“I never thought this day right here would come because for the last couple years all I’ve been thinking is ‘We’re gonna be in a tent for the rest of our lives’ and then [my boyfriend] had a stroke down there… and I almost got frostbitten, they cut my tent up and stole from me... I can’t say it’s all been bad… My tent became my home. It really did.”
“It’s been a long waiting process cuz we’ve been on the waiting list for like three years for any kind of metro house… So all of a sudden this year, they called, they emailed us and said that... he was gonna get it this year. They pulled him out of the lottery... I had to advocate and keep following through... And it was a bumpy road waiting on them… And I gave it to God. I was going to the church on Saturday mornings, and I just prayed, and I said ‘What’s wrong? I know I ain’t no saint.’ I said, ‘We are tired. I don’t understand why.’ And the preacher, he said ‘You know why it’s so hard right now?’ He said, ‘You know why you struggling and the Devil’s beating you right now?’ I said ‘Why?’ He said ‘Cuz you're on the verge of a breakthrough.’ I promise you that’s what he told me.”
“I said, ‘Look. Listen. I gave it to God. I told God it’s what I wanted.’ I said, ‘I don’t care what y’all say. God gonna give me my house for Christmas. And I’m done, I don’t even wanna talk no more about it.’ I told everybody it’d be Wednesday. She called Monday and said ‘You can move in Tuesday.’”
“Tell you real genuine, I go down there, and I see people down there still. At first, I felt bad cuz we were leaving, but then I don’t feel bad because I know we put in the work to get out of there... I mean, just cuz I’m out, I’m still the same [name] that lived in that tent down there. I don’t think I’m better. I’m still the same… I’m like, ‘Y’all are my family, I’m still coming back over here’ to visit them. I’m just basking in it… I’m a success story, but I just want people to know that this did not happen overnight or in a couple of months; this has taken some years, so I have a right to boast cuz this has been a long time coming.”
