For the past 10 months we have been without a permanent residence. We’ve relied on The Lord’s provision for a home for our family and made a million memories along the way. We are so grateful for the amazing friends, family, and supporters that we have and can lean on heavily at times of need. And now. After 10 (sometimes long) months, we are home. We can unpack the suitcases. Unpack the boxes. Unpack and set up a new normal for our children: Home.
On August 29th we closed on our family’s first house. The Elkhart housing market is one of the most affordable in the entire USA. The market is so low that it is cheaper to own than to rent. Not even kidding. Unfortunately this scenario is a reflection of the local economy. The housing market crash took a double hit on Elkhart, where the major industry is RV manufacturing. When people can’t afford their homes, they certainly aren’t shopping for RVs. Which meant major job losses and a lot of people leaving town. So the housing market is flooded with homes that no one is living in, and often a mortgage that the owners can no longer afford. To say the least, it is a buyer’s market.
We picked this one:
She’s terribly out dated and in need of a lot of TLC. But if there’s one thing we’ve got it’s elbow grease. We’ve been in the house for just over a week and already have many hours of wallpaper-removing, wall-puttying, sanding, priming, and painting under our belts. With LOTS more to come. But we work with joy. And extreme gratitude. We are so thankful. We are home.