WE HAVE MOVED!!

Please come visit us at our new location.

 www.bringinmamahome.com

We can't wait to see you there!

We don't just follow Dave Ramsey.  We also follow his daughter Rachel Cruze.  She is following in his footsteps reaching out to the younger generations.  In the last week she posted on her facebook page an important tidbit that we all need to remember.  No is a complete sentence.  

There are so many things we should say no to.  We often forget to say no.  Albert and I have decided it is time to say no to stupid tax!  If you listen to Dave, you know all about stupid tax.  Stupid tax is the extra money you dish out after making a bad financial decision.  Stupid tax comes from consigning a loan.   Stupid tax comes from lending someone money and expecting to get it back. Stupid tax comes from signing unnecessary financial contracts. 

When we were pregnant with Harli, her bedroom window was on the side of the house.  It was in front of the gate to the back yard.  It was the most accessible window that was the furthest from the front doors.  It was also out of sight from the neighbors.  To me it seemed the most likely place for someone to break in.  So when the salesman came to our door to offer us an awesome security system we jumped on board.  We let our emotions drive our decision.  We did not even think about it over night. The system was wonderful. We loved it!  It gave peace of mind. The video camera even allowed Albert to check on us while he was at work.  The app let us lock and unlock the front door from our phones!!

The system was everything we hoped it would be.  But then we moved.  Our renter was not interested in it.  We could not really use it where we moved.  We no longer needed that type of security. We tried for months to sell our contract to anyone interested. No one wanted it.  So we paid 2.5 years worth of stupid tax.  The company was unwilling to work with us on forgiving the contract. Why should they?  We signed the contract. We agreed to the payment. So we bit the bullet.  

We closed the account this week.  It is such a great feeling to not be paying any more stupid tax!  We agreed that we will never sign a payment contract again. If we need a security system in the future we will use a company that doesn't require a contract.  Next time we need new phones we will not be renewing the two year contract just to get a discount.  We are saying NO!  No to stupid tax.  No to unnecessary contracts!  

One more payment off of our budget!  One step closer to Bringin' Mama Home.

Accessing the Drive to Succeed

What motivates you?  What drives you to success?  Are you able to self motivate? Do you need external forces to push you or pull you along?  Do encouraging words motivate you?  Does praise motivate you?  Perhaps the fear of discouraging words forces you to push towards the finish line.  Maybe you are motivated by rewards.  Does food motivate you?  Do presents motivate you?  Some quality time with yourself or a friend may motivate you.  Pampering rewards can also be motivating!  

If you have never thought about what motivates you the most, take time to find out now.  Whether it be internal, external or both, motivation is a powerful tool without limits.  It is a tool we often forget to access at full potential. It is a tool that is more dangerous if left in the toolbox, forgotten. 

I have witnessed what lack of motivation looks like in a loved one.  It is heartbreaking. As a high school teacher, I see it more and more every year.  Many of my students have never been taught, or at least bought into the power of self motivation.  It is destructive.  It is lonely.  Lack of motivation quickly kills our spirit. 

Again I encourage you to find what motivates you.  Find it.  Hold on to it.  Use it intentionally. 

Nothing motivates me more than Albert.  His words motivate me.  His actions motivate me. His touch motivates me.  It seems appropriate then for Albert to be the one to reward my successes.  My big goal right now is to lose the baby weight and give Albert back his bride.  

Thirty-two pounds is a big goal.  Too many small set backs can be enough to put a halt on the entire process.  That would make my goal feel impossible.  I decided to break my goal down into small increments.  Eight pounds to my pre-Levi weight.  Six pounds to a mini goal. Six more pounds to my pre-Harli weight.  Six pounds to my next mini goal.  The final six pounds to my wedding weight.

Albert has set up rewards for me along the way. The first, coming soon, is three nights of dinner and dishes taken care of!  Then one full week of dinner and an hour massage.  Next is a home project of my choice completed.  The fourth reward is a week of dishes and another project completed. The grand finale is three one hour massages in one week and four nights of dinner and dishes.  To me, these rewards are amazing. I have always been able to self motivate internally, thanks to my parents, but these external goals will keep me moving at a pace beyond what I could do on my own.  Like I said, motivation is a powerful tool.  Find what works for you and run with it!  

