Two families who live in very different circumstances were brought together this Christmas by the unlikely occurrence of each of the two families experiencing a house fire closely followed by the birth of a child. Although the two fires happened seven years apart, Flower Mound resident Tausha Cox said when she heard through a radio station’s Christmas Wish program about a family in Canton who lost everything in a fire last month and had a newborn two days later, her family decided to take action. The resulting chain of events resulted in employees of the Highland Village Wal-Mart store getting involved, and a young family who had absolutely nothing ended up with a donated Christmas tree, food for a holiday meal, and about one hundred wrapped gifts to open on Christmas morning.
    
“This year my family wanted to make a difference.  I'm a stay-at-home mom with three young children and have tons of excuses as to why I can't or shouldn't do the KLTY Christmas Wish,” said Tausha. Despite her hesitation and fears, Tausha said her family decided to go ahead and “adopt” a family to help for the holiday. The Blake Goodman family in Canton, Texas had left for work one morning in November and come home to find just a charred spot where their rental home had been. As they did not have rental insurance, everything they had was lost.
    
“The family we picked was a family that had their house burn to the ground in November of this year and had lost everything.  Just two days after the fire, the family had their 3rd child.  They had a 4 year old, a 14 month old and a newborn.  My heart truly went out to them.  Just seven years ago, our house was struck by lightening and caught fire and one week later, I had our first child.  I totally knew what this young family must be going through.” 
    
Tausha and her husband Mark decided to buy several smaller gifts for all three children and get the parents a restaurant gift card and a one-night stay at a nice hotel. However, Tausha couldn’t get it out of her mind that the four year old boy had lost his Power Wheel four wheeler in the fire and really wanted a new one. “I knew in my heart of hearts we would like to do so much for this family, but odds are we wouldn't be able to buy for the whole family and replace the 4 year old's Power Wheels, which run between $200-$300,” said Tausha. At that point, Tausha decided to take a chance and call the local Wal-Mart store to see if they would consider donating a Power Wheels to this little boy.
    
As it turned out, the Highland Village Wal-Mart was willing to do that and a whole lot more. Courtney Lacy, assistant manager at the Wal-Mart, said the staff had decided this year instead of having a Christmas party where each associate gets a gift, that they would donate the money instead to help a family who otherwise wouldn’t have much of a Christmas. “All the associates donated $5 a piece,” said Lacy, “so we collected $800 from our employees, and then the store donated another $900.”  Wal-Mart teamed up with the Cox family to ensure all the needs and wants on the Christmas list of the Goodman’s were met. The things on their list were not frivolous, said Tausha, and included things like a toaster, a broom and a mop.
    
Lacy herself wrapped all the gifts, which numbered near 100, and she and fellow assistant Wal-Mart manager Beatrice Coffman caravanned to Canton last week with the Cox family to deliver Christmas to Holly and Blake Goodman and their three children. “No Wal-Mart store had ever done anything like this before,” said Lacy, adding that this was probably going to be the best Christmas the Goodman’s ever had instead of the worst, as they had expected. “They cried the whole time,” said Lacy, but the tears were ones of joy. Lacy said the Highland Village Wal-Mart hopes to adopt a local family next Christmas and do the same thing for them.
      
Tausha said the whole process taught her and her family several things. “This just brings home the fact that God orchestrates every last detail, even when we don't see it.  Honestly, when I first picked this family, I thought maybe I've picked the wrong family; maybe someone else is more needy; maybe I didn't hear God or maybe we aren't going to be able to do enough.  That is so wrong!  God so knows what he is doing.  He just needs us to listen and then step out.  I feel so blessed to be able to help and for God to work through us.  We are normal people, with not a lot to give or any “connections,” but God moves in spite of all that and again lets us know how totally in control He is,” said Tausha.
    
Chances are, the blessing that the Cox family and the local Wal-Mart employees were able to give to the Goodman’s will be passed on. Tausha said Holly Goodman told her that day that she hoped her family would someday be in a position to do the very same thing for another family at Christmas.