I was working up to 3 jobs at a time to pay for rent and trying to feed 2 adults and 3 kids. I worked long hours, every weekend, every holiday, cooking in restaurants and having a hard time coming up with enough money to survive. I had been working since grade 10 and due to that had never finished high school. My grandmother has always had faith in me and has always said how smart I was (as well as my Mom) and she told me that I needed to finish high school and since going back to school while trying to work all the time would be next to impossible, she told me that she would pay for me to take the GED and all I had to do was put the effort in and ace the exam.
I knew this was a turning point and I wanted to be a good example for the kids who were getting to an age where they wanted to be like Mom and Dad. So I quit smoking and focused on this next step. My Dad bought me the book and I studied hard. I took the exam and scored in the top 2% of traditional high school students.
With this new diploma I went and applied for a job at the hospital and was hired as casual. I worked all the time and I built up my seniority and I was able to finally become a permanent full time employee. But bills were still tough. Rent was still tough. I worked as often as I was allowed, picking up overtime when I could and just trying to get ahead. But paying rent for a 3 bedroom house plus utilities and all sorts of bills it was impossible to get ahead.
My wife and I separated and it was impossible to afford the house, bills and the kids and I had no choice but to move in with my Mom to try and get some fees paid down.
So we shared a room. We searched for a house for 2 years. Everything we saw was out of reach. Too much money, not enough pre-approval to get a mortgage. Prices sky-rocketed. The only chance for the kids and I to have a place to live on our own would have seemed to be renting a small apartment and even then it would have been difficult to make payments every month.
I never thought I would meet the criteria for Habitat so it was never an option but when my Mom suggested looking into it and my Step-Dad sent me a link to the ad in the paper talking about the most recent build I started reading the Habitat website and realized that I actually did meet all of the criteria.
So I applied. We were approved! It almost felt like a dream until they took me to the house. I walked through MY house!
It's so surreal but it is real and the kids and I couldn't be happier! We look forward to being home owners and Habitat for Humanity is helping us to accomplish this.