Being an Eight Cow Wife

I wrote the following several months ago on Facebook.  I wanted to expand it further. "It still amazes me that I never need to ask Albert to do anything around the house, for our daughter or for me. I never feel like I have to correct him in any way or work on making him a better person. I only knew my husband for 6 months before I married him and I have never felt that I ended up with someone different than I expected. I have never felt jipped in the husband I chose to marry. I have never felt unloved or unwanted. I have never been yelled at or abused in my marriage. I have never felt alone in my marriage or in my parenthood. Part of the reason I have my piece of heaven on earth is the mere character of my husband, another reason I have such a beautiful love story is because I try to remember the needs of this man that chose to share his life with me. I remember that he needs to be encouraged every day. He needs to know I want him, need him and appreciate all that he does. I pray that all wives choose to encourage and enjoy their husbands today instead of under-appreciate them. Thank you God for the man you have blessed me with."

Have you ever read the story about the eight cow wife?  If you have not, go read it now.  I first read it in Night Light: A Devotional for Couples by James and Shirley Dobson.  

Johnny Lingo’s Eight-cow Wife

by Patricia McGerr
When I visited the South Pacific islands, I took a notebook along. I had a three‐week leave between assignments in Japan, so I borrowed a boat and sailed to Kiniwata. The notebook was supposed to help me become a junior‐grade Maugham or Michener. But when I got back, among all my notes the only sentence that still interested me was the one that said, “Johnny Lingo gave eight cows to Sarita’s father.”

Johnny Lingo wasn’t exactly his name. But I wrote it down that way because I learned about the eight cows from Shenkin, the fat manager of the guest house at Kiniwata. He was from Chicago and had a habit of Americanizing the names of the islanders. He wasn’t the only one who talked about Johnny, though. His name came up with many people in many connections. If I wanted to spend a few days on the island of Nurabandi, a day’s sail away, Johnny Lingo could put me up, they told me, since he had built a five‐room house—unheard‐of luxury! If I wanted to fish, he could show me where the biting was best. If I wanted fresh vegetables, his garden was the greenest. If I sought pearls, his business savvy would bring me the best buys. Oh, the people of Kiniwata all spoke highly of Johnny Lingo. Yet when they spoke, they smiled, and the smiles were slightly mocking.
 “Get Johnny Lingo to help you find what you want, and then let him do the bargaining,” advised Shenkin, as I sat on the veranda of his guest house wondering whether to visit Nurabandi. “He’ll earn his commission four times over. Johnny knows values and how to make a deal.”
 “Johnny Lingo!” The chubby boy on the veranda steps hooted the name, then hugged his knees and rocked with shrill laughter.
“What goes on?” I asked. “Everybody around here tells me to get in touch with Johnny Lingo and then breaks up. Let me in on the joke.”
“They like to laugh,” Shenkin said. He shrugged his heavy shoulders.
“And Johnny’s the brightest, the quickest, the strongest young man in all this group of islands. So they like best to laugh at him.”
“But if he’s all you say, what is there to laugh about?”
“Only one thing. Five months ago, at fall festival time, Johnny came to Kiniwata and found himself a wife. He paid her father eight cows!”
He spoke the last words with great solemnity. I knew enough about island customs to be thoroughly impressed. Two or three cows would buy a fair‐to‐middling wife; four or five a highly satisfactory one.
“Eight cows!” I said. “She must be a beauty who takes your breath away.”
“The kindest could only call Sarita plain,” was Shenkin’s answer. “She was skinny. She walked with her shoulders hunched and her head ducked. She was scared of her own shadow.”
“Then how do you explain the eight cows?”
“We don’t,” he said. “And that’s why the villagers grin when they talk about Johnny. They get special satisfaction from the fact that Johnny, the sharpest trader in the islands, was bested by Sarita’s father, dull old Sam Karoo.”
“Eight cows,” I said unbelievingly. “I’d like to meet this Johnny Lingo.”
So the next afternoon I sailed a boat to Nurabandi and met Johnny at his home, where I asked about his eight‐cow purchase of Sarita. I assumed he had done it for his own vanity and reputation—at least until Sarita walked into the room. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, the sparkle of her eyes all spelled a pride to which no one could deny her the right.
I turned back to Johnny Lingo after she had left. “You admire her?” he asked. “She… she’s glorious,” I said. “But she’s not Sarita from Kiniwata.” “There’s only one Sarita.
Perhaps she does not look the way they say she looked in Kiniwata.” “She doesn’t.” The impact of the girl’s appearance made me forget tact. “I heard she was homely. They all make fun of you because you let yourself be cheated by Sam Karoo.”
“You think eight cows were too many?” A smile slid over his lips. “No. But how can she be so different?” “Do you ever think,” he asked, “what it must mean to a woman to know that her husband settled on the lowest price for which she can be bought? And then later, when the women talk, they boast of what their husbands paid for them. One says four cows; another maybe six. How does she feel, the woman who was sold for one or two? This could not happen to my Sarita.”
“Then you did this just to make her happy?” I asked.
“I wanted Sarita to be happy, yes. But I wanted more than that. You say she is different. This is true. Many things can change a woman. Things that happen inside; things that happen outside. But the thing that matters most is what she thinks about herself. In Kiniwata, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. Now she knows she is worth more than any other woman in the islands.”
“Then you wanted… ” “I wanted to marry Sarita. I loved her and no other woman.” “But… ” “But,” he finished softly, “I wanted an eight‐cow wife.”

