We are rebuilding our credit and?

it is a long and slow process. My husband was self employeed for about 5 years, and that ruined our credit. Now we are rebuilding. We found the house of our dreams, way underpriced, but our credit scores suck. How do we get a home loan, we could afford the payments, but we can't find financing. We pay over $1500 a month towards past debt, but.. We want this house and we can afford it, we just don't have good credit. What lender will look at the fact that we have been making an effort and our income?