Never giving up

by A.T.
(Santa Rosa, CA. U.S.A.)

I'm a 46 yr. old separated, father of three beautiful girls. My lovely wife and I married in a small country church in the summer of '95 before our families and very dear, close friends.

Our children that we've been blessed with are the result of our passionate love for one another. I've always believed that our Heavenly Father brought us together and has done so for His divine reason.

Talk about opposites attract?! We are clearly just that! After getting married, we enjoyed our first year together starting out in a small cottage that we rented and conceived our first child. Good times! Soon we had enough saved for a down payment to purchase our own home only a few blocks away. We were ecstatic.

Our new place was easy for anyone to stop by as it was centrally located to the city's local synergy. Always a welcoming stop for family or friends. My Mother-In-Law visited quite often.

Well, our family grew with the birth of our second child and our house seemed to become smaller. We actually had preliminary drafts done for an addition to increase the square footage of our seemingly shrinking home. Then, I remembered a prior conversation that I had with my Mother-In-Law regarding the need for more space. In the conversation, My Mother-In-Law proposed that we move to her house (that she owns out-right and she lived alone) to help her with general up-keep on her house for a pro-rated monthly rent. I presented the thought to my wife. We were able to rent out our little house that we had enjoyed for 5 yrs. As a result we did make the move to Mother-in-Laws which was only about 8 miles away.

Additionally, it gave us the opportunity to be in a school district that we wanted our children to attend. Knowing that this living arrangement would only be temporary, it still gave us a chance to look for a house in that area since we knew that we desired to settle in that district.

Well, there was A LOT of up-keep to do on M-I-L's house. We were there long enough to conceive our third child in that house. My relationship with my Mother-In-Law had always been good and never caused any trouble. My wife and I were finding that home prices in the area had become so inflated and very competitive. You could make a realistic offer only to find that another potential buyer offered a considerable amount more! Bidding Wars became commonplace. After being there for 2 yrs. we had heard that the neighbor to Mother-In-Laws house was going to go on the market. I personally had a conversation with the owner and verbally agreed to purchase the home for no less than the appraised value.

The following spring we had made the purchase of the neighbors house after successfully selling our house we had rented out. This seemed really great.

I've always been a loyal, attentive, even tempered, hard working, husband. Since then, I've made a financial mistake in the housing market. A spec. house that I had built didn't sell and that really took a toll on things.

Well, we're separated now. It's been 3+ yrs and I haven't given up on us. I remember promising for better or worse in the vows that I promised to my lovely bride.

I now live in an apartment a few miles away. I continue to pray for God's will. As instructed, I'm not going to give up on us.