Homeowner Melissa writes:

It's winter, in November of 1979, it's snowing a little outside and it's time for me to take a bath for school the next day. I remember fighting my mom on this subject on a daily basis. Why? Well, let me tell you my story. We are a family of five and we live in a red brick and Grey cinder block house that my dad swears he will finish one day when we have money. There are no interior walls dividing the living space, there are two windows, only one opens, the floor is concrete but we do have pieces of carpet that my dad got from my grandfather. There is a large bed, a set of bunk beds, and a crib for my little sister. We had this long maroon couch where I remember having piles of our clothes, I guess we didn't have a closet or a chest for them? We did not have a regular bath room, we had what people now call outhouses, we have no running water, other than the salt water pump that my dad has outside to feed the animals with. I know we had gas, because I remember my mom turning the oven on full blast to warm up the house so that me and my sisters could bathe, and she would warm up pots of water because the water coming from the hose outside was ice cold. I remember that It didn't matter how hot the water was, because the large tin basin we would bathe in was cold from being outside all day. After one bathed, then it was the next ones turn, my mom and dad would carry out the basin together because it was too heavy. We had electricity because I remember watching "The Smurfs."

Fast forward to October 2001, a great year indeed, I'm 27 years old now and I have a family of my own. I have a hard working husband and beautiful Little girl who is my everything. We are living in a two bedroom house because we are having a hard time getting a loan to buy a house because our credit is not so great. Earlier that year my husband and I had gone to Habitat for Humanity to fill out application to see if we qualified for a home. Early one evening in October of 2001 after receiving numerous letters letting us know that we were still being considered for a home, we received a call from one of the Habitat for Humanity volunteers asking us if we were going to be home that evening because they wanted to speak to me and my husband. JM & JM had come over to our house to deliver some wonderful news, you see, we had been selected as one of the families to receive a home. I don't know that I will ever be able to put into words what it means to my family and myself to finally have a home. That my daughter will never have to live in poverty as I did when I was growing up. Habitat is not just about building and getting a home, its building friendships and building great communities for our children to grow up in. Thank you Mesilla Valley Habitat for Humanity and Habitat International, and especially MJS, you are my inspiration for giving back what was offered to me.