Memorial Box Monday ~ 112 W. Park

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Memorial Box Monday ~ 112 W. Park

In July 0f 2002, our family returned to the U.S. after a three year tour in Okinawa, Japan. Our next assignment would be taking us to San Antonio, Texas. Before heading for Texas we took leave in Michigan, to spend time with our families. It was a wonderful time of catching up with loved ones after having lived so very far away. After two weeks or so of vacation, Bryan headed to San Antonio to "house hunt" and to begin his new job. The kids and I stayed behind in Michigan to soak up a little more summer, and to give Bryan time to preview houses.

Each evening Bry would call to check in. We didn't have the convenience of cell phones yet, so there were no hourly updates, no text messaging, and no "play by play" as Bry looked at house . . .after house . . . after house with the realtor.

We had been praying all along that the Lord would lead us where He wanted us. Yet, each day, Bry's house hunting report was the same-- too much money for the size . . . too crammed together with the neighboring houses . . . good price-- but needs too much work . . . not a good neighborhood . . . not a good drive to work . . . school system less than desirable. So it went for several tiring days, with each day being a little more frustrating than the day before.

At the end of the week, at the end of yet another phone update, there were still no houses on the maybe list. I prayed with Bry, "Lord, we KNOW that You have a neighborhood for us, we know that You have a house, will you please show us where it's at?"

Bry replied, "I need a sign. I need a really big sign."

I added to our prayer, "Lord, would you please give us a really big sign?"

The next day, Bry called again. "How would you feel about living in a small town, about 30 miles south of San Antonio?" (He went on to say that it was about the size of the Michigan town we had both grown up in-- pop. 4,000)

My immediate reponse was, "What is the name of the town?" Looking back, this question seems a little odd, since I really didn't know any small Texas towns. Nevertheless, that is the first thing that came out of my mouth.

Bry's answer?

"Devine"

"Divine?" (insert silent gulp)

Yes, with an "e".

"Uh, Bry, I think that might be our sign. Our really big sign."

And so it was that 112 West Park, in Devine, Texas, became our home for the next three years. You can't tell by the picture, but it was a sprawling house, with a very large addition that went off the back of the 70 year old original home. It had four bedrooms, two baths, a huge living room/dining room, and a game room that by itself was nearly the size of other homes we have lived in--no kidding.

It also had an overgrown back yard (that had been used as a horse pasture, yes-- in town), red shag carpet in the master bedroom, 70's wallpaper in the kitchen (and it was not vintage cute, I assure you), a sinking floor in the game room, a slowly falling ceiling in the living room --and other interesting quirks. Along with the horse outside, there had been several pets living inside, including cats--which means when we did our final walk through, my eyes swelled nearly shut. Nice.

Every small Texas town has a Dairy* Queen. Really they do. Just ask anyone from Texas. Of course this was where we went to celebrate our new home. Let's just say, at that point, I was finding the whole scenario less than divine. I went in the bathroom of Dairy* Queen, and. I. cried. Oh, yes I did.

It got better. Much better.

I prayed that the Lord would put anything, anything under that red-shag-allergy-laden-carpet, in the master bedroom. It was going to have to come out immediately. I walked in the house, our house now, pulled back a corner of the carpet . . . and shouted for JOY! Gorgeous hard wood floors. Divine!

My dad and step-mom came to visit from Michigan. They had the awful wallpaper down in no time! Cheery yellow paint nicely covered the old walls, and many other small jobs were taken care of too-- by my carpenter daddy! My in-laws came to visit and my mother-in-law made it her task to spend countless hours on a tall ladder removing a very girlie wallpaper boarder (again--horses) from Brady's room. My father-in-law completed many of the "honey-do" jobs, and beautifully rebuilt the backyard fence, as a surprise. Divine. The Lord provided someone from our new church to redo the falling ceiling, for a very good price!

The house that I had cried over, quickly became our comfortable home, and Devine became a place where precious memories would be made. There was my first driver-- Bryce, along with his first car. Small town homecomings, and proms. A big promotion for Bryan was celebrated at this address . . .

Our special delivery, Brogan, came home to Devine.

Bryce graduated high school in Devine.

and in the same graduating class with Bryce,

was a Devine native,

known as Frankie . . .

and now known as my son-in-law!

We now have forever ties, to that little Texas town.

Into our Memorial Box, will go a picture of the sign that you see when you drive into town. I need to have the Newly's take a pic, the next time they go. For now I will leave you with the words from the town website-- they read the same as the sign . . .

As we go through this life, things happen, times change, decisions have to be made . . .

Thank you Lord, that when we come to these crossroads of life, and we ask for You to give us a sign of direction, a really big sign, You answer!

Blessings from my nest ~

Tina

~ After three years in Devine, we were transferred to a base in Florida (and sold our Devine house--another God story). Two years later, Bryan received a new assignment back to Texas, this time at a different base, on the northeast corner of San Antonio. For now, we are happily living in base housing-- there is no red shag carpeting, but there are hard wood floors. For that I am grateful!