Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

It really sucks when you think you are making smart choices that are going to get you ahead in life and they end up coming back to bite you in the ass.

Back in 2006 we were on the brink of getting married. Hubby had a good job. I was in grad school to get a good job. We had big plans.

And one of them was buying a house. No need to rent and throw away all those monthly payments when we could "own" something! Build equity. Make our own decisions. Have an investment.

The budget of a student and a new-to-the-workforce, getting-married-soon couple is not enormous. But we found a house that was perfect for our STARTER home. 2 bed rooms, 1 bath room, tiny kitchen, huge back yard, in a neighborhood that was being revitalized.

We expected to be in this house 3-5 years. TOPS!
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It's now 7 years later.

We've got 2 kids.

The housing market is in the toilet.
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On one hand I'm thankful that we have a home to live in. I even kind of like being in a small house because it keeps us all close. (I'm not looking to move into a mansion - just something with 3 bedrooms and more than 2 drawers in the kitchen.) It's nice that we haven't upgraded to a bigger house because it keeps our bills lower. And "technically" we haven't lost any money as long as we keep the house.

But on the other hand! I'm angry at the economy for "trapping" us in this house. We outgrew this house about 10 minutes after we found out we were expecting our second baby. We didn't buy this house with the expectation that our children would go to school in this district, but we are inching closer to that reality.

At this point we can't sell without taking a $20,000 loss. OUCH! And we can't have 2 houses (even if this one is rented out) since there's no way to get approved for another mortgage with this one already on the record.

I'm a little slow to accept reality - that we can't move. It is hitting me especially hard over the last few days because I've got baby fever. BAD! In my master life plan (HA!) I wanted to be pregnant again already or at least be trying. But since we've already maxed out the space in this house with two kids, there is really no place to put a third. Hubby is adamant that we can't have another baby while we live here. And he's right. (Good thing he doesn't read this - don't tell him I said that!)

So my big life plan is on hold all because we thought we were being responsible and buying a house. If we had just rented all those years ago as newlyweds we could have avoided the big housing market crash and we wouldn't be tied to a house that is too small to grow our family.

Being a grown up is hard!

~~~~I know that MY plan is meaningless and I should be more concerned with what God's plan is for us. Apparently he is trying to teach me that lesson and as stated before, I'm just being a really slow learner. Baby fever is just so dang hard to resist!! Focusing on listening to God and being thankful for what we DO have.~~~~~