There are two things I urge you to focus on.  The first is being an eight cow wife.  Some of you may not feel as though you are an eight cow wife.  You are.  Regardless of how your husband views you, Christ paid the highest anyone has ever paid.  He paid that for you.  Christ sees you as an eight cow wife.   It is time to start being one.  In the book Sacred Sex by Tim Alan Gardner he states that "Eve had no reason to doubt that she was everything Adam ever needed or desired."  I love this beautiful message.  By internalizing that thought we become everything our husbands need and desire.  We become who we think others think we are.  If I really believe that Albert views me as confident, smart, beautiful, desirable, the best wife, the best mother and anything else he needs me to be, then I become all of those things.  I carry myself in a different way.   

I would also encourage you to view this story flipped around.  Is your husband an eight cow husband?  Are you encouraging him?  Are you loving him?  Are you serving him?  Are you respecting him?  Perhaps if you view him as an eight cow husband he will become one.  If he constantly feels inadequate, he will quickly become so. Marriage is not a fifty-fifty deal.  It is a one hundred percent deal.  You must give one hundred percent.

Treasure your husband. Treasure your marriage. 

You are an eight cow wife!

Covering Little Bums

Yet again cost effective collides with healthier choices!  Our babies sport cloth diapers one hundred percent of the time.  This includes road trips and even camping (there is a laundromat near by).  We save quite a bit of money using cloth. Plus, the many chemicals in disposable diapers never touch my babies' bottoms.

I have several different brands and styles of diapers.  If you are just getting started you may want to do the same. In my variety I have learned my favorite types. Brand is not nearly as important as style. I prefer one-size pocket diapers with snaps.  The one size allows the diapers to be used through the entire diaper wearing career.  The pockets allow me to choose the number of inserts to use based on the amount of absorbency I need.  I double stuff for sleeping, long car rides and even church (so my children don't have to be taken out during services).  Snaps seem to be much longer lasting than Velcro. 

My Velcro diapers have stopped sticking after less than two years of use on one child.  It has happened at an unfortunate time as Harli is not quite ready to be potty trained, Levi is growing out of his newborn diapers and I am going back to work (meaning I can't wash diapers whenever I need to).  Not a great time to be running short on diapers.  

Instead of buying new (or even used) diapers, I decided to convert my Velcro diapers to snaps.  I had to buy a few tools and the snaps.  It is still by far cheaper than buying more diapers!

