Mortgages, Houses and Shopping oh my!!!

EEEKKKKKKKKKKKKK! Okay...I'm better now. I just needed to get that out! I am so full of excitement at the moment!!! BUT let me back up and explain...let me air out our dirty laundry and be honest for a moment....

Ryan and I have had a rough go at it as far as life handing people lemons. The first few years of marriage were quite the struggle. Ryan's job just up and closed the doors one day and never told him anything. Not to mention that the last few paychecks they had written him were no good. We were up poo creek without a paddle. I was a full time student and working two jobs. So we did what we had to to get by (BEFORE WE HAD DAVE RAMSEY IN OUR LIVES) we lived on credit cards. That was how we ate and bought gas. By our third year of marriage we were WAAAAY in debt. I think the grand total at this point was somewhere around $17,000 and that wasn't including the student loans and our regular bills. I have no idea how we made it through those years! I remember the day we finally hit rock bottom and were in serious danger of loosing our apartment and everything. Then we got the brilliant stupid stupid stupid idea to get a payday loan. That was free money crazy ridiculous money that you had to pay astronomical interest rates on. So we started with one...then another...and another and before we knew it we had five different loans from five different places. I remember having a whole process of how to pay everything. We would go to the bank get cash, pay off one loan then renew that loan so we had cash to pay the next one and so on and so forth. (I am getting queasy typing this) This was our way of life. This is how we survived. This is how we kept our sanity. This went on for over a year.

Finally one day much much later we both had good paying jobs and finally made a decision to start putting it all to an end. We started paying off the payday loans. We went into credit counseling. We started making payments on all of that debt. Our debt payments were OVER 600$ a month!!! It was about 3/4 of our income going to pay it all off every month! We payed and payed and payed for about three years.

We moved back up here. We BOTH work two jobs. We found THIS amazing church.We learned about Dave Ramsey and living debt free! We got rid of the 600$ a month payments. We are now almost completely out of debt. We have a small car payment and student loans left! It is such an amazing feeling!

Last year about this time we started looking into buying our first home. It was sooo stressful. We quickly found out we could not get a mortgage for much more than a cardboard box. I was crushed. After all we had been through and now this. But our realestate agent (who is amazing) told us to keep working at it and things would get better. (I got mad at her...and didn't talk to her about houses for over a year) Shhh don't tell her! :)  Then this past week we decided to look at a few houses again. Completely on a whim. We have paid off more debt this year and our credit is getting there. We asked our agent about a house that we had seen that is for sale by owner. She offered to show it to us along with another house. So we went and looked. And the whole time I kept thinking in the back of my head that we were wasting her time. I was so sure that we still wouldn't get qualified. I was sick to my stomach just thinking about it....but she gave us the name and number to a nice lady and I called and filled out the application. I waited and waited allllll day today to hear back from her and I thought for sure it was going to be bad news. But lo and behold about an hour ago the all mighty blackberry came to life....

The news?! GOOD!!! We got approved for A LOT more than we ever imagined!!! Who am I kidding...I am happy we got approved PERIOD! AND with an outstanding rate!!!

God has really helped us through the past five years. He has provided for us unbelievably! We are certainly blessed!

So in short....

We are approved for a loan
God is good
We love our realestate agent  (even though we never stopped and it was never her fault lol I'm a dork)
And we're looking for a house


**disclaimer** NOW I know some people are going to read this and have a hissy so I wanted to put this disclaimer on here. Yes I was told I would not have a job at the school next year. BUT many of you do not realize that I typically work 69 hour weeks. Ryan and I BOTH have TWO jobs. Both of the paychecks from our second jobs goes directly to our savings. We dont touch it. So even though I won't be working at SME it will be fine. My other paycheck is more than enough for us to live on. PLUS there are always jobs out there. So no worries. We are thinking through this decision financially and really do have a good head. We have a BIG downpayment and know not to stretch ourselves too thin. I promise! :D

Love ya'll!
~Strephanie Rachelle