Welcome to Love in the Time of Foreclosure

Hi! My name is Stephanie Walker and I began this blog in January of 2009 while my husband and I were fighting to keep our house out of foreclosure and our marriage above the madness.

We succeeded at both. Hooray!

Our house sold in a short sale on June 30, 2009 and our marriage is better than ever. In fact, we're expecting our first child in July!

Where do we live now? Rent-free in a 1910 farmhouse on a remote and beautiful little island in Washington State.

How the heck did that happen?! Well, our entire journey is here. The ups the downs and everything in between. I invite you to start from the beginning. The first post "Drowning in debt, Losing our house, Happier than ever" can be read here.

Or you could check out some of the most popular posts:

F is for foreclosure

5 Ideas for Rent-Free Living

The Freeing-up sale: We came, we sold, we have nothing but this blog post to show... and it feels fantastic!

The Big News: A Whale of an Opportunity

B is for...

Or how about reading some of my favorite posts such as...

A Guy's Guy (written by Bob for the male perspective)

How to be happy. Now.

The Sixty Dollar Lobster

How we AVOIDED foreclosure

For a time, the blog was located over at ChicagoNow. And there are lots of posts over there. That's where I blogged about our bankruptcy as well as the first three months in the house on the island.

If you want to know about our life on the island, you'll want to visit my NEW blog Two Years on an Island. I hope you'll take a gander.

And by the way, I love hearing from readers! I began this blog hoping to connect with others going through the same thing. If that's you, I especially would love to hear from you.

You can e-mail me at: loveinthetimeofforeclosure at gmail.com

Thank you so much for visiting!

News: My new blog and the L.A. Times

Hi LITTOF readers!

I just wanted to let you know that I have started a new blog! It's called "Two Years on an Island" and is located here. I'll be writing about life on the island and our experiences here while paying down our debt and preparing to be first-time parents.

There is a new post today about how our mechanic flew us from Seattle to Friday Harbor on Saturday in his Cessna. Seriously, this happened. This place is filled with amazing people and stories and I'll be sharing them on the new blog. I hope you'll check it out and keep in touch.

Next bit of news is that we were on the FRONT PAGE of last Thursday's Los Angeles Times! It is a story about short sales and they use our experience as an example. They also mention "Love in the Time of Foreclosure." To read the story, click here.

As always, thank you for reading!

BIG news on the anniversary of LITTOF

Well, hello there!

I did say that although I'm moving on from this blog to what's next that I would post news and updates here, didn't I? Well, today is definitely a big news day announcement.

Today, January 6, happens to be the one-year anniversary of the creation of Love in the Time of Foreclosure. One whole year. It's amazing to me. A year ago we were living in our house in L.A. fighting foreclosure and now we live rent-free in a 1910 farmhouse on San Juan Island - an island I had never actually heard of before. A lot has transpired. To be sure.

I didn't realize that today was the anniversary of my first LITTOF post until very late in the day. We had our mind on other things. Bigger life things. And we felt that having shared the grittiest details of our lives on LITTOF over the last year, it just makes sense to share the latest and biggest news of all.

Our big news:



Yep. We're pregnant!

That is the stick I peed on back in November. On the 26th, to be exact. (Yes, I saved the pregnancy test.) Bob has more intuition than I do, apparently, because he knew I was pregnant. Days before I took the test he was saying, "I think you're pregnant." I thought I was having indigestion.

I peed on the stick and saw the two lines almost immediately. Then questioned.

Wait, is that second line really there or am I seeing things? What? Seriously. It's there, isn't it?! Bob!!! Bob, come in here! You have to see this!

The next day I went to the clinic on the island to be sure. They had me pee in a cup. The news was the same. I'm pregnant. Wow. Whoa. Shit. Wow. Oh my... Okay. Okay.

We've had some time for it to sink in. I'm now eleven and a half weeks along and today for the first time, we heard our baby's heart beat! I cried. Actually, I first laughed. Then cried. "Wow," I said to Bob and our midwife, "There really is something in there!"

My symptoms have included:

Extreme exhaustion
Nausea
Aversion to foods
Extreme exhaustion
Depression
Super power sense of smell
Nausea
Mood swings
Nausea
Inability to focus

I never knew the first trimester was so hard. I'd heard of the morning sickness that lasts all day (which I thankfully don't have) but was not prepared for the biological sluggishness and nausea.

This does explain my difficult December. And according to anyone who has ever been pregnant, I should expect a burst of energy very soon. I'm SO looking forward to that.

