We Have Our First Home...finally.......

Well, we did it. We joined the masses and got ourselves into a heap of debt.

We bought our first home. And, I can tell you this...it is the most exciting decision my husband and I have made since the girls, and our wedding.

I feel like a real family now!

The house is our dream.

We started the house hunting about 6 months ago. Logging onto www.Realtor.com became a daily event to us. We went through about 20 houses, and none of them felt exactly right.

Finding a house was not only a decision for the good of our family, but it truly became a soul searching experience to us.

We found ourselves in this position...

When Jon and I got together, it was nothing short of the most difficult and trying time in our lives. There were lots of hurdles for us to jump, from our family, to our finances, nothing was simple. We started out as a young family with two children, wondering how we were going to pay our bills, feed our family, and keep utilities on. After a winter with no heat, a month here and there with no electricity, Jon and I received such a blessing. He was hired at Steel Dynamics, in Butler. Suddenly we found ourselves in a position we never would have thought we would had ever been in. We had more than we needed. We finally could enjoy things we wanted. I can't begin to explain how lucky we felt.

Now we are parents of a one year old, and a two year old. We live in a nice apartment, and have nice cars, and live very comfortably. That is, if you set aside the economy.

And with this new life we found, came expectations. We wonder if these expectations we put on ourselves, or ones that others didn't necessarily mean to place on us. In all of this, I think Jon and I had a moment where we forgot who we were, and where we came from.

The time in our life that was the most challenging, ended up being the time where life felt the most simple.

In this house hunting, we couldn't find the right house that made us feel like it was home. We looked northeast, and northwest. We put a bid on a house in a nice neighborhood off of Lima Road. We put in an offer on a house by Hacienda Village. Both we lost for various reasons, but I can say that I am actually happy.

We stayed up late one night reevaluating the moments when we had felt like home in the past, and we recalled Lakeside Park. For a few years when we started living together we lived in a duplex off of Crescent Avenue, and that was the warmest feeling we could remember. The home had a large front porch, and we would sit and watch families walk by. Mothers with their strollers, Fathers holding their children's hands. Old couples waving hello.

In one block, we could get to a bar, a restaurant, a gas station, a library, a theatre, and a park. It felt like a neighborhood. This night of remembering was so inspiring to us.

We decided to look in that area to see what was available. The night we lost the house on Cardinal Avenue, a new listing appeared. It was a beautiful house on Alabama. We immediately jumped in the car and drove past the house. I felt awestruck. This house was everything we were looking for.... the big front porch, the sidewalk to the front door, the fenced in backyard...it was beautiful. We can even see Lakeside Park from our front yard.

The next day we looked through the house, and we new it was the one. Now here we are, a week later, with an accepted offer. Tomorrow morning we are meeting the home inspector to evaluate the house. We hope that everything turns out OK, so we can move in by the end of the month. What a breath of fresh air...this just feels so right.