I picked up the phone and heard my sister’s ecstatic voice on the line. “WE HAVE SOMEONE INTERESTED IN THE HOUSE!”  My heart sang and I smiled. I could hardly believe my ears! This was good news, and a very big thank you was owed to St. Joseph.

Going back to the beginning….

My sister Shell and I have been best friends since I was born. She waited patiently for me for 6.5 years and squealed with delight when she found out she had a sister! We loved each other dearly and spent every moment together. Our days were spent playing Barbies, making fairy houses, and nearly killing ourselves a couple times (much to our Mother’s grief!) Those were the golden years!

Years flew by and soon we were both grown. Shell married back in 2007, just before I turned 18.

I then met my now husband Stephen shortly after I turned 18 and had a whirlwind courtship and we got married in the summer of 2009. I moved to Phoenix. It was devastating to move so far away from my family, especially my sister. We had no idea if we’d ever move back, but we knew it was very unlikely.

Shell and I talked frequently and dreamt that someday we would live closer and our children would grow up as best friends. If only it could happen!

My husband and I bought a house and settled and called Arizona our home. Four years passed and we welcomed 3 handsome sons into our family.

Shell called me one day and told me that the house they were trying to sell had been sitting on the market for over a year with NO bites. They were under two mortgages and were desperate to get their other house sold.

My sister and I decided that very day that we would begin praying the St. Joseph novena asking for his intercession. We figured that if it was God’s will, he would let something happen so that we could live closer to each other and see our children grow up together. It was a crazy prayer, a very impossible intention at that point, but we had great faith! Shell was also praying that they would sell their house.

On the last day of our 30 day novena, my sister called me with the news. Someone had just contacted her and wanted to rent to own the house they had been trying to sell!

We began a second novena….

I still remember the day clearly. My husband Stephen broke the news to me suddenly.

One evening he blurted “I got a job offer in Washington!!!!”

I sat there stunned, my head whirling. At first I didn’t know whether to believe it was true.

“Wait….Are you serious?”

He absolutely was!

I called my sister in a flurry with the news and she, like me, could hardly believe it. We both laughed and cried with joy. Could this REALLY be happening?

With the second 30 day St. Joseph novena complete, we began a third, begging his intercession for our house to sell.

Sell it did…Almost immediately after we put it up for sale. Everything fell into place so perfectly and without a hitch.

The day our house closed and we had $20,000 profit from it transferred into our bank account was also the day my husband got a confirmation that the job was absolute in Washington and we were moving!

Moving day came mid-January 2014. We packed up our vehicle, said our goodbyes and hit the road. It was the beginning of a new adventure and a trip that proved dangerous and very scary!

We prayed hard, and finally made it to our new rental home and settled in.

My sister and I were only FIVE minutes away from each other! We laughed in glee that such a miraculous thing happened to us! We could drink coffee, spend the day together and watch our children play. We do not for a day take our situation for granted!

After a year in our rental house, we knew that we were ready to buy a house in the area.

The housing market was poor. I checked the listings daily and felt more and more disheartened.

One day, a house popped up onto the market as a new listing. The house was beautiful, well taken care of and had 5 bedrooms, a generator attached directly to the house, its own well and it sat on nearly 5 acres. It was too good to be true!

I called my realtor immediately and told him I wanted to see the house IMMEDIATELY!

We made an appointment the next day and went to see the house. Our realtor opened the door and when we walked into the house I knew, immediately that this was our house. It was even more beautiful in person then in the pictures.

We made an offer on the house THAT day and offered over asking price!

This was right before Christmas and we prayed for a Christmas miracle! We continued praying the St. Joseph novena daily since we first began about 1.5 years ago and now we begged for his intercession once again.

We waited anxiously as the day approached that the owners would be viewing the offers. Apparently we were not the only ones who made a quick offer on the house, there were several sitting on the desk and the house had only been on the market 4 days!

Finally, after what seemed like forever, I got the anticipated call from our realtor.

Our realtor said “I have good news and bad news…” The bad news is that several of the offers were much better than yours…” My heart sunk. “However, the good news is that the sellers accepted YOUR offer out of all of them!!!!”

I stood there shocked, in completely disbelief.

We finally signed several months later. We had a VA loan and it proved to be extremely difficult. We almost lost the deal several times, but miracle after miracle happened and things kept falling into place slowly, no matter how hopeless it felt at times!

I was pregnant at this time, about 4 months along.

We were finally able to rest easy as we settled into our beautiful new home and awaited the arrival of our 4th child.

June rolled around quickly as we enjoyed our days in our new house and soon I was in labor.

I prayed asking for St. Joseph’s intercession and protection again as I was home alone when labor began and quickly progressed.

My husband and midwife got to our house just in time to witness the gentle birth of our 4th son.

We named him Joseph Andrew, after our patron saint and dear friend St. Joseph.

St. Joseph has protected us diligently and 4 years after we began the St. Joseph novena, we continue praying it DAILY.

If you have an impossible situation in your life, pray the St. Joseph novena. I promise you he will be there. In honor of his feast day, I share my testimony of this 30 day St. Joseph novena!

St. Joseph, Pray for us!