The knowledge of our pregnancy definitely played a hand in my choice to "retire" LITTOF. Our life has gone from being all about a house to all about a baby. And that is a wonderful thing.

When we discovered that I was indeed pregnant, Bob kept saying, "The island is special." We figure we were here for only a week or two before it happened. Much faster than we'd ever imagined. The island is special.

It's a strange thing having a baby here on San Juan Island. For one thing, there's no hospital. There's a clinic, but no hospital. There are doctors but no Obstetricians. There is one that makes monthly visits from Anacortes and there is a midwife on Orcas that makes visits to Friday Harbor. I spoke to a few women in the "Run Ladies Run" group who raved about the Midwife. I ultimately chose her. She delivers at Island Hospital in Anacortes so we won't be doing a home birth. They don't do that here because it's too risky being so far away from a hospital.

One of the first things we were told to do was purchase Life Flight Insurance. It cost us $75 for the entire year for the whole family. So we have that in case I need to be flown to the hospital. But July is apparently a good time to have a baby here because there are more ferries running.

The news of our pregnancy also contributed to my feeling unhappy about being here. I was immediately concerned about having a baby so far away from our entire family. On an island! It fueled my anxiety.

But now I'm choosing to look at it as though we were meant to be here. That this is the perfect place to be to have a baby. And how wonderful that we have a house with enough rooms to reserve one for a nursery! And still have room for guests. My mom is planning on staying for a month when the baby arrives. Bob's mom is already planning her visit. So we won't be alone. Far from it.

So, in answer to the question "What's Next?" Well, parenthood is next.

We've said goodbye to foreclosure and hello to parenthood.

And that's our big news!

Now, please excuse me but I must change into a looser pair of pants.

You can always e-mail me

I just wanted to let everyone know that just because I won't be blogging here anymore, doesn't mean I don't want to hear from you. Over the last year I have heard from many readers in similar situations as us and it's been wonderful to be able to share experiences.

If you're facing foreclosure and don't know where to turn... or just would love to vent to someone who knows what you're going through, feel free to e-mail me!

loveinthetimeofforeclosure@gmail.com

I'm here to listen.

The future of LITTOF in 2010

Please note that this post was written in the early hours of 2010 and published on the ChicagoNow site. I'm re-posting it here in case anyone missed the news...

Happy New Year, everyone!

It's just over an hour into the new year and already I feel better.

2009 wasn't an easy year. For us it was mostly defined by losing our house and declaring bankruptcy.... and the subsequent readjustment to a new life. And though that was overwhelmingly challenging, the truth is that it wasn't all bad.

Here are some of the highlights:

We broke our attachment to material possessions
We grew closer as a couple
We were gifted with a beautiful home for two years on an island in the Pacific Northwest
I finished writing a new full-length play
We discovered the depths of our resilience
We saw parts of this country we'd never seen before
We reconnected with old friends and made some new friends too

But the biggest thing to impact my life in 2009 was this blog. I began writing it in 2009. January 9, 2009 to be exact. Here is that first post.

Writing this blog has truly made an enormous impact on my life. As a result, I feel like I have grown as a writer. I've met amazing people through the blog and was able to process some pretty crazy emotions and experiences. As a writer, it is through writing that I grow as a person. It is because of the blog that we have this place to live and that I have more confidence in myself as a writer than ever before.

It's been such a journey. When I began writing it, I had no expectation of anyone reading it outside of my family and friends. I thought perhaps it could help others going through the same thing, but wasn't sure that it would actually reach anyone. My only goal was to write as openly and honestly as possible about our situation.

I'm so grateful to each and every one of you for reading, sharing and commenting on this blog. You've given me strength and self-assurance. I've loved corresponding with readers who write in for advice or just to share that you might be going through the same thing. Thank you for your advice and your support. Thank you for letting me know when it has made a difference for you. Being able to make a difference has been the biggest gift of Love in the Time of Foreclosure.

My realization & the big announcement
Last summer when we closed on the sale of our house, a LITTOF reader joked about what we would call the blog now that we avoided foreclosure. At that point it was obvious to me that I would continue writing, though as our story wasn't over yet and I saw the title of the blog to contain a larger context. Love in the Time of Foreclosure applied not only to our personal story but to the story that Americans were facing throughout the country. This being "the time of foreclosure."

But that comment has been stuck in my head lately. We personally did avoid foreclosure. We are no longer in foreclosure. That story is over. And I don't want to keep living it over and over and over again.

You might have noticed that my blog posts have been fewer and farther between of late. Some of that has to do with the month of December. I was largely unmotivated to do anything. But I had a lot of resistance towards blogging and I wasn't sure why. Until I realized that I'm just ready to move on.

