A few months ago the popular TV series came to our area and built a home fro a very needed family, not only a home, but a very large home in a weeks time, all volunteers, materials and labor, for the collins family. 6000 sqaure feet I think.
They had one young child with cancer and had adopted 3 others after the death of the children's parents in an auto accident. They were living in a house of 1000 square feet. 7 of them with 2 bedrooms. The article below was written by a lady, my second cousin. I trust you will get as much of a blessing out of this article as I did. I know many of you have experience the same extreme makeover in their life as Jackie and myself.
Extreme Makeover by Jackie Pierce
The recent events of the Collins family Extreme Makeover project had been in my peripheral line of attention while underway, but with a makeover project of my own in progress I did not have time to keep abreast of the activities taking place in the town of Murfreesboro, Arkansas. My husband and I had bought a small house in Texarkana where we live in anticipation of giving it a light face lift and turning it into a rental property. When we closed on the property on December 15, 2006, little did I know it would take us three long months of hard labor every night after work until we could push no further, all day every Saturday, and between church services on Sunday to complete what had originally seemed to be a walk in the park.
Having just completed this task, I have finally had a chance to catch up on many things, including the mountain of e-mail I have glanced at over the last several months but not fully dealt with until now. Today as I reopened a letter from my uncle who lives in Murfreesboro and had taken part in the Extreme Makeover working with the local crew on the Collins Family project, I took time to go to the link of the Real Steel Home web site he had included in the e-mail. Now that I am not constantly painting, spackling, or ripping up three layers of 25 year old vinyl floor covering, I felt like taking a look through the photo album on the web site in hopes of catching a glimpse of my uncle or anyone else I might know who had been captured in a photo during the process. I also wanted to see how they could totally tear down a house and in only a few short days rebuild the beautiful home I had seen on the Texarkana news, especially since it had taken us three months to simply spruce up a house about the size of the one the Collins family lived in to start with.
My mother was born and raised in Murfreesboro, and most of my family members have lived there all of their lives. She has told me the story many times of the Ponder quads, whom evidently put Murfreesboro on the map sixty or seventy years ago and now I see a man mention that event on our local news and tell how that was the last big thing that had gone on around those parts until now.
When I was a little girl I spent many days at Granny and Papaw’s house located on the road now called Chaney Trace. Some of my fondest memories are of hours spent camping and fishing on Lake Greason. There I would make endless casts at the water below the steep rocks lining the mouth of the entrance to Parker Creek as Papaw would patiently scuttle a small aluminum boat around just for me. Although I have never had the privilege of being counted among the ________ inhabitants of record listed on the population sign found on highway 27 approaching Murfreesboro, I have often made the comment that my roots are planted deep in the soil that makes up the small town.
As I now looked through the multitude of photos, fanning each one in search of a familiar face, I am dumbfounded by the obvious prowess of architectural and engineering skills evidenced in the time-lapse type pictures showing the erection of the beautiful home. I’m sure that the program scheduled for air on _____________ will give more depth and detail than I am seeing, but I have to tell you… I’m impressed. And there, standing in the back of a small group of hard-hat wearing, blue T-shirt clad volunteers stood Unc giving the thumbs up. I smile with love at the sight of him. He has been a source of strength and a constant over the course of my now almost fifty year life. I expected nothing less than to see him take part in this unselfish project of benevolence to help his fellow man.
While approaching the photos toward the end where the infamous words of “MOVE THAT BUS!” were to be shouted and the house was to be revealed to the family, I was struck by a thought of comparison. There were many shots of the family standing and looking forward in anticipation. Then as the bus was rolled away and their eyes began to focus on their new home, just as before with the time-lapse photography, it was as though the faces of each family member went in slow motion from hopeful anticipation, frame by frame, to joyful celebration. As I clicked through each frame on my computer I could not help but think “WOW, this is how it will be when the Lord comes back.” As each of God’s family stands looking into the eastern sky with hopeful anticipation, one day the clouds will roll back and the sky will open as our Lord appears to take his children home. Our eyes will begin to focus, frame by frame, as our new home comes into view. I can only imagine what that will be like, but I know that this little Arkansas girl will be joyfully celebrating.
As tears began to roll down my cheeks I wanted to shout “MOVE THAT BUS!” I thank God every day that he did a REAL Extreme Makeover in my life. God took a broken-down life that was filled with earthy decay and transformed it into a new creation. Though my earthly body shows the age of the near fifty years it has served me, my spirit is daily renewed by Gods Holy Spirit and will never grow old. Like the tuxedo reserved in the grooms name for his wedding day, there has been a robe of white prepared for the day when the Lord will return to gather his church, and it has my name on it. The bible says that we are to anxiously awaiting his returning.
I know that the Collins Family is rejoicing today in their new earthly home, but from what I have read about them they are thanking the author of all miracles and praising God from whom all blessings flow.
GLORY BE TO GOD! ... MOVE THAT BUS!