Life is like a whirlwind this summer. The days are flying by and I feel like I am holding on to prevent myself from being swept away.
I mentioned awhile back that a move was in our future. We are finally going forward with this notion now that my husband has settled into his new job. Two weeks ago we were preapproved for a home loan and we are intending on using our VA loan. A tiny secret I have never mentioned before here on this blog is the fact that we are only renting this little house in the Gorge that we have called home for 5½ years now. Five and a half years ago my husband left the service (after two tours of duty in Iraq and approaching his third had he stayed in) and we moved up here to Oregon from Southern California in attempts to chase after our dream of homesteading in the breathtakingly beautiful (and have I ever mentioned ridiculously wet?) Pacific Northwest.
Our dream was continuously either shot down or put on the back burner as we faced the plummeting economy and horrible jobless rate. At one point we thought we had found our feet on safe ground again only to have the breath knocked out of us when my husband was laid off.
To say these past 5 years have been a struggle would be putting it mildly. Longtime readers will already know the challenges we have just recently been dealing with when three of our four children faced multiple health issues.
At times I look back and I am amazed that we are still standing and are still all here in this together as a family. Somehow we have managed to make it on one income through all of this and I owe that to my husband’s almost ridiculous hard work ethics. (The man will literally work himself into the ground if I let him.) Through all of this turmoil our children have at least had the stability of their mama being home with them, day in and day out.
For two weeks now we have been scouring areas of Oregon and Washington looking for a home that will be a good match for our not so small anymore family. (Sometimes it still amazes me that I have 4 children now!) It has been another reality check as we realize our one income budget does not lend itself to a hefty enough home loan when it comes to finding that dream homestead with land. We are now trying to come to grips with the fact that the dream needs to shrink a little more and we can at the very least be home owners.
Dreams are so perfect and reality can really bite.
I feel grateful for being able to be home with my children every single day- especially these days as we make progress with our sweet little girl and see signs of her awakening from this shell that has been labeled Autism. So, if sacrificing the dream a little bit longer means that we will still be able to live this lifestyle that is important to us than so be it.
Life is sure a ride, isn’t it? Some days you got to ride the waves and some days you merely drift. Other days you are frantically swimming for shore. We have been trying to swim for 5 years now. I believe we are now finally getting there.
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