I’ll admit it: I’m totally addicted to watching Chip and Joanna Gaines on TV. From their witty banter to the amazing designs and renovations they create, everything about them is love. I mean, they own baby goats. They give back to their city. They make homes beautiful… Chip and Joanna Gaines are all kinds of lovely.
So, of course, I recently listened to their book,
The Magnolia Story, which chronicles how they met and how they built an amazing life together. Just when I thought I couldn't love them more, listening to them interact with each other in such a personal and intimate way....I am dead. Here is my ghost, bringing you a couple facts that both surprised me and made me love them even more:
1. They thought no one would want to watch them on television.
When Joanna got the initial call about possibly making a television program based on her and Chip’s renovation and design company, they were both skeptical. Chip thought it was a scam.
Joanna literally said: “What about us would you want to show on TV?”
It’s hard to believe that the couple with the most hilarious chemistry in the world would think that no one would want to see them together. And here we are, years later, and they have an extremely successful television show. Looks like some folks definitely
wanted to watch their television show.
2. Chip was late to his and Joanna’s first date. REALLY late.
Joanna says it was an hour and a half late. Chip says it was twenty minutes late. Either way, he was
late, and yet, it ended up working out. Must have been divine understanding that kept that first date from going bad. I feel like I would not have been as forgiving as Joanna, but that just bears testament to the fact that she is a fantastic human being.
3. They both sincerely love Waco and the people of Waco.
There is a lot to love about Chip Gaines. One of the first things that impressed Joanna about Chip is his intense love for the city of Waco, and his desire to improve it in any possible way. From flipping houses that people had previously thought were beyond-repair to knowing helping out the homeless so much that they knew him by name,
Chip and Joanna's love of Waco is steadfast. That love that the both of them have for their city definitely shines in everything that they do.
4. They have been in trouble with the law only once – and it was because of their dogs.
That’s right: the canine Gaineses were the reason that Chip had to spend 8 hours in the county jail.
Remember to pay your off-leash fines, y’all.
The Gaines seem to prefer mischievous-looking pooches.
5. Pecan trees inspired them to buy their own farm.
It’s the simple things that inspire us to take great leaps of faith. The fact that it took a picnic under some pecan trees to encourage the two of them to buy a farm shows that these two are a couple with vision.
And there’s a
million more reasons that Chip and Joanna Gaines will charm you to no end. And let me tell you: to hear Chip and Joanna tell their story in their own voices is a real treat. Chip does his Chip thing where a lot of his sections within the book are off-the-cuff, so the audiobook feels really unique.
The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines
If you want to grab the audiobook, you can grab it from your local library or some cool audiobook stores, like Christian Audio, Libro.FM, and Audible (and The Magnolia Story is on sale at Audible from January 20-28).
HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., operates Page Chaser, the publisher of The Magnolia Story
