Life Updates-Homeownership
2020 sucked, but for me it wasn’t ALL bad. First, it brought me Kai (my doggo)! Then it took my looks and grandmother….but with hard work and dedication, the lack of money spent allowed us to save for a house!
When we got Kai in March, we vowed to get her a yard by the time our lease was up. Although Kai loved to prance in front of the Hyatt and misses all her friends, she is overjoyed at her new, fenced backyard.
We moved to the ‘burbs-about 45 mins out of Seattle towards the mountains. It is beautiful and we are surrounded by trees-the only negative thing is that we can see into some neighbor’s yards and they smoke cigs. However, I will take that over 384824 hotel windows and 300 neighbors and constant fire alarms at night. I do miss the lake, but our new place is on a private one :)
I don’t share these positive things in my life for you to envy, I share them to inspire. After my grandma died in June, I was miserable. Covid and the masks made me give up on glam and that made me give up on me. Her death made me remember all the terrible things that had happened to me in my life and how she had to watch that happen. I felt guilty and ashamed.
When my dad abandoned me and my infant sister at age 3, I spent a LOT of time with my maternal grandparents. My grandpa died in ‘08 but Edie lived until the age of 97. Both her and my grandpa had a legacy of service and faith-they were active in their church and were founders of a bible camp here in the northwest that Saves hundreds of lives each summer. I was in a rough place and decided to take the lessons that they and YoungLife instilled into me and implement them into my daily life.
The positive changes happened almost miraculously. I started waking up and reading my Bible first thing, before I even pick up my phone. I just open it up to Psalms or Proverbs and read the first few verses I lay eyes on. I also started forcing myself to go on a long walk with Kai every morning-as the days got shorter and we moved, I transitioned into yoga and mindfulness.
On a visit to my sister’s, the BroBens (both mine and my sister’s husband’s names are Ben) and us realized we were sitting on a down payment for a house and to reach out to their mortgage person. The next day, we were pre-approved. That week, we put our first offer down. It was not accepted, but we kept looking. One wouldn’t leave my mind, so we placed our offer-it was accepted!….it was the most grueling month ever. We didn’t know if we could put our notice at the lake in until the last possible day.
Then everything that could go wrong to stop us, did. My car wouldn’t start (the irony…), 2 grand later, it does. Then, Kai’s face got all swollen-we think she got stung by a bee. Then, Ben got sick. Then, the fires. WE DIDN’T LET THAT STOP US-we moved until like 10pm in the smokey haze and it was so worth it.
Having been homeless and have lived in transitional housing for two years of my life, you have no idea how this feels. To stand in my own lawn. To drill something into a wall at night. To stomp around and no one hears me….To hear silence. I finally have a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment that no one can take from me or make me feel guilty for or try and make me feel like I have made the wrong decision.
You can do this, too.
