Blended Family Finds a ‘Home to Call Our Own’ with Room for Everyone

When Stephanie met her future husband, Alexander, several years ago, they quickly bonded over their love of vintage cars. Still, they soon discovered that their connection ran much deeper. Both came from large families, divorced, and raised children from their previous marriages.

“We were nervous at first about opening our hearts,” Stephanie stated in their Habitat application. Today, the couple is married and the T. family consists of “the perfect idea of yours, mine and our children,” including Elijah, age 9, Eliee, age 5, and Xander, age 2. The family celebrated the home dedication of their new Habitat house on Feb. 28, 2025, in Blanchard, Oklahoma.

“Alexander and I grew up with large families, including him being one of nine children and me having nine brothers and three sisters,” Stephanie said. “With such big families, we never got a space of our own, and that’s something we, as parents ourselves, strive for now. We want to give them a space within our home to become the best versions of themselves.”

Stephanie is now a stay-at-home mom, allowing the family to manage rising daycare costs while Alexander works full time. Stephanie said that affording a new home in today’s economy felt impossible, but Habitat helped make it happen.

“We’re able to provide a safe space for our children to grow and become the people they will become,” Stephanie said. “We’ll be able to create new memories in a new, never-lived-in-before space – best of all, Habitat can help provide that to us.

We’ve looked at so many different ways to try to give our children the life we wish we could have had, and Habitat is allowing us to help fulfill one of the best things in life – a home to call our own. Thank you tremendously for helping us to find our happily ever after!”