Last year we were chosen for a Habitat for Humanity house. It was an answer to prayers. We had been told by the church that we are renting from that they would need the property back to build a multi purpose building. We weren't sure where we were going to go or what we were going to do. Then we got accepted for the Habitat house. We were thrilled.

We broke ground on the house in April 2007. We are supposed to get 500 hours of "sweat equity", where we work on the house ourselves. It is a requirement to get the house. Well, there where some problems and concerns. My husband is the one who works, I stay home with the kids. My husbands work schedule for the last 4 years, was he worked 10 days in a row, then had 4 days off. The building work days were Tuesdays and Thursdays. Well that meant that my husband could only work on every other Thursday. His schedule just changed in October, where he has more weekends off now, but it hasn't helped much. My husband went up after work, and on his days off, but the builder, and the other volunteers where not there. He also left work early a few times, but couldn't do that too much. You see, they were also short handed at work, and if he had taken too much time he could have lost his job.

So the Habitat board was worried that we were not going to be able to get our hours in. I was up at the house when I could be, but because young children are not really allowed on the job site, I was not able to be there as much as I wanted to be. But I did try to be up there as much as possible.

 It was a long summer. The most chaotic of my life, and it would have been that way even if we were not building a house. We had five deaths in the family. We had sick relatives, and a couple of other family emergenicies. Things that were out of our control, but had to be dealt with.

While things were going crazy this summer, we got a little bit behind in our rent. It was a lapse in our judgement, and we have been working with the church (our landlords). The board member that came to talk to us was a really a**. He did not handle it well ( I am giving the short version, it is a long story). He asked several times "if you can't do the rent here, how do you plan on paying for the new house?" He had no business asking that. I said we could pay a little bit towards the back rent each month. He said that that was fine. Oh, I didn't mention that this board member came over and made arrangements and talked to us without talking to the other board members, the treasurer, or the pastor first.

So, we were able, with the help of my MIL (I love her) to pay back a good chunk of the back rent. So we more then held up our end, paying back more, sooner then we said we would. The treasurer and pastor, who I made the rest of the arrangements with were thrilled. And the pastor was very unhappy with the board member for handling it the way he did. Anyway, all of this rent stuff came to our attention in the beginning of October. We handled it, and were on top of things. Our rent has not be behind since then, and we had already paid back more then we had agreed to at one time.

Flash forward to  February. We have been working hard at the house. We have been painting the inside and shoveling snow. The kids even helped me paint their rooms. My son, who is almost 9 was so proud the the great job he did in his room. My daughter who is just 2 was adorable to watch, as she walked around, covered in paint, saying "I paint my room, I paint my room". We are looking forward to spring, and the snow going away, so that we can finish up the outside, and finally move in.

Well, I get a call from one of the board members saying my husband and I need to come down for a meeting. He won't tell me what this is all about.

So we go down to the meeting, where they tell us that they were told by some one from the church that we were behind in our rent. Because of the, we have been "deselected" for the house. The Habitat board member said " We were already worried that you were not making your hours, so that was the first red flag. But then when I heard that you were behind in rent, well, we can't have you not making your house payments."

So here is what happened. The church board member, who had originally come to our door to discus the issue of back rent, the one who was an ass, was down in town doing an electrical bid (he is an electrician) for the church where the Habitat board member is a pastor. While they were talking Mike (the a**) said to Rodger (the other pastor) that we are behind in our rent, and I don't know what else.  Now I am so mad I can't even find the words. This was a private matter, that we had already dealt with. We were on top of it, we had already paid back most of it, we have been current with all of our rent since October. But 5 effing months later, Mike the a**, shared something with someone that has now cost us our house.

We told Rodger, and the other people at the meeting what the situation was. They said that they would check out somethings, and that in a month we should know if there is a chance of us keeping the house. But in the mean time, I have to hand over the keys.

I am so hurt. I don't even know what to do. We can not afford to stay where we are. We were so excited about this house. Oh, and remember how I said that Habitat was worried that we weren't getting our hours in. And that we were supposed to have 500 by the time the house was done. Well, I totaled up our hours this morning. We have 400 hours in already. I am sure that we would have been able to make the 500 by the time we finished the house, no problem. And I want to know why the Habitat board didn't check with us on things, before deselecting us.

So, now we have to wait for a month to find out if we can keep the house. But otherwise, we now have to back up all of our stuff, and sell it, throw it away, or put in in storage. And we have to move back in with either my mom, or my in laws. I might have to get rid of my cats, we don't have a home of our own, we don't have any place to but our things, I might have to pull my son from school mid year. My children can no longer be so excited about how well they did painting their rooms, because they are not there rooms anymore. And my husband and I might not be able to live together for a while. I might have to take the kids, and move back in with family while my husband stays here, until we can find jobs back home.

So like I said in the title.......where do we go from here?