Buying our first house!

We are in the middle of the very exciting process of buying and owning our very first home! We truly had no intentions of staying in Greensboro. We actually had our eyes set on some place in the country...but God had a different plan. Matt's sister is a teacher and works with a lady that told her about a program in Guilford County called Good Neighbor Next Door. It is a program that is only offered in Greensboro and Charlotte and they are homes that are offered to teachers, firefighters, cops, and emt workers for HALF of the listing price. Yes, it is true and it is not a scam because it is through HUD (housing and urban development), which is a government program. This is how it works- every week they list 1-5 properties under this program and the potential buyer only has 5 days to look at the house and decide if they want to place a bid on it. If no one places a bid on it within that 5 day period then it goes on the regular market for the full price. At first we were thinking that most of the homes would be in the ghetto and a lot of them actually aren't in very good neighborhoods...but occasionally there are incredible deals to be found. We stumbled upon one of those amazing, almost too good to be true homes. It is in a very nice, quiet neighborhood with really good schools (for resale purposes). It is a solid brick ranch home on 1/2 acre property- it only needs minor repairs and we are purchasing it for less than 70,000! It is 3 BR, 2 BA and it needs major cosmetic work...but for that price who can complain? We have to commit to living in it for 3 years but after that we can resale it for whatever price we can get... and the homes in that neighborhood are going for between 140,000-180,000! So we are hoping that by the time it is all said and done we will be able to have all our student loans paid off and be able to put a down payment on something else! It's our "get out of debt quick" plan! We are supposed to close on it at the end of May and then we are going to spend all summer renovating it. It is very exciting because I have never fully been able to make a house look the way I want it to look because we have always rented...so this will be a fun project for me. We'll see if I have the same excitement when I'm knee deep in work! If anyone knows any firefighters, teachers, policemen, or emt in the Charlotte or Greensboro area you should tell them about this awesome program.
I want to share a little of the heart and thought process behind the purchase of this home. As Matt and I were praying about this house before we placed a bid on it we both felt as if God was trying to settle us. It has always been the big joke with our friends that we are not able to commit to one place for very long. We have moved 7 times in less than 7 years! In the past we have had a tendency to be discontent with where we are and were always searching for a better place to live or a better job etc. We both came to the realization that we will never find that perfect place or destination until we are in the Kingdom with our Heavenly Father. Searching for that kind of perfect place on earth is all in vain. He was calling us to take our minds off of our earthly desires and start seeking the eternal. While we prayed about the house we both felt a peace about staying in Greensboro. I think this is mostly because God wants to plant us in one place so that we will seek Him fully and wholeheartedly without the distraction of "where are we going to go next?". I think this is the beginning of a great journey for the Vaughn family and I am really looking forward to seeing how God is going to work on us and how He will use us in this town.