Time to Feast

This is my adorable nephew Bailey at his first birthday last year.  He was totally into the cake!  Literally!! :)  He will be two in a week, and Aunt Amy is working on designing his next cake to feast on. :) Love my nephew! ♥

It's amazing how after finally making this blog that I have very little to say.  Seems to work that way... some days I have more words than can be said in a day, while other days I'm happy to sit in silence (well, with Ruby, there's never a time mommy can be silent). ;)  Kind of a feast or famine with my words and thoughts.

It's also been that way for us financially the past few years.  Most of the time it's been famine.  The past year has been the hardest of all, at times not even having money for groceries.  Thankfully Ramen Noodles are cheap and my kids love them. :)

It's been a mixture of reasons... I could blame the economy like everyone else.  I could blame it on the state of Ohio and their crazy rules for P.E. Teachers, leaving my hubby at a charter school where pay isn't much compared to district schools.  I could blame it on OSU, saying teachers HAD to have a Master's and would be getting a great job in Ohio just shortly after graduating (that was 6 years ago).  I could blame it on a lot of different things.  These things do have their fair share of helping us be in the famine stage, but we are the real culprits.

We spent years spending money we didn't have, until we realized we were so far in debt in was ridiculous.  After hitting rock bottom (and maybe a bit below that), we finally went to one of our pastors for help.  We spent several weeks working with him and other professionals and learned one major thing: we were in debt over our heads and then some.  Thankfully with the help of our pastor, we began learning self-discipline with our finances.  In just the first month alone, I turned into a 'if it's not the best deal we're looking elsewhere' when it came to EVERYTHING!  From grocery shopping to internet (we gave up cable a few months before this) to gas companies and fighting credit cards.

Our original goal wasn't to become debt free.  That was so far out there to us that we were sure we'd be old and gray and still paying off debt.  We've changed our outlook though.  After becoming very disciplined and putting in much effort we've already been seeing our debt reduced.  In the past 9 months we've been able to pay off one large debt, and next week will be paying off another.  We will be 1/3 less in debt than a year ago!!  We have now seen it IS POSSIBLE to be rid of our debt (okay, the mortgage is not included in any of this). ;)

Right now we are in our 'feasting' time.  Bryan's summer job brings us great blessing as an added income and as of next week will finish paying off that 2nd debt.  By the end of the summer we hope to have the next debt in line reduced by 25%.

During this time it's also easy to get in the mindset of getting things we've gone without the past few months.  Things we CAN live without but have missed (like starbucks.  yes, it's ridiculously overpriced, but i'm addicted.  now i can go there and just sit w/o purchasing anything.  it's a nice quiet hour away for mommy). Basically, things we want and don't necessarily need.  We keep reminding ourselves of how far God has brought us.  We've learned the importance of being good stewards with our money and through that we want to continue glorifying Him by getting rid of our debt.

I want to be a good example to my children in everything, including how to handle the gifts He gives us.   I want to lead by my actions, not just my words.  Help us, Lord!