Ahhh, you guys, I am so sorry for the lack of personal blog posts. Life has been coming at me full-force lately and I just literally have not had the time to sit down and write.

But…I have some news. Remember a few months ago when I wrote this post about our housing situation? I felt so helpless like everything was so out of my control. Deep down I knew it would work out in the future, but I was concerned about the present. I am a planner. I like to know what is next, so not having any idea scared me. I kept telling myself, “this too shall pass.” But I was still panicking.

We spent a lot of time trying to find somewhere to rent after being told we could not buy because of the ratio of income to debt with my student loans. Long story short, we had little to no luck. The places we did come across, we knew we wouldn’t be happy in, especially with three dogs.

Eventually Brandon (my boyfriend) applied for a loan on his own and was approved. So we only had a small loan to work with, but it was something. We were both ecstatic…until we began looking at houses in the area and found absolutely nothing we could picture a future in. I kept telling myself to give it time, that something would come along.

Luckily I was right.

As some of you know, I work at a newspaper. I was going through pages one day before the paper came out and a listing caught my eye: a 4.5 acre farm for $60,000. It seemed too good to be true but I figured we had nothing to lose. I called the number and left a voicemail but didn’t hear back. Two days later I called again and got a hold of the owner. We set up a time to meet and see the house.

Honestly, I was expecting an awful, disgusting, falling down house simply because of the price. But Brandon and I were both pleasantly surprised. As we walked around the property, I could see a real life there — something I couldn’t see anywhere else we had looked. There was room to breathe, as the house was out in the country. There was an old barn, which gave the property character. Honestly, we both fell in love.

We parted ways with the owner and started talking about our options. The owner had mentioned that he had many calls and voice mails he had yet to return, so we knew we would have to act quickly. But with such a big decision, it was scary. We didn’t want to rush into purchasing a home, but also didn’t want to miss out on the only place we both felt drawn to. So we had a discussion and signed the purchase agreement literally the next day.

Here’s where the blessings and holy-crap-how-is-this-all-working-out-so-well moments come in.

1. We only had to pay a very small down payment, as the owner offered to front a second loan for it (he has many properties in the area and was well-known by the bank).
2. All of our closing costs, $3,000 total, were covered by first-time home buyer grants.
3. Since no one was occupying the house, we were able to begin renovating it before even closing on it.
4. We closed less than a month after looking at the property, with zero hiccups along the way.
5. We will be getting PAID $1,500 simply to vacate the property that we are currently in by the end of the month.

I could go on. But the point is simply this:

Two months ago I was discouraged, upset, frustrated and angry. I didn’t think the situation would improve and I was convinced we would be living on the street.

Today, we closed on our new home. Today I’m excited, grateful and happy. Today we have a new home, a place with land for the dogs to run. It’s a home we will likely bring our first child home to. When I pull in that gravel driveway, I see our life unfolding. As ridiculous as it sounds, I saw our life there together the first time we saw the property. And now it is ours. I am so excited to start making memories with the man I love.

Situations like this are proof that life has a way of working out.