It’s Christmas morning, and everyone in the Ohanenye family is cuddled up in their pajamas, with gifts and wrapping paper strewn about. Levi Ohanenye has one last gift for his mom, and it’s about to be the greatest gift of all.
Levi, 25, approaches his mom, Genny Ohanenye, 57, and hands her a folded piece of white paper.
“Merry Christmas, thank you for all your sacrifices over these last 25 years and specifically 22 years,” he tells his mom, while recording her reaction with his phone.
Genny, an educator in Rex, Georgia, unfolds the white piece of paper, immediately gasping, all words caught in her throat, as she re-reads the page.
When she finally finds her voice, she says “Oh my Lord, to God be the glory.”
She then thanks her son, telling him “You know you ain’t have to do this,” before repeating “My house paid for. My house paid for. My house paid for.”
Because that’s exactly what Levi did. He paid off his mother’s mortgage. The video, posted on Instagram, has gone viral with over 330,000 likes.
Levi tells TODAY.com that Genny worked extremely hard and sacrificed lots so her kids could have a better life, including moving to a larger house with a more expensive mortgage so he and his brother, Isaiah, could have separate bedrooms.
“If she would have stayed in her original house, the house would have been paid for probably five or six years ago and the mortgage on it was much less than the mortgage is on this house,” Levi explains. “And her mortgage literally doubled when we moved over here.”
“I was in shock,” Genny says of her reaction. “And then after coming out of shock … my second initial reaction was to God be the glory, because nothing is done without God,” she says. “So, God was the one that orchestrated Levi’s talents.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pay her back for all her sacrifices fully,” Levi says. “But it definitely made me feel good to be able to pay that mortgage off.”
Although Levi didn’t want to disclose the full amount it took to pay off her mortgage, Genny says that it was “five figures and it has a comma in it.”
This “spur of the moment” decision to pay off his mom’s mortgage, as Levi calls it, was made despite the fact that Levi recently lost his job in corporate sales. He is also a real estate agent.
“I really have wanted to (pay off her mortgage) since I was in college, and it was something at the time I worked to do, but I realized that it just wasn’t the time then,” he says.
“It was something I prayed about a week or so ago if I should do it now, or if I should wait because I did get laid off a few months ago, but sitting down watching everyone open their gifts, it was just pretty much like God told me, ‘Okay, now’s the time,’” he adds. “So, I rushed to get into the account and pay everything and run upstairs print the payoff out and show it to her. So that all happened in a matter of like five minutes.”
Genny tells TODAY.com that Levi had been saving up for a house for himself .
“For him to take his money and make sure that I’m situated for the rest of my life, it’s an incredible feeling,” Genny says.
“As a mother, I just feel grateful … A house is an investment, it’s something that appreciates, it’s not gonna depreciate. So basically, my son, he just added more appreciation in my life,” she says. “I already appreciate my kids, but he put me into a situation where if I want to retire, I can retire.”
Now that the house debt is paid off, Isaiah is helping his mom come up with ideas for what she could do for herself with the money from her paycheck that now won’t be going towards a mortgage payment.
First on Genny’s list: a walk-in closet, something she’s always dreamed of. Second, supplying her sunroom with heat and air conditioning so she can grow plants.
