I always thought we'd build a beautiful 3 bedroom home with brand-new everything a year after Tyler graduated law school and got his amazing law firm job. That didn't happen, obviously!
Over that year, I began to think, I could buy an older home. We could fix it up. It doesn't have to be big or new, just if we had our own place.
Then we had all the unemployment and the house fire in the next year and I honestly gave up the dream entirely. I thought, I could rent. We can rent a house and maybe in five or ten years we can come up with a down payment and buy a little house for our family.
And then, about nine months ago, we started seeing miracle after miracle happen for our family. Not just little, getting by miracles (although we have had piles of those and they have made all the difference!). Big, huge, life changing miracles. Miracles that were timed in such a way that I can't credit anything but divine intervention. It's been a really special and sacred thing the have such sudden and tangible reminders that the Lord wants to bless us here on earth.
Three months ago, we had the right set of miracles that suddenly we went from thinking maybe we could buy a house sometime next year to wow- we can buy a house right now.
Being pregnant, I knew for sure that if we didn't get into a house before the baby, I probably would want to just rent and forget it. I'm just so tired of moving. We'd rent, save up a nest egg, and buy a house in 3 or 4 years. But I'd been watching the market in Fort Worth for a while, just in case, so when we pulled the trigger, we hit the ground running.
I made trips out with the boys to meet with realtors and house hunt. I knew the first time we drove in to White Settlement that it was the right place for us. It just felt right. We could find comparable houses in different markets around the DFW area, some of which would have kept us closer to our dear friends in Plano, but whenever we looked anywhere else, it just didn't feel like the place to me.
I found a house that had potential. After the last two years, my standards for a home were pretty realistic and we were very open to non-ideal options that could save us some money. We made an aggressively low offer, and lost out to someone offering full price. It was a really good thing though, because after we made the offer, we realized we were compromising on the wrong things.
We want a house primarily so the kids have space to play, especially a good outdoor space and yard.
With that in mind, I did another round of home tours. A particular house and gone off the market since I'd started looking, and when I saw it came back on I was excited to go see it. It was the only house I walked into and immediately I could feel how we would live there, where things would go, what it would be like for us to be there in three years.
The buying process was awful, which I'm sure is true for everyone. Then suddenly we showed up one day and signed a million papers and the house was ours.
It's taken a few days to sink in. We had so much trouble communicating from the sellers that I half expected the offer to default and we'd lose our earnest money, inspection fees, etc. And then it didn't and it took me by surprise!
But now we are here, and Tyler was home for dinner tonight for the first work night in nearly six months. Our yard is 98% crab grass but the kids want to be out there playing with the hose constantly. We have a living room and a place for the desk. I have a pantry and a big master tub. The kids have a playroom. I just can't believe it. I'm stunned. I'm so grateful.
But more than anything, what this house represents to me is stability. For the first time in our entire marriage, we know where we plan to be in five years. After years of bouncing around for school then going through job insecurity, we are settled. For a while, at least. I know things change. But to me, buying a house means putting down roots and being here for a while. It brings me such peace of mind and that, above all, is the blessing I have begged and prayed for over the past years. A place for my kids to grow up, a place to make memories and friends, a place to do homework at night and play outside and have the neighbor kids over and so much more.
Finally, we are home.
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