Janie Begins…
It was deep in the holiday season in Branson. Jim and I, and our five children, were enjoying all of the wonderful Christmas shows when Jim awoke one morning with a song coursing through his thoughts—“I Wish I Was In The Land Of Cotton.”1 He knew that our expedition was finally over and that it was time to return to the gulf Coast, where we were from. Early one morning, after giving proper notice to our employers and a few weeks of preparation, Jim left Branson for the Mississippi gulf Coast. We were secure in our plan that I would finish some business for my job, complete the condominium inspection, and turn in the key. We had determined that two of the kids, Kellie and Christopher, would accompany me and leave for home later that day. However, as soon as Jim and the other three children left, the snow started falling, and the roads began quickly icing. As anyone that has been to Branson, Missouri knows, all the roads are winding and very hilly with steep drop-offs on each side of a two-lane roller-coaster ride around the city. Jim was pulling our 23' travel trailer with our conversion-van fully overloaded, and he was heading home to the Mississippi gulf Coast.
Because of my brief delay in leaving, I found myself checked out of our condo and stranded, with my car fully loaded. I tried to head to the highway, but my car slid down a hill, and I knew that leaving was no longer an option. The way the snow was now falling, I didn’t know how long it would be before I could get on the highway. After spending my first night at a motel hoping for the snow to stop, I started doing some earnest praying. Mary came to my mind. She was a lady that I had made acquaintance with upon our arrival in Branson nine months earlier, but I had not spoken to her since. After a call and telephone visit, she informed me that she was now running a homeless shelter and a place for women to stay. What a miraculous surprise! She insisted that we come and stay at her home, so my children and I took her up on the offer.
I was with Mary in her shelter when I first heard the impressionable words in my mind, “Homeless by God’s Design.” It was 1995 and with me were my two oldest children. Christopher was about 16 years old; Kellie, our daughter with special needs, was 17. With just those four powerful words I knew what the LORD was telling me. Because what was strongly on my mind just before the moment I heard those four words was “Why, LORD? Why did my family take this seemingly crazy journey to Kansas, to return via Branson, Missouri, and now back to Biloxi, Mississippi where it all began just three short years ago?” God knew the answer all along, but was now confirming to me that the entire trip was completely orchestrated…by Him.
Later, after receiving the title for this book, Jim and I discussed the countless strange occurrences that took place during the journey, and finally all of the experiences that we encountered during our excursion came into a much clearer focus. I have no doubt now that God took us through this three-year journey, a homeless experience, so that we would be able to help others as they find themselves in the same situation. That day in the homeless shelter I knew that Jim and I had been primed to write this book about our experiences. We began working on the book after returning to the Mississippi gulf Coast in 1995.
When we first began writing the book, we thought that a book to help prepare average Americans that may find themselves homeless would have little believability, so we shelved the manuscript. Then after we experienced Hurricane Katrina first-hand in 2005, seeing tens of thousands made homeless within a 24-hour period, we realized that it was time to dust off the book and bring it up to date. Because of Hurricane Katrina, both of our parents lost their homes and all of their possessions. Personally, we were in and out of our home while it was being repaired, and both of our businesses were greatly affected. The entire gulf Coast seemed as if it had been wiped off the face of the earth— well, everything within about three blocks of the beach or waterways was wiped off the face of the earth. Thousands of homes and businesses in Mississippi and Louisiana were severely ravaged leaving thousands homeless in one day. Although we then recognized the need to publish our book, with all of the daily challenges, several more years would pass before we could pull the manuscript together to completion.