where I'm suppose to be, loving a home that I'm suppose to be in and being around a beautiful town of people that I adore! And God gets you where he wants you to be! That candleobra tells me that :)
