Our house and The big "C"

It's been a really long time since I've written a blog. The main reason for me doing this today is because I really don't want to keep explaining our situation over and over. It really hits a soft spot and i'd rather just explain it once to everyone then several times. So the first story is about "our house" and the second is about  what I call  The big "C". I hope this helps everyone.

As everyone knows Ben and I were in the process of buying a house. This process started in August of 2011 and sadly came to an end in May 2012. I'm making a really long story short on this one because it really is old news and we've been trying our best to move on. April first our lovely state decided to make some changes on FHA loans for first time home buyers. When we first signed the contract in August they agreed to pay our down payment and give us assistance on loan approvals. We also qualified for grants that allowed first time home buyers under our salary scale to put money towards a down payment. Our loan officer waited too long to put in our application for those grants so it really hurt our chances of getting the grant money. As of April 1st 2012 all of the grants were no longer available because they exhausted all the money putting us in a really bad situation because we had to come up with that missing portion of the down payment in order to have reasonable monthly payments. We could have gotten other loans to make up for that money, but the "silent loans" were evil and quite frankly we didn't want people telling who we could and couldn't have in our house. On top of that the HOA fees and property taxes went up becoming one of the highest costing communities to live in in that area. We wanted it so badly and came so close to getting the house regardless of the financial changes. We had to do the final walk through on the house and everything. After a lot of research, pain and frustration, we made the ultimate decision to walk away because it just wasn't worth it. We didn't want to put ourselves in a financial situation that could ruin us if anything were to happen to our jobs. We also didn't want to put ourselves in a community that had the right to change their fees and taxes so drastically at their desecration. It was a scary thought and we wanted no part of that.  It was a tough decision and we couldn't understand why everything had to fall apart at the last minute, especially after everything going so well. Then a few months later things began to fall into place and we began to understand.

  Home is where the heart is and I couldn't stress enough how thankful I am to be living close to my mom during this difficult time. This brings me to my second story. My mom was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer. I couldn't possibly describe to you how I feel so I won't. It all happened very quickly and I tried to keep this information on a need to know basis. With something this fragile, the last thing I wanted to do was talk about it. I got flooded with texts and phone calls so I want to explain whats going on so I don't have to do it over and over. I am strong, but there is always a breaking point. My mom had surgery to remove the cancer 2 weeks ago. They took out 10 lymph nodes as a precaution because the dye ( that detects cancer) didn't work in her body because this was the second time having the dye in her system. She went to the drs today to find out if they got all the cancer. I'm happy to say that they got all the cancer and it only leaked into 1 and a half of the lymph nodes of the 10 that he took out. This is excellent news. The dr wants her to do Chemo as a precaution because they want to make sure that it isn't anywhere else in her body. This is also good news, i'd rather her take all precautions necessary then to have to go through surgery again because they neglected it. There isn't much more that I can explain to you at this point. I just want everyone to be aware of the situation. I appreciate everyone's concern. It's just easier for all of us if people don't constantly call, it seems to make the situation a little easier to handle. I will keep you all updated with these blogs. As far as what I'm going to do about finishing my credential, I haven't decided yet.