There’s No Place Like Home

The past 12 years of my life have been spent in California. A very long way from my family. Where I grew up, and where everything was familiar to me. And honestly, I thought that’s exactly where I would spend the next 12 years of my life. Although there’s no place like home, we would live in California until my husband retired from his law enforcement job. That was always the plan. And why would we not? His retirement was so good, plus we had a great thing going in California. My husband had finally landed a detective position at work. I not only had a job working for my Dad, but I was also working as an interior designer for my best friend, which was truly a dream come true! We had a nice home, wonderful friends and neighbors, and we just put a pool in our backyard. We were happy!

Working as an interior designer with my BFF was a dream come true.

Our pool that we had built and only enjoyed a few short months before we moved.

Even though I always longed to be back home in Texas with my family, life was pretty darn good! I knew the plan and knew we would get back to Texas, eventually as soon as my husband retired. But all of our plans changed suddenly with one phone call on July 2nd, 2021, and I’ll never forget it. I was at the dentist with my daughter Baylor. It was around 4 pm and my phone started to ring. I looked down and it was Emilio Leypon, an interior design client that I had been working with for several months. My first thought was, I bet he wants wallpaper. Emilio is one of the top real estate agents in our area. You can visit his website here. I had recently been to his house to pick up a check. While I was there, he asked me to look at his guest room. He was thinking about redoing this room.

Checking out Emilio’s guest room and brainstorming ideas.

The market was on fire in our area last summer and business was good for Emilio! Houses were selling for way over asking prices and for a lot more than what we had purchased our home for. I jokingly said to him, “Hey Emilio, my home is not for sale, but it’s also not, not for sale!” Just being silly. I knew my husband would never move. But with my best friend Danielle moving I just figured, why not throw it out there. Danielle, who I’ve talked about in a previous blog that you can read about here, was moving and Emilio was her realtor. I can’t even put into words how devastated I was when she told me the news. Not only was she my best friend, neighbor, and boss, but her daughter was my daughter’s best friend. And not only was she moving, but she was moving to Texas, exactly where I wanted to live.

We talked about this move for months. There were some days I couldn’t even look at her without crying. I know that sounds dramatic, but I was heartbroken. Sadly, her house was about to go on the market. On July 1st of 2021, Emilio had a private showing at her house just before it hit the market. Boy did it go well. She had several offers for way over the asking price. The next day, on July 2nd, Danielle and her husband accepted an offer and that’s exactly when Emilio called me. As stated earlier, I answered his phone call while I was at the dentist with Baylor. I assumed he wanted to discuss wallpaper. However, he had a very different conversation in mind. Emilio quickly explained to me that he was about to have to call a couple of families to break the news that their offer on Danielle’s house wasn’t accepted. He thought one of these families would really like my house so he told me to name the price of our home.

I swear to y’all the world stopped spinning. Name the price of our home? Was he kidding?? I’m pretty sure I thought he was kidding because I laughed. Was he being serious? He was serious. I named the price and immediately called my husband, who was at work. He acted like he wanted no part of this conversation. I knew it was a long shot but I told him to please think about it and to call me when he gets off work. He never called me which wasn’t a good sign. But to my surprise, when he walked through the door he was actually open to the idea of listing our house. I couldn’t believe it. I found out months later that instead of calling me on his way home he called his dad and his dad encouraged him to go for it. Thank you Bob-O!

At that time, my husband had a number in mind for our house. He agreed that we would list our house and if we got that number we would move. My dream of moving back home was actually coming true! Spoiler alert, we listed our house, it sold and we moved! We didn’t get that number my husband wanted and the family Emilio thought would want our house didn’t. But none of that mattered. It was exactly what my husband needed to hear to finally move me back home where I belong. I would have sold our house for $1 if it meant I would be able to move back home. Finally, after 12 years of praying, dreaming, hoping, and wishing it happened.

After 12 years, my dream of moving home was finally coming true.

The number 12 is a very significant number in our family. It’s the day my mom was born, the day my husband and I got married and the year my son was born. So looking back, it’s not shocking that God made me wait 12 years to get back home. Speaking of God, I give all the glory to Him for this move. Looking back now, I can see His plan all so clearly. The year my son was born was, without a doubt, the toughest year of my life. You can read more about that here. It was also the only time we ever came close to moving back to Texas.

My husband was pretty unhappy working at the courts as a sheriff deputy and was ready for a change. He started looking for police jobs in Texas. With a new baby, I desperately wanted to live by my family. So moving back to Texas just seemed to make sense! One night, he walked into the kitchen, telling me how the Chief of Police in Alameda called him and wanted him to apply to work there. I can still see the look on his face. I could tell he was so happy. Alameda is the city where my husband grew up. Seeing him so happy for this opportunity, even though I was crushed and knew it meant we weren’t going to move to Texas, I encouraged him to go for it. I thought it was finally our time to leave California. But it just wasn’t God’s perfect timing yet.

