Christmas Eve

Life changing...that's what my communications were yesterday with a realtor and lender. We've been working so hard to recover from our 15 years of raising 5 children, on our own, without outside help (or even help from the girls' bio-mom), at most times on one income (a small one at that), putting each other through college, moving...and now I have a wonderful job, with co-workers that I adore, that comes with an income that makes life and credit building do-able. We've been monitoring our credit for the past few months, watching those magical numbers rise up, ever so slightly. Rumors are swirling that a promotion is in my (very near) future...and Mark has begun his job search, adding to our income.
I've been reading a blog...Cold Antler Farm...the blog of a young woman, realizing her dream of becoming a farmer. She makes you believe that your dreams can become a reality too...When you have a moment - check her year in pictures:
http://coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com/2010/12/year-so-far.html
It was after watching that video that I couldn't wait any longer...I had to find out just how close we were. I looked online and found a realtor (a husband and wife team) who specializes in helping people find small farms in the counties that we are looking at. They guided me to a wonderful lender, who also specializes in credit counseling and helps you understand which debts you need to focus on. Our lender put together a game plan for us and everything looks like we'll be good to go once we get our income taxes back and take the first couple of months of 2011 to work on paying off and paying on time etc. SO we are going to watch the home for sale - work on the plan and HOPEFULLY try and get something going around March. The goal is still to move at the end of the kids' school year -but if we could get a home sooner than that...WOOT!
So here I sit, watching It's a Wonderful Life...and thinking about how it truly is. Our five children are in their beds with visions of sugar plums dancing over their heads. I've got my favorite guy on the couch next to me. My trusty dog is "her chair". A cat sleeping under the tree and other scurrying around here and there. A coating of snow blankets our front lawn.
NORAD says that Santa is heading toward Charleston, SC...so I better be off to bed now.