HOUSE INFO - PART 1

I'm sure there are people who are curious about Colby and me getting a house. Some people are wondering out of care, concern and happiness for us. For those people I'm grateful. And then some people are just too stinking nosy for their own good. And that's fine, it's to be expected I suppose. I'm okay with both. So I want to share the story on how our house came to be.

It's no secret I've been trying to get a house for years. I have wanted a house so badly for Colby and me. Apartment life is not for us, for many reasons. I tried on my own to buy a house several years ago. It fell through during the home inspection process. I cried for days. Literally I cried and cried and cried. I was devastated and felt defeated. I couldn't see it at the time, but God had another plan for us. A much better plan for Colby and me to have a beautiful, handicapped accessible home. Fast forward to 2015.

It's also no secret that I'm, shall we say, financially limited. I'm a single mom raising a special needs child and am only able to work a very part time job for crap's sake. Do the math. If it wasn't for fundraisers over the years, I don't know how Colby and I would survive financially. It's not easy to admit that, but it's the cold hard truth. A couple of years ago I decided come heck or high water, we were getting a house. I didn't know how. I didn't know when, but I had that little voice telling me to keep at it. With the help of many caring, helpful, loving family and friends, I've had several fundraisers the last couple of years to start a “house fund” for Colby and me. I was trying to come up with enough money for a down payment, closing costs, repairs and/or handicap modifications to the house, and also enough money to pay for the mortgage on the house while working on it and still living in the apartment. That's a heck of a lot of money, but I figured slowly but surely, we'd get there somehow. Oh, and then there's finding the right house of course. The right floor plan, the right price, the right location. I had my work cut out for me. The work, stress and worry of it all was overwhelming, but my desire to have a home for us far exceeded all of that, so I just kept plugging away. I fit in holding fundraisers, storing money back in our house fund and looking for a possible house while raising Colby, running the apartment and working part time. Yes, I stay busy.

Then the most amazing thing happened. The most unreal, surprising, wonderful, caring, truly amazing event happened in our lives. Colby was in the hospital at Cincinnati Children's back in October getting over pneumonia and a collapsed lung. I got a text from a friend saying she and her husband wanted to help us get a house. I thought oh how wonderful, they want to give a donation to our house fund. Uh no, they had something else in mind. This thoughtful, incredibly kind couple offered to buy a house for us. Ummmmm hello, was I reading these texts correctly? Was my lack of sleep from being in the hospital with Colby affecting my ability to read and process words?! The more she text, the more I understood what they wanted to do. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. We've been working on the house since January and I still can't believe it's really going to be for Colby and me. Amazing how your life can change for the worse, or in this case for the better, just like that, isn't it?

Here's how it's going to work. I knew I wanted to get a fixer upper. No sense in getting a remodeled house with nice new bathrooms or carpet when the first thing we would do is rip all of it out in order to make handicap modifications for Colby. I knew the area I wanted to live. And I swear, like a gift wrapped up with a pretty red bow from God, the perfect house came along in December. As soon as I saw the floor plan, I knew it would work for Colby. I loved the location. I could see it. As I walked through the house, I could literally picture Colby and me living there. If you've ever spent a lot of time house hunting, you know the feeling. The feeling of YES, this is absolutely the house we were meant to be in. We looked at it on a Saturday and made an offer two days later. By Wednesday the next week we had an accepted offer. From that moment on, our lives changed for the better. I cannot wait to call this place home.

The house needs a lot of work. I mean like seriously, A LOT of work. Complete overhaul. We are trying to do some work ourselves, like the demolition phase, to save money. We are reaching out to companies for donations of materials and/or labor. We're filling out grants and looking for organizations that will help pay for the handicap modifications for sweet boy Colby. When it's all said and done and we move, I will buy the house from my friends. No, I will not be paying rent. I will own the house. Basically they will be my bank, like buying a house on contact. The purchase price will include what they paid for the house and any money we spend for repairs and modifications. It will all be done legal-like with a real estate lawyer. When the time comes, we'll decide on the length of the loan based on what I can afford to pay, something comparable to what I pay now in rent. Pretty sweet deal, huh?

So that's why we're asking for donations and volunteers to help with the house, to keep my eventual payment down at an affordable amount for me. We're going to be having some fundraisers in the near future, and I'll also be posting a gofundme page as a way of fundraising also. If you've ever donated a dime to us, or even if you've sent loving prayers and thoughts or way that we would someday get out of this apartment and into a house, THANK YOU. The couple helping me has asked to remain anonymous, and I will certainly do that. I've tried to thank them with thank you cards, telling them in person how much this means to me, etc. But I feel I always fall short. How in the world could I ever thank them enough for stepping up and helping us like this? This house project proves that there are still sweet, caring, generous, amazingly thoughtful, helpful people in this world. Colby and I are damn lucky to have many of these people in our lives. I feel so blessed that all this is actually happening. Truly, a dream come true.

Ok, I know this blog is really long, but I wanted to share how all this house stuff came along for us. We don't have a nurse this morning, per my request. I need to some time just kid and me. It's time to start getting him up, so I'll wrap up for now. More fantastic house news and updates are coming soon. Be watching!