We woke up to overcast skies, humid low temps, and an extra excitement in our step because today we decided to go to Waco, Texas!

Since Hannah's back fusion one year ago and being bedridden and in a wheelchair for 3 months, we had the opportunity to finally watch all of the seasons of Fixer Upper starring Chip and Joanna Gaines. We watched as they developed their local town of Waco and turned the little downtown into a destination at The Silos complete with Home store, food trucks, a church, shops, common areas, and a bakery.
We couldn't only be 1.5 hours away and extra time in our schedule and NOT GO!

We drove about an hour and then dropped Chuck off to ride into Waco (and keep his legs fresh!)

After finally finding a parking spot for Howie 1.5 blocks from the Silos after a parking attendant pointed along the street and called out, “That is free parking right there.”
We had to of course thank her and this gave Chuck the opportunity to share our story. Rose shared that her husband had just passed away 10 days prior and we were amazed she was volunteering her time as a parking lot attendant for her local church’s benefit. All the local lots are paid parking for the tourists. She got extra hugs, our T-shirt and a tip for being so lovely and kind!

Welcome to The Silos at Magnolia

The first thing we found was a guest book to sign…

We met these lovely ladies Connie and Kim

And Young Dae working the Food truck sharing samples and his amazing story of losing his mom to cancer.
(He is also friends with Joanna's sister having gone to school with her. We immediately felt the small town vibe!)

We enjoyed lunch from the food trucks!

Soon we found ourselves playing wiffleball with Jax

We met beautiful Anne a fellow Thriver visiting the area to help care for her sister.

And went to the church that Joanna had moved there.

Then we met Dana and Nancy. Dana shared her crazy stories of 4 time cancer diagnosis, broken bones, joint replacements and we walked away inspired!

A few shops and cute little mugs

We met Mark & Debbie Blum in the last shop (I call it Chip’s shop) and shared our story. They asked if we could go outside and if they could pray over us.
That answer is ALWAYS YES!

Our eyes were leaking and our hearts were FULL after those beautiful prayers. We love how God sends His people to encourage us at just the right moment!

We met Oliver and his 3 children who instantly loved Jax. The little boy promptly told us he was renaming Jax to “Black, Brown and White!” and one of the daughters gave him the best scratches - he just MELTED!

One of the store employees told us to tell our story to the manager at the main store. Everyone loved Jax!

We met Chris and he took notes as we told him our story to share with the other managers and “higher ups.” Our goal is to always share our story to encourage their faith and give God the glory.

The employees are allowed to gift people “Celebration Cupcakes” and we received two!!

That didn't stop Chuck from going into the Bakery!

We climbed back into Howie exhausted. A good exhausted. Read Hannah's experience below about someone she met outside.
We found a restaurant and gobbled up some dinner before we headed to RV site we found 15 minutes away, immediately booking two nights so we could clean Howie and our dirty clothes and bicycle. We traveled down a road into a farm with goats, a river, and acres of grass. The cool wind was blowing through the windows.
We shared a cinnamon roll in the fading light and climbed into bed just blown away by the day that had transpired.

BONUS Stories: from Waco, Texas

Hannah:

I've always been a bit of a neat freak. Maybe it's the fact that I've been an Operating Room nurse much of my life and it was my job to do warfare on germs.

This trip has helped me push past my boundaries in more ways than one.

After spending 5 hours or so sharing our story at Magnolia at the Silos with all sorts of lovely people including a very moving time of being prayed over, we wearily climbed back in Howie to look for dinner before we pulled into our campground.

Since most parking lots aren't suited for RV sized rigs, Chuck drove into the parking lot in front of a restaurant to drop me off. A few cars were trying to get out of the parking lot behind us and had to wait for me to climb down with Jax.

Someone honked and I heard Chuck apologize with a "My wife has cancer" apology - it's certainly why I climb up and down more slowly these days as I'm recovering from fractures #6, 7, and 8 in my pelvis.

I heard a voice say, "Your wife has cancer? I do too!" And saw a slightly unkempt woman call to me from between the cars.

Carrying a small bag and a small cardboard sign gave me clues that she was down and out, struggling with more than I was today. Her hair showed a growing in buzz cut and her pink tank top was dirty.

"You have cancer?" she asked me. "I have brain cancer! And I have to have surgery on it next week."

"Wow, I just had brain radiation 2 months ago," I told her.

"I'm scared," her voice quivered, "I'm going to pray for you," she told me.

Her name was Wanda. Her parents had both died the year before, 1 month apart l, and today was Wanda's 60th birthday she told me. She said she had fallen weeks before and woke up in the hospital with news of her brain cancer.

I asked Wanda if I could pray over her and she immediately began to weep. I placed my hand on her and began to pray for help and healing and restoration over her body and her life. We were both weeping and she clutched me tight in an embrace.

"I needed that so bad," she said.

I searched in my wallet and found a few bills and saw Chuck walk over and gave her what was in his wallet.

She embraced me again, I could feel her deep desperation to be seen. To be loved. To be touched.

"God sees you and loves you," I whispered as she wept into my shoulder.

It was a drop in the bucket for her issues. I know that. But it was what I had today - a prayer of Hope and healing and perhaps a meal or two to fill her stomach. But most of all it was a reminder to her that the God who created her knew her by name and saw her, because as His ambassador, His hands and feet, I saw her.

I walked into that restaurant and sank into the booth in a pile of tears, overwhelmed by her pain and knowing that the God of the universe had just used me to hold her and share His love.

The Spirit dropped this phrase on me "when you did it to the least of these, you were doing it to me" from Matthew 25:40.

I had to go look it up and read the passage.

“For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’”

““And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25:35, 36, 40‬ ‭

All of the sudden I'm thinking of Darrel and Keith and Cathy and now Wanda. Over and over, He has been stretching my "comfort level" and giving me opportunities to share. I don't HAVE to do it, but when we do, He shows us His heart for "the least of these, the broken hearted, and the hurting." I get to extend His love to them in very easy practical ways and it's seriously changing my heart in ways I haven't known before. And I pray that they experience His love.