The first step is using an unstitching tool to remove the Velcro from the diaper.  I found it easier to work between the Velcro and the diaper after getting started.  This method allowed me to pull the Velcro away from the diaper a few stitches at a time.  Then I picked away all the remaining thread to clean up the diaper. 

Next, I traced and cut out a piece of card stock to use as a template.  I pinned it to a snap diaper.  Then I used a pencil to shade the card stock.  This outlined the position of the snaps.

I then used an awl to poke holes on my card stock.

I placed the card stock on the old Velcro diaper using a pencil to mark the snap positions. 

This handy press assembled the snaps rather easily.  I had a different snap press that turned out to not be compatible with the snaps I purchased.  It delayed my project by a few days while I waited for the correct press to arrive.

I'm not an expert.  They certainly are not perfect. They will, however, cover my babies' bums and keep us rockin' 'n rollin' the cloth diapers.

Organizing Our Life

I do not generally do well without a schedule.  I definitely do not do well without a plan.  Yesterday was planning day.  I go back to work one week from today.  I needed a plan.  I needed a plan to help my family eat well.  I needed a plan to make sure the house stays clean.  I needed a plan to make sure I get everything done while maximizing my limited time with my family.  So we made a plan.

The first part of our plan is our menu.  When we got married my aunt gave us a cook book with her family recipes.  In the cookbook was a letter from her.  She explained how it was easier for her to have a themed menu.  Her themes were Mexican Mondays, Soup Tuesdays, Chicken Wednesdays, etc.  I have used many of the recipes in this book over the last three and a half years, but I had yet to make it my own.  Last week a friend sent me a link on Pinterest that had the same basic idea.  I took this opportunity to revamp my cookbook to reflect our chosen themes.

Sunday is crock-pot or casserole dinner night.  This works well if it is a potluck Sunday or if we have Sunday company.  I can prep the meal Saturday and no cooking is required for Sunday.  If it is just us eating, we are sure to have excellent leftovers for lunch that week!

Monday is international dinner night.  This allows us to enjoy our favorite Mexican, Italian, Thai, etc. menus without having to devote a different night each week.  I borrowed this idea from the above link!

Tuesday is pantry or freezer dinner night.  This can also be interpreted as left-over night or whatever is on hand night.  Tuesdays we will be hosting FPU starting April and we wanted an easy dinner night.  We do have family dinner with my parents and sister every other Tuesday, until FPU begins.  To accommodate this I will likely trade meal nights for something more exciting when it is our turn to host.

Wednesday is soup, salad and/or sandwich night.  Another easy night so that we can eat quickly and enjoy Bible class.

Thursday is BBQ night.  This is my one night off!!  It is Albert's night to cook burgers, brats, steak or anything else delicious on the grill.  I LOVE this night!  I have also chosen Thursday to be my grocery shopping day.  It is the one day I don't have to rush home to cook.  I prefer to grocery shop on a week night so that it doesn't interfere with family weekends.

Friday is pizza dinner night.  I am starting this week off with pepperoni and pineapple calzones and homemade dough.

Saturday is new recipe night.  This will encourage me to find yummy and healthy recipes to add to the mix.  If we love a new recipe it will get a place in my revamped recipe book.

I used a sharpie on my kitchen whiteboard to outline our weekly menu.  I know a teacher trick to remove it if I ever decide to try something else.  Meal planning done!

What about the rest of my life?  How do I get everything else done that needs to get done?  When I try to schedule all of the chores every week I lose most of my family time and my sanity.  So I decided to apply the themed idea we used with our meal planning.

Sunday is relaxing night.  This can be interpreted in whatever way we want as long as it is relaxing.  If Sunday night is hectic chores then I don't feel like I got a weekend.  This makes for a rough Monday.

Monday is chore night.  I have to do laundry and dishes everyday to keep up with diapers and bottles.  All other chores are reserved for Monday.  I know the whole house wont get cleaned every Monday.  My family is more important.  Instead, we will complete only the most needed chores on any given Monday.  I am hopeful that all chores will get done at least once every two to three weeks.

