I would prefer to start with the house plans themselves. That would be all fun and exciting. But even that is too far into the story. Our journey began with Debt.
I managed to work my way through college, and even had an academic scholarship. However, I entered my marriage with college debt. My husband, who had no debt, said that he was "buying the field." This was a reference to the Bible story of the man who finds gold in a field, so he goes and buys the field so he can have the treasure.
I was honored.
We discussed whether I should continue working as a newlywed. With a blended family and everyone needing as much structure and home health as possible, we opted for me to stay home and be a one-income family.
We did okay at first. Bills were tight. I was not the best with accounting, and tithing was hard for me to do when the numbers didn't add up. I prayed for faith and wisdom.
My stepson had so much to do with what happened next. We wanted to be closer to his other parents. We wanted to be closer to our home church. So we moved to a less expensive apartment where these things were possible (and I did not have a car of my own at the time, so it made things much easier for us). Houston is a big place, and for us to find a place down near the heart of the city was wonderful.
We got brave and decided to try and trust the Lord with "multiplying" our family. Instead of being able to afford it as planned, we ended up having a child in the middle of the worst economic downturn of recent decades. My pregnancy ended in bedrest and a c-section.
The hospital bills did not stop coming for an entire year. We paid off what we could, at some times it was all of $5 per bill per month.
We kept trying and were soon blessed with another child. That pregnancy and delivery went much easier, but I felt so tired and worn out at that point, and we spent the remainder of that year trying to catch up on finances and life in general.
We had heard about Dave Ramsey, the financial guru of "living within your means, with rice and beans, if necessary." We had been working on that steadily for very single debt we had to our name. We knew that it was better to rent than to own a house we could not afford, but we hated throwing away the money on a home that was not ours, as well.
Sometimes a realtor or friend would tell us that everything we wanted was attainable, if we just worked hard enough. We didn't really feel like that was the right answer for us. Life had its curveballs sometimes, and it seemed unwise to throw ourselves into a plan that we could not insure for the next 15-30 years. Scott and I had already seen what 9/11 and the 2009 economy could do to any investment or savings we worked so hard on. His 401k had lost half of its amount both times.
"Screw it," he said, "let's pull out the investment" (a 30% loss on top of the previous losses) "and use it to buy something as cheap as we can. At this rate, that's a better investment of our income than scraping and saving."
So, the journey began. While we faced a mountain of debts that seemed to love to replenish itself with every hiccup, we turned off the mainstream path and did something that no financial investor would have encouraged us to do. We made the phone calls, signed the papers, and waited for the money to come in. There was no turning back.
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