Our biggest decision yet...

We got the confirmation today that we are OFFICIALLY in the La Casa program! Yippee! We knew we would be but we had to wait till all of Brads paystubs were turned in. They are all in, the numbers are crunched, and we are in!

For those who don't know what the La Casa program in, here it is.

It is for low- middle income families in Elkhart County. We put money into an account and then take several classes. Some financial classes and some 1st time home buyer classes. Then, we take out a micro loan to help build our credit. The nice thing about this loan is everything we pay in, we get back at the end of the 6 months. Finally, once we have passed our classes and fixed our credit score, they match the money in our account 4:1 and BAM! Down payment!!
They will also meet with mortgage brokers with us and hold our hand through the entire process to make sure we are making all wise decisions.
Its a great program. Friends of ours used it and now have an amazing home. Come this time next year, so will we :)

Its a great feeling knowing that we are going to have our own home. Never in a million years did we think we would be getting one already.

We have come a long ways.

When we had Brycen we were living in a cement basement. We then upgraded to a super tiny apartment. Once we had the girls we outgrew it and moved to a very run down townhouse that had a whole lot of issues.
Now, we are in an amazing townhouse in a great area. But, after 5 years of renting, we have decided we would SO much rather our rent being going towards our own home. We are coming up on 6 years of marriage and in that 6 years, we have spent $35,000 on rent and what do we have to show for it? Nothing.

But soon we will.

Soon we will have a place to call our home.
And, what's awesome is Brad and I are on the same page about what we want. And what we want is ONE home. We are done having kids. We are a family of 5 and we want ONE place to call our home. in 30 years we want to be sitting in the same living room that we will be purchasing next year.

Now I know that things come up. Jobs can get changed, life can get turned upside down but if everything goes as we want it to go, we want this house to be it. Some people like to purchase a home and know going in that it isn't forever. We want a forever home.

And that's scary.
Its hard to even attempt to think about what life will be like 10 years down the road.

So we have a lot of thinking to do.
A lot of planning to do.

Sure now it would be nice to have everything on one floor but goodness gracious we are NOT going to want that when we have 3 teenagers.

Sure right now I don't need some big kitchen since I hardly cook but what if that changes?

Sure right now we don't need to have 2 bedrooms for the girls but are we really going to want them to be forced into sharing a room when they are 16? I know my sister and I would have KILLED each other if we shared a room.

So much thought has to go into our home.

This is going to be by far the biggest, most important decision of our life.
I do believe this is going to officially label us as adults!

So, our home buying journey has begun. Let the fun/stress/emotions begin!!