Tuesday is catch up day.  On Tuesdays that we are not teaching FPU or having family dinner night, we will play catch up.  This is our opportunity to work on any unfinished projects from the weekend.

Wednesday is Bible class and fellowship night.

Thursday is reading night.  This is our chance to catch up on Bible reading, personal development reading and of course fun reading!

Friday is game night.  It pairs well with pizza!  We can play games with Harli after dinner and then play cards or backgammon after she heads to bed.  We used to play games several nights a week before kids.  We are ready to reclaim this time!

Saturday is of course movie night.  It is a great way to end the weekend and a Saturday that was surely full of projects and photo sessions!

I feel accomplished just by making a plan.  This week is implementation week so that we have some what of a routine established before I head to work next Monday.  What strategies are you using this year?

Teacher by Day

I am a wife and mom far above being a teacher.  I want to be home full time.  I want to keep a clean home.  I want to take my children on day trips.  I want to create new recipes.  I want to learn how to sew.  I want to have time to do projects with my children.  I want to home school my children.  I want to be everything my children need me to be.  More importantly, I want to be everything my husband needs me to be.  I want to work out and stay fit for my husband.  I want to make him three meals a day.  I want to have time to write him love notes and hide them in his lunch.  I want to surprise him with lunch at work.   

With my heart at home, how do I enter my classroom in a few short days and be everything my students need me to be?  I certainly can not leave these thoughts of home at home.  They are too much a part of who I am.  I have to redirect them.  I have to focus on each of my students.  I have to love them as I want my own children to be loved while I am away from them.

I could certainly sit in my classroom and be bitter about my job.  Where would that get me?  Where would that get my students?  I choose to love my job.  I choose to be the best teacher I can be to each of my students.  I choose to be at work 100%.  I choose this because I love my students.  I choose this because it makes my hours at work go by faster.  I choose this because to be the best mom and wife, I have to be the best teacher too.  I choose this because God wants me to. 

I do love my job.  If I had to be anywhere other than home with my children, I would be in my classroom.  I am very blessed to have this career.  Many mamas who wish they were home, trudge off to work for a boss they don't like.  My boss is amazing.  My boss understands my desire to be with my children.  Many mamas go off to a job that feels pointless.  My job isn't always glamorous, but it is always rewarding.  My job makes a difference.  Many mamas barely make enough money to justify paying for a sitter.  My job pays me well and allows us to work through our financial goals.  Someday my job will bring me home.

If you wish you were home with your children, take a new perspective to work with you this year.  Plan to be the best employee and coworker possible.  Plan to enjoy your job.  When you get home, you will feel more fulfilled in your day.  You will be emotionally more stable for your husband and children.  Use those few short hours between work and sleep to really BE with your family. 

(As I head back into the working world my posts will be once a week instead of daily.  Stay with us to hear about how we balance life and continue working towards Bringin' Mama Home!  Happy New Year.)

Picturing Our Dream

It is so important to dream and plan together.  Especially when giving yourselves such tight restrictions.   As you are motivating yourself to start or continue overcoming debt, sit down with your spouse.  It is time to start dreaming.  We already discussed dreaming about big giving.  It is also time to dream about what you want your life to look like when it is no longer strapped by debt.  Albert and I sat down a few months ago and made our list.  We had discussed it numerous times in the past.  This time we made a record of it.  It is something to revisit often.  It keeps us focused on our goal.  It keeps us motivated to trudge on!

Some of our list has special treats.  Going on that Alaska cruise we dreamed about for our honeymoon.  Walking into a store with an outrageous amount of money and going on a cash shopping spree.  For me, having a standing appointment at a day spa.  For Albert, having a regularly set tee time.  Hiring an interior designer to turn our home into a dream.  Or at least have matching furniture!

Other items on our list include changes in our lifestyle.  Buying all organic, farm fresh food.  Mama being home with the kids all day.  Of course, skyrocketing our giving!  Having company over for lunch every Sunday afternoon.  Driving better vehicles.



