1 Year at Home

Today is 1 year since our closing date on our first house!! It's crazy to think we started dating 10 years ago, not a day goes by where I could imagine my life without Andrew. I don't know or even remember life without Andrew. When we talk about the past I sometimes ask, did you think this is where we would be 10 years ago when we started? Of course, his answer is always no. He even told me once, I didn't see us being here 3 years ago when we got married. Our first home together was an apartment, which felt so cozy and homey, but we wanted more. After 1 year in the apartment we pursued finding a house, but quickly found (with some family advice) that it wasn't the time. We reevaluated and started paying more on bills and debt, and almost 6 months later found we were in a much better position to pursue a house. It was a tricky process figuring out the best place for us. We spent HOURS searching neighborhoods around us, every day after school and work, we went searching, on the weekends, we went searching, until we were tired of searching.

We put a couple of offers a couple of new places, but when things didn't work out, we stopped looking for a couple of months...and then our current home came on the market, we quickly looked and fell in love with the house and the price!! We found out the reason we loved the price was because the house was a short sale. We didn't know anything about a short sale, and we weren't in a hurry to close, so we took a change. That chance took us on a long 6 month, sometimes frustrating and sometimes upsetting, journey. However, I have to give all the glory to God, He knew what He was doing-His timing was perfect, as it always is.

We were able to pay off all debt except student loans in that 6 month process, and came into our house as 25 year olds with the only debt to our names being  student loans and now a home loan. May 10, 2012 was a glorious day. We began painting the very next day, and with the help of so many family members and friends-we painted almost the whole house in less than 48 hours!!! eeek!!! Andrew was on a mission and with the support, we made it happen. A week later, on May 18th, after a night at Relay for Life, we packed up the UHaul, again with the help of some great selfless friends, we moved into our first house!!

Again, I cannot believe time has passed so quickly, we are so blessed, with God's guidance and trust in His plans, not our own, our family's support, and the help of friends, our dream came true...and a year later, we are still loving and enjoying our first house and cannot wait for the many years to come here!!

This is not only a memorable blog of our journey but a Thank you letter to all those who helped us on our journey to becoming Homeowners!! THANK YOU!!

Here's a look at some changes we made: Our Home