Christian Retailing

'Makeover' family lives in new 'normal' state Print Email
Written by Staff   
Monday, 07 September 2009 03:44 PM America/New_York
woodhouse famKimberley Woodhouse, mother of a family profiled in an emotional episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, gives her account of the family's "journey to extreme joy" in Woodhouse Family: Welcome Home! (978-1-589-97573-6, $13.99), releasing this month from Tyndale House Publishers.

Woodhouse's daughter, Kayla, suffers from a rare nerve disorder—hereditary sensory autonomic neuropathy (HSAN)—which causes her to feel no pain. In the book, the author details the steps taken to give Kayla, whose body temperature must be regulated in a cold home, as normal a life as possible—which frequently plunged the family into difficult financial straits.

In the midst of tough circumstances, however, Woodhouse says that God gives grace to her family. "Life can be full of joy," she writes. "God is there, even in the hardest circumstances. Learning how to grab on to God's joy has made running the distance easier for me and my family, and it will for you as well."

The book features a foreword by recording artist David Phelps and offers a detailed account of the encounter with the reality TV team that constructed a house safe for Kayla.

"Sunday, September 30, 2007, is a day none of us will easily forget," Woodhouse writes. "It was mid-morning when we heard Ty Pennington of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition shout through his megaphone, 'Good morning, Woodhouse family!' "

Woodhouse also confronts the idea of what is normal. Faced with the constant question in TV interviews of whether or not daughter Kayla will "ever have a chance at a normal life," Woodhouse replies, "I'm quick to share that God made Kayla just the way she is, and she has an abundant, overflowing life ahead. But it's not like everyone else's normal."

The author continues: "I learned a long time ago that my life would never be anyone else's 'normal,' and I'm okay with that."

For more information or to order Woodhouse Family: Welcome Home!, call Tyndale House at 800-323-9400, or visit www.tyndalebooksellers.com.