Our biggest financial dream is our home.  Other than me being a stay at home mom, this is the dream we talk about the most.  Picture this with us.  Many acres of beautiful, gently rolling hills.  A ranch style home that we have either built or modified.  On our land you will find countless picturesque backdrops.  Our own private outdoor studio.  The most stunning backdrop will be the location of a wedding venue.  Including a gorgeous barn in case of poor weather.  We will be your one stop shop for all of your wedding needs. 


We will provide all inclusive wedding packages with people we have partnered with.  Our dream will make other people's dreams come true.  We will both be home full time with our children, doing what we love.



That is our dream.  What is yours?    

Simple Soap

I love inexpensive.  I also love natural, healthy choices for my family. Rarely do these two worlds collide.  When they do, I hop on the bandwagon!

My friend gave me a simple recipe for laundry soap. I only have 2 pods left of my Sam's club soap.  I decided it was time to try it out.  I ordered my supplies on Amazon with free two day shipping. Amazon prime is so good to me!  It only cost about $40 to get started, including the storage container. I have enough supplies for at least 4 batches. 

Start by boiling one gallon of water in a large stock pot. Add one bar of grated soap. 

Stir until soap dissolves.  Then turn off stove. 

Add two gallons of cold water.  Stir to cool soap. 

Add one cup of laundry soda.  

Add one cup of borax. Stir it one more time. 

Transfer to a five gallon bucket with lid for storage. That's it!!  Super easy and fast. Use about one half of a cup with each large load. 

I also read the back of the borax box. I am excited to try it for other cleaning purposes.  Cleaning the disposal made it to the top of the list. 

Saving money is awesome!  One step closer to bringin' Mama home.

Do You Have One Yet?

If you are like most people, you don't have one.  You want one.  You have promised yourself you will get one.  Why don't you have one?  It is too much work.  It is too scary.  It isn't important...yet.  Unfortunately, when it is important, it is too late!  Who should have one?  Everyone.  When should they get one?  Now. 

Writing a will can be a lot of work.  Albert and I postponed writing our own will.  We were worried it would be a lot  of work.  We finally buckled down and did it earlier this year.  We ordered a kit (recommended by Dave Ramsey).  We set a date.  We sat down during Harli's nap time.  We wrote our will, together.  It is not perfect.  It was more important to have a draft than for it to be perfect.  We set reminders to update the will every year so that it will gradually become more perfect.  We also told our family members what was in our will and how to find it.  We don't want any surprises.

 Writing a will can be scary.  It can be terrifying.  It forces you to think about things that most of us prefer not to think about.  It forces us to think about our children growing up without one or both of us. 

It forces us to think about losing each other.  Albert took this time to write a letter to Harli for when he dies.  I wept when I read it.  I have yet to bring myself to write letters to loved ones.  I know I should.  Just like you know you should write a will.  However, it IS terrifying.

We put things off when we think we have more time.  Very few of us are willing to admit that we may be gone tomorrow.  You may think a will isn't important because you don't have money or things to pass down to loved ones.  Maybe you don't have children yet.  Maybe you are so young you don't think it matters yet.  Maybe you are so old you think it doesn't matter anymore.  It doesn't matter how old you are.  It doesn't matter how many or how few assets you have.  A will is important for everyone to have. 

It is not for YOU.  It is for your family.  It helps your family know what to do with your physical body.  If your spirit has already left your body, why does it matter what happens to the shell?  Your family is grieving.  Let them grieve.  Don't make them have to decide (or fight about) what to do.  Your family should not be given such a heavy burden.  Clearly lay out what to do with you, your possessions and especially your children (if you have children).  Give them this gift.

As you make your goals and resolutions for the new year, deeply consider writing a will.  It is a true testament of your love for your family and it is the responsible thing to do.

Our Family Christmas Letter

... on a budget.

Our 2013 began uneventfully.  Then the whirlwind hit.  Surprise!  We found out in the beginning of March that baby number two was a part of our lives.  We had the joy of celebrating our beautiful Harli Grayce's first birthday with loved ones.  We had planned to live with mom and dad for the rest of the year and work like crazy to become debt free.  Knowing baby was on the way encouraged us to move out early and put a pause on our debt snowball.  However, we continued to keep Dave Ramsey in our lives by hosting our first FPU course.

