What we really need is a house that is fully furnished!

When you lose everything in a fire, there are some immediate needs. Denisa's Mother, Betty, had to leave her home in a very big hurry, and she didn't have time to grab anything but her purse and rings. So the first thing that must be replaced is all the prescription medication that burned up in the fire. The next thing to shop for is basic clothing, as she didn't have anything except the clothes on her back. Friends brought over all the toiletries that were needed that first night. When all the flurry of those first days was over, we had to start the process of looking for a new place for Denisa's Mother to live.

Because Betty is 91, it might be a good time to move closer to her two daughters that live in the Oklahoma City area. But she really would prefer to stay in her life-time home town. We soon found that the limited rental houses in this tiny town were all full. We're going to have to do lots of shopping to furnish a house--she'll need a new mattress, couch, television, recliner, table, chairs . . . The shopping list also includes dishes, sheets, towels, silverware . . . What we really need is a house that is fully furnished!

But that's a crazy request!?! Betty would say that the next thing was a miracle. Denisa's Mother visits friends in the local nursing home every Sunday afternoon. One of her life-long friends has been there for four years, and just this week she is putting her house on the market. Guess what? She is leaving everything in it--all the furniture, most of the dishes, mattresses, towels, and even sheets and blankets for the beds. The realtor in town told us that she had never had a house listing like this one. It's just what we needed.

Some would say that the house is a bit dated, but a 91-year-old thinks that it is lovely just the way it is!

The only problem with this house is that it also includes the personal property that we don't need. A sudden stroke meant that the house was left in a hurry, so it took an unusual amount of cleaning to get everything ready to move in. Five of us spent 4 long days working all day long, and then Mark and Denisa stayed another week fixing and cleaning things.

No one has lived here for years, and no maintenance has happened for even longer than that. Lots of things needed to be fixed. The plants on the outside were overgrown and rubbing on the roof and siding. We took out trees and bushes, and trimmed all the shrubbery. Mark had a long list of honey-do projects! We would wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about all the things that needed to be done.

The owner of the house also agreed to let Betty move in right away, even before the sale on the house closed. So we haven't blogged much, and that's because we have been very busy. This house was certainly a lot of work! But Betty is feeling blessed through it all that we found a house that is fully furnished.