I'm ready for the next chapter. The one that doesn't include foreclosure. By continuing Love in the Time of Foreclosure, I feel like I'm continuing to live back in that time. That very challenging time. And I'm ready to let it go.

What am I saying?

I'm saying this: My first post of 2010 is also my last. At least here. 

Wait. What?

This blog on ChicagoNow will remain in the archives so that old posts can be accessed, but I won't be writing new posts.

What?! Yep. It's true.

I will be keeping the original blogspot site active. It is there that I will post any news updates and possibly occasional articles while I figure out what is next.

But why?

Because it's time. It's a new year. A new decade. And I'm ready to let go. I don't want my life to be forever tied to our foreclosure story. It's just time for me to move on. For us to move on. The foreclosure isn't our entire story... only a small part.

In the spirit of full disclosure and 'telling one on myself', the writer in me has loved having a steady audience and readership for the first time in my life. That has, frankly, made it hard to objectively assess my commitment to the blog. I haven't wanted to let go for fear that I would somehow disappear. That my success as a writer is tied to this blog and this blog alone. As a result I've been clinging to the blog like a security blanket. And that just doesn't work for me.

Last summer we had to let go of our house and most of our possessions. Now it's time to let go of the blog. In order to clear the way for what's next.

And what is next?

Well, I'm not sure yet. I'm still designing 2010. What I know for sure is that 2010 will be amazing. Today we went bowling. I didn't break 100 on the first two games. I flipped a switch in the third. And I stepped up to the line and said, "I'm gonna bowl a strike now." I was completely sure of that. And I did. I bowled a strike. You gotta get, I hadn't bowled one strike in twenty-four frames. And then, just like that I did. That's how 2010 is going to be. Like stepping up to bowling a strike and actually bowling a strike. It's going to kick 2009's ass! I'm sure of it.

This post wouldn't be complete without acknowledging you. Here goes. I'm grateful...

-I'm grateful to ChicagoNow for including Love in the Time of Foreclosure on their site and for welcoming me into the family. I'm grateful to my friend Eileen for suggesting LITTOF to ChicagoNow in the first place.

-I'm grateful to Bob for being my editor and reading almost every post before it went live.

-I'm grateful to my mom for agreeing to write articles on the blog as The Real Estate Mom.

-I'm grateful to the community of LITTOF readers. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share our story and for the fact that it has made a difference for some people out there.

-I'm grateful to Ron on Orcas and Joy on San Juan Island for welcoming us so kindly to the San Juan Islands and for always looking out for us! Thanks for the lamp and the coffee, Joy. And thanks for helping us with the table, Ron!

-I'm grateful to LITTOF reader Judith @theluxpod for sending us yummy chocolate from London and having to disguise the package as "used socks."

-I'm grateful to LITTOF reader Jennifer @loonyladybug for sending us an awesome road trip CD.

-I'm grateful to the owners of this house (!!) who reached out to us and offered us a place to live. You guys have shown us such generosity and trust that we are overwhelmed at times.

-I'm grateful to friend and talented playwright/screenwriter Jennifer Maisel @jennifermaisel for naming the blog. Yep, she's the brains behind the name. It began with the less creative name of simply Steph and Bob. So, thank you Jennifer! For that (and more.)

-I'm grateful to Greg Pincus @gregpincus for his invaluable mentoring!

-I'm grateful to everyone who shared the blog. To everyone who commented and took an interest in our story.

-I'm grateful to so many of you who told me you sent our blog to Oprah or NPR or NBC because you thought it was a great story that should be seen on a wider scale. Your faith in us always made a difference.

-I'm grateful to those of you who said that this should be a book! Or a movie! Maybe one day it will.

-Oh- I'm grateful to Apartment Therapy and CurbedLA for posting about our huge estate sale because I think that really helped spread the word. (Man, that feels like soooo long ago.)

-I'm grateful to the LITTOF reader who bought our white dishes in L.A. (I hope you're enjoying them.)

-I'm grateful to The Story for having us on. That was a lot of fun and really therapeutic, actually.


-I'm grateful to my amazing family and wonderful friends who never once told me I was insane to be sharing so frankly in such a public forum.

This is starting to feel like an Oscar acceptance speech. This is where I look quickly at the monitor and say, "It's saying wrap it up. Uh, um... uh....I'm just so grateful. Thank you."

So that's it. It's been fun.

To catch any future updates, you could sign up for the RSS feed or the e-mail list at the Blogger site. Just look at the right hand column for those options.

Thank you. For more than you'll know.

And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Steph