Almost anyone who meets Wendy Baker, a lower income single mother of four, leaves inspired. After our paths first crossed some years ago, I went to visit Wendy at her modest Fauquier County, VA home.
There I found a woman who took every hardship in life with a smile and whose answer to each dilemma was a "plan to trust God." Her cozy, split foyer home was full of love. She slept on the couch at night so each child could be in a room. She raised chickens for eggs, goats for milk, diligently homeschooled her children and cleaned her church to help pay the bills.
Perhaps most defining is that she looked for others who needed more help than she did and ended up taking in many foster children to care for and love as her own.
I visited her as often as possible dropping by vegetables from my garden in the summer and wild venison in the winter, leaving re-inspired each time.
Just before Christmas in 2011 Wendy got a phone call from her neighbor that her home may be on fire. By the time she arrived, her home was fully engulfed in flames.
Firefighters and dozens of friends were already there on her street to give her hugs and support. Everything she had was up in smoke. The family pets, photos and home were gone. She and the children were safe.
When the time was right, I began the emotional process of selling her home and helping her relocate. She wanted a home that could accommodate more children to help. I found a builder to purchase the lot with the burned structure. We were able to secure a beautiful, colonial foreclosure for her to call home near her extended family in Fredericksburg, VA.
For my small part as her Realtor I could not have been more honored to be able to help this family. Buying this home was a peaceful beginning to a new chapter in their life.
One might think Wendy Baker could take a breath and relax on her front porch now. One might think...instead she's still spending her time reaching out to help anyone who needs it more than her. She is currently recovering well from donating a kidney to save the life of another woman in the community, raising sweet children and inspiring others with her outlook on life.
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