Barton family moves from OC to Central Valley!

Over the years we have been open to the idea of moving closer to my family. I have prayed for God to open and close doors as I have felt so torn on what would be best for our family as a whole. Orange County offers Jax some pretty incredible opportunities as far as alternative therapy and specialized resources. But, my family lives in the Central Valley where I grew up. Now that we have two kids and Jonny’s job takes him away for days at a time, support for me and the girls is also a huge priority. 

In the summer of 2019 we started looking for a house in Visalia. We made one offer in November but other than that we hadn’t fallen in love with anything we saw. So, we just let it go and continued to pray for God’s direction and provision for our family. 

My prayer was for doors to fling open and doors to slam shut. I prayed for the details to be so intricately woven and worked together that it would undeniably be God’s hands in our situation. I have asked for “our story” to be written in such a way that we could not have come up with the details on our own.

We prayed specifically for:

• A one story house so Jaxlee could be more independent
• An open floor plan so she could play and walk with ample space
• A pool to save us from the summer heat and to provide Jaxlee with at-home therapy opportunities (the pool is SO good for her!)
• Awesome neighbors
• A great school for Jaxlee

Then this past February, we visited family for the weekend and checked out a few homes. As we were getting ready to leave Orange County, our realtor texted me with a house that just hit the market. As I was swiping through the listing photos… I was like YES.

We made arrangements to see it that night once we got up there. You guys, EVERYTHING on our list was checked off. Every single one of our prayers came to fruition in this home. 

Once we saw the house, it was confirmed that we loved it just as much in person as we did when we first saw it on the internet. The following day we put our offer in. 

That Saturday was an open house, so I took the opportunity to show my mom and Jax (also, I wanted to see it again!).  When we pulled up there were easily 8-9 other cars ready to check it out as well. As we were walking up to the house, the seller’s realtor stood at the doorway to greet us. He kindly offered to move the rug for Jax so she could walk on through. I thanked him and said she was fine to walk over it. 

As soon as Jax got in the door, he told us how his daughter used to have a walker just like Jax. He started asking all sorts of questions about her history and her story.  We chatted for a bit and continued on through the house. We went into the backyard and the realtor came out and spoke with my mom, Jax, and I. He got emotional and started to tell me he had such an affection for Jaxlee because of his very own daughter with Cerebral Palsy. He reminisced about his daughter at Jaxlee’s age and how hard the road has been. He said none understands, nobody gets what we go through. 

I choked back my own tears as I listened to him speak. I wanted to know more about his daughter and where she was today. He told me she is 12 and doing great. She is in gen ed and is verbal. She still struggles with various things but overall doing really well. We went back and forth a bit longer and he closed the conversation with, “I’m going to do everything I can to make this house happen for Jax.”

Let’s just say I was grateful to be wearing sunglasses that are the size of the sun covering half my face.

Well if that wasn’t a God connection, how else do you explain it? Every little detail I prayed for was embodied in this house. Details starting way back into last summer that have accumulated over time to amount to this very moment. A moment that I could not have worked together on my own even if I tried!! This is the house that God had planned for us all along, within his timing and his reason.

My point in sharing all this is to encourage you. Even if you don’t see it, He is working. Even if you don’t feel it, He is moving. Continue to trust him with your whole heart. Continue to trust him with your whole plan. And when it comes to fruition, his divine plan will be written into every single detail that it will be an undeniable testimony of faith.

xoxo,

Emily