In April we were able to sell and pay off the F250.  Our debt reduced to $44,000.  We also made our very first vehicle purchase with cash.  It was an awesome feeling.  May was a big month for Harli.  She began walking on her own.  She also got to hear baby's heartbeat for the first time.  We ended May celebrating my twenty-eighth birthday.



 June was a special month.  Albert and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary by enjoying a romantic evening in old Folsom.  We found out that baby number two is a boy!!  I spent a wonderful summer with my baby girl, including her first camping trip. Then I started my sixth year of teaching in August.






September hit us like bulldozer and flipped our lives upside down.  This is the month we found out cousin Andrew has tumor in his brain.  It was a month full of weeping and praying.  The praying continues daily.  I busied myself with preparing the nursery for Levi Harrison.  While the weight of this news was still in our lives, October was a more joyous month as we celebrated Albert.  Albert became a Senior Payroll Specialist.  Albert also became thirty-one this month.





November and December have gone by incredibly fast.  In November we were blessed with a healthy, natural and beautiful birth at home! We finally got to kiss and love our handsome son.  Harli got to meet her Bubba!  In December we paid off Pepperdine, bringing us to only $40,000 in debt.

2014 will be another busy year as we work even harder to bring Mama home!!  Follow along as we journey through more ups and downs and pay down our final debt.  We will continue to move towards more natural cooking and cleaning in our home.  We will be doing fun projects to help Harli learn and grow.  We will be hosting our second FPU course.  Most importantly, we will be striving for Heaven!   

Christmas Gift Gone Wrong

We made it!  Christmas is THIS week!  I love everything about Christmas.  I love the hunt for the perfect tree.  I love hot chocolate and egg nog.  I love kissing under the mistletoe.  I love getting a new ornament from my parents every year. I love picking out ornaments for my children every year. I love matching pajamas. I love playing games with family.  I LOVE Christmas music. I love picking out and giving the perfect gifts.  This is perhaps my favorite part of Christmas.

This year I got the BEST gift for Albert!  I was so excited to give it to him. I spent several hours scoping out the best place to make this special order and emailing different companies.  After I ordered his perfect gift I checked the shipping status daily.  I was so excited to see the finished product.  I was even more excited for him to see it!  

The gift was due to arrive while we were in Ridgecrest.  I anxiously awaited the text from my sister to know it had arrived safely.  No text. I checked the shipping status again. It was marked delivered. Chantalle went out with a flashlite to double check.  There it was!  The long awaited for gift. But it wasn't the great surprise it was meant to be. 

Have you seen the old version of 'The Sandlot'?  Remember the beast?  That is our dogs. The package had been delivered over the fence. The dogs found it first. All of that money and time had been lost. I cried.  The joy of the anticipated gift was gone. 

The gift has been reordered. It won't be here for Christmas. It wont be a surprise. But It is still the BEST gift!  This will still be the best Christmas I have ever had. It is our first Christmas as a family.  We have a beautiful tree.  We have mistletoe in all the right places.  Steaming hot chocolate.  Ice cold egg nog. Christmas movies and music!  

What's your Christmas story?

In Case of Emergency

We have an emergency fund.  It serves exactly that purpose.  We turn to our emergency fund whenever we have a financial burden we have not planned.  Sometimes there isn't enough in the car maintenance budget for a big repair. We turn to our emergency fund. Our rental may need more work than we have expected.  We turn to our emergency fund. Unplanned medical bills may creep in to our lives. The emergency fund is there for us.

It doesn't just provide cash if needed.  It provides peace.  It provides security.  We always know that we have that extra little bit to fall back on.  When we do, our number one priority changes to building it back up. Since creating the emergency fund we have never needed to borrow more money.  We have never regretted cutting up those credit cards.  We have never had to ask for financial help.  Now that we have paid off much of our debt, many emergencies can even be cash flowed. 

