I am a fortunate mom of two intelligent and kind boys, Noah age 12 and Micah age 10. Noah attends Duniway middle school as a 7th grader where he is part of the TAG program and excels academically receiving A+ grades consistently. He loves computers, reading, math, science and baseball. Micah is in 5th grade at Newby. He is also part of TAG for both reading and Math. He is the most kind and empathetic child. He loves cooking, art, reading and animals. He has a real gift for words and spelling. He plays Wordle and Connections with me every night. My hobbies are cooking and baking, reading and going to the beach. I try to go the gym most weekday mornings since I work at my desk all day, I try to walk on my lunch breaks when the weather allows. I love thrift store finds and garage sales.

Just knowing that homeownership is in my future has changed my outlook on life, it has given me something to look forward to and it has given me hope. Not too long ago, I thought that we would never own a home and that we would be stuck in the rental trap and ultimately poverty forever. I’m just so excited to finally have a place of our own, our home base that we can grow in. I look forward to the pride of ownership, growing and improving our space and making it our own.

This home keeps us here in McMinnville, where we have family, friends and a community that we are involved in. After years of moving, I was reluctant to move again for more affordable housing, not wanting to disrupt my children and their stability. Now, my children get to stay in McMinnville where they are invested in the community; through their schools, sports, activities and friends. It will give them the safe stable space they need to grow and excel in life. It gives me security, independence and even identity.