My husband getting sworn in with the City of Alameda. Wasn’t quite our time to move to Texas just yet.

Fast forward several years later. We had just moved into a new house in Discovery Bay. I was outside getting boxes when I saw two girls around my age walking down the street with kids my kid’s age. One of the girls had on a shirt that said in big letters, “TEXAS”. I couldn’t believe it. Another Texan on my street? I was so excited. I waved and said, “Oh my gosh are you from Texas? I’m from Texas!” The girl explained to me that her husband was from Texas. So that’s why she was wearing the shirt. Do you know who those two girls were? Danielle and her sister. I think it’s pretty crazy how my first conversation ever, with Danielle, was about Texas.

Weeks before Danielle and I were about to move to Texas, we were chatting on the phone when I remembered this. I said, “Danielle our first time meeting, our conversation was about Texas,” and she said back to me, “That’s when God planted the seed.” She was so right. He knew that five years later (almost exactly), she and I would both be moving there and that in the first conversation we ever had, the seed was planted.

I used to think that Danielle was placed in my life to be my best friend, and also to fulfill a dream job that I had always wanted. While she certainly was those things for me, I know now that ultimately she was placed in my life so I could get back home to Texas. If it wasn’t for Danielle moving, it would have never happened for me. When she first told me she was moving, I felt complete devastation and so much sadness. But God knew that she had to move to Texas in order for it to happen for me. Sometimes going through such sadness is all part of His plan and while it hurts at the time, it’s leading to something great!

Another example of this was when my husband got coronavirus right before Thanksgiving in November of 2020. We were supposed to spend it in Texas with my family. However, we had to cancel our trip the day before. I was so upset. It was such a lonely holiday. I was at home alone with my kids thinking of my family all being together. I had never felt further away from them.

Because we missed Thanksgiving, we decided to spend my daughter’s birthday in January with my family to make up for it. We had such an awesome time, my son decided to spend his birthday in Texas. So in June 2021, we were back for his birthday. While we were there, my parents drove us through some neighborhoods and we all daydreamed about how great it would be if we lived here. The very first neighborhood they drove us through, we fell in love with. This is now the neighborhood we live in. Had my husband not gotten coronavirus, and if we had not spent my son’s birthday in Tyler, I truly believe my husband would not have agreed to move.

Celebrating my son’s birthday in June, 2021.

My son’s birthday trip was really something special. The weather was beautiful we saw the most beautiful neighborhoods. We had the best time. If that trip wasn’t fresh on my husband’s mind, I don’t think he would had agreed to the move, the day Emilio called me. Weeks before that phone call from Emilio, I had a sudden urge to pray. I remember standing in my kitchen and I very boldly said to God, “God if you want me back in Texas make it happen.” I’m not sure where or why this sudden urge to pray came from. But I know He heard it because it was literally just a few weeks later our house was up for sale. Don’t be afraid to say bold prayers y’all!

Growing up and especially in high school, I could not wait to get out of the small town where I went to school in Whitehouse, Texas. The world was a big place and I knew it. I knew there was so much more out there than Whitehouse, and I couldn’t wait to experience it. My first move after high school graduation was to Waco to attend Baylor University. This led me to my first teaching job and moving to Austin. I then met my husband at a wedding in Las Vegas and eventually moved to California. I did experience life outside of East Texas and you know what it taught me? That the world is a big place, but there is no place like home. I left home once, but I will never leave again.

My parents drove us through the most beautiful neighborhoods. We checked this one out literally on our way to the airport to go home.

The day we moved to Texas. Not the best picture of me, but I think you can see how happy I was.

Not living by your family is so tough and if you have a choice, don’t leave them! Having your family close by is truly priceless! For years my mom would say to my kids, “Don’t you want to live with me and go to Whitehouse High School?” We would always laugh because we never thought it would happen. It did. We did end up living with my mom for two months. This was while our house was being built and my kids were going to school in Whitehouse. I couldn’t be more grateful! Talk about the law of attraction!

I want to end the blog post with this. Never lose faith. Pray and trust God. He has got you right where He wants you. And if and when He wants you somewhere else, believe that it will happen. It took 12 years. But man, when God was ready, it happened. It happened so quickly my head is still spinning. From the day Emilio called me, to the day we moved was just 43 days. Some days I wake up and still can’t believe I am back home. What I thought was going to take years to happen, God made happen in just a matter of weeks. Whatever it is your heart is longing for, never lose faith. Because I have no doubt that when His timing is right, it will happen. Then, you can see His plan all so clearly!