An emergency can feel like a mountain that was thrown in your path. You don't have to turn to mom and dad.  You don't need to use a credit card. Going into more debt causes an emergency within an emergency. Create your emergency fund as quickly as possible so that your next emergency is merely a bump in the road.

Grow Your Giving

The desire to give can be a blessing.  The desire to give can also be a challenge.  Many people purchase gifts using a credit card.  Many people do random acts of kindness on someone else's dollar.  Some people are even going into debt when giving their weekly contribution.  I would never want to tell someone to put a reign on giving!  There are many ways to give.  Why is monetary giving the main way we give?  Most have struggled with money at one time or another.  We know how valuable it is in many situations.  We know it will be appreciated.   

Giving keeps us grounded.  It keeps our heart open.  Albert and I keep giving at the top of our budget.  Before we pay for anything else we allot a certain amount to give.  It is so important to include giving in your budget.  We need to plan for giving.  That does not mean we need to plan who and where we are giving.  We need to plan how much we are giving.    When we began our budgeting process we kept this number very small.  We had to.  We didn't have the money to pay our bills and make a dent in our debt.  We have rewarded ourselves with each debt payoff by increasing the amount that we give.  It has been an amazing incentive.  If you have the heart of a giver, use this tactic for motivation!

As you reign in your monetary giving, dream.  Dream bigger than you ever have.  Dream about the day you have no debt.  Dream about the day you have no mortgage payment.  Dream about what you can do when you don't have those extra bills.  Dream about the lives you can change.  Dream about the $1,000 tip you can give to a waitress.  Dream about the new tires you can purchase for the single mom at church.  Dream about the groceries you can have delivered to your elderly neighbor.

If you don't have giving in your budget, start now.  Start small.

I Heart Budgeting

I love to budget.  That makes me weird.  I like being weird. Weird means not pretending to be like everyone else. Weird means no debt.  I partly love it because the nerd in me loves a good puzzle. Budgets are basically huge puzzles. I mostly love it because after I pay the bills I pay down the debt. Excess money from each paycheck goes straight to debt.  As the debt decreases, our peace increases. 

Is budgeting always easy?  Of course not!  It takes a few months to work out the kinks. When we began our budget we forgot a few small things that felt big!  We forgot to budget for the yearly truck registration. We forgot to budget for our contribution on the sneaky fifth Sunday. Before long, we stopped forgetting things. After a full year of budgeting our budget chugged along like a well oiled machine. We now do very little before each month begins to fine tune our budget. 

I always look forward to payday!  I know, everyone loves payday.  But I love payday because that means I get to pay bills. Yes, get to. Everything has a cost and I am certainly not entitled to live for free. Getting to pay bills means I get to see my plan in action!  I get to watch my machine work through all those numbers.  

Many people are afraid of the word budget. They see it as restrictive.  They feel it will eliminate spontainaity.  I suppose that could be true if someone else budgeted your life.  But you are creating a budget to fit you.  A budget is more freeing than confining. It frees you from worrying about your splurge at Target dipping into your mortgage payment. If you enjoy splurging at Target, have a Target budget each month. If you always go out to eat on Tuesdays for lunch, have a specific amount allottted. for Tuesday lunches. If you are trying to pay off debt, you may want reconsider some of these budgeted items, but that is your choice. Know where your money goes. 

Where Do You Call Home?

We visited one of the places we call home this weekend. It is in the middle of the desert. It is a dry, brown, ugly place.  Why is it home?  For Albert, it is the place he grew from a boy to a man. It was his only home on earth for 26 years.  It was only my physical home for 2 years, but it was home. It was our first home together. It was the home where we built the beginning of our marriage.  It was the home of our first shared church family. It was the home where our miss Harli Grayce made us three. It was the home where we decided to change our family tree. It will always be our home. 

We get to visit our Ridgecrest home twice a year.  How can we do this while pinching pennies?  The trip is not a surprise. It is not an emergency. We simply add it to our budget twice a year.  In the early stages of our debt snowball it would take a few months of piling cash before taking a trip. We are now in