We have been ready to have our own place for quite some time now. In July we will be celebrating our third anniversary (with the goal to be in our new home by then!) It feels as though we are always moving and always trying to figure out where we are suppose to be.
Two years ago we started our lives together in Indiana. We were hopeful that I would get a job soon, and that within the next few months we would both have jobs and life would be good. I was only a few months out of college and little did I know that I was entering a time period of 12 months of unemployment. I was miserable. I tried out being a waitress for awhile (worst 3 months ever) and applied to more jobs than I care to remember. As our lease was nearing an end, we started wondering if we really wanted to live in Indiana. Nothing was holding me there. My husband was a part of our worship band at our church and he had started traveling with a band out of Indy playing at conferences and camps. When we went home for Christmas we talked with our parents about moving to Ohio. There were numerous pros about Ohio for my career and family. Both of us already had family there. I could get my license in social work almost immediately (in Indiana I had to have two years of experience before I could get that license) which would put an extra "edge" on my applications. I could also have the possibility of getting in-state tuition should I decide to get my Masters degree.
I think we only prayed and talked about the move for one day. After that, we knew we were doing it. We never looked back. The transition was a little harder than we thought. From March-August we lived with Seth's parents in our hometown. We were very blessed and looking back it was a very relaxing and carefree time (we spent the summer traveling with the band and swimming in his parent's pool). I anxiously applied for jobs and went out to the city for numerous interviews. It wasn't until July when I finally nailed down that first counseling job and the salary we prayed for was exceeded. Within 2 weeks we were moved into our townhome north of the city.
That year was great. Seth was still traveling with the band from Indiana and I was busy learning a new job and driving all over the city. While we were in this apartment we felt things just fall into place. We knew in our hearts this city was our home and that we felt connected here. We searched for a church every weekend and looked for a place to serve. Seth started to step down from the band, and was looking for a worship pastor position somewhere in this city.
All summer long we traveled the north side driving and riding our bikes through awesome neighborhoods. We would dream about these million dollar homes and talk about what we would like in a house. During that time we discovered Realtor and Zillow on our phones. Just as we were feeling settled and decided that we wanted to live in this area God opened our eyes to what He was doing in the south side.
The church found us. Within a week of being contacted we knew this is where we would invest our time and lives. Seth was offered the position as the worship pastor and we started rethinking our location and the distance between us and this church.
As our lease neared it's end we knew that we just wanted to move closer to our church, we just hadn't found it yet. We decided to take up an offer to live in Seth's older brother's unfinished basement until we found that apartment and to save some money. During the time in the basement our finances began supporting our idea of home ownership. We can blame some of this for wathcing too many hours of House Hunters, Property Virgins, and Property Brothers. We started looking for our house.
For months we saved homes online, drove neighborhoods, and talked about our "must haves". After that 4th month in the basement we started growing weary. My travel to work was an hour every day and our church was an hour away. We were saving money, but not nearly as much as we thought due to the high prices of gas. We were also feeling stretched as we couldn't really invest much time into our church. One night we got away and grabbed some pizza. At dinner we timed out how much time we should allow in our minds until we can actually own our home and realized that we would be in this basement for another 4-6 months. The thought of that brought me to tears. As we were eating we started looking for cheap apartments that had 6 month leases. Three weeks later we got a uhaul.
So here we are today. In a very small, one bedroom, cheap apartment with a 6 month lease. As small as it is, it's perfect! We are both around 15 minutes from our jobs and we are right down the road from some of these homes. It feels amazing knowing we know where we want and need to be. We love this city and we love the people here. We have direction and know that this is where we want to be for at least the next 5-10 years. We want to have a family here and we want to watch our church's vision be fulfilled.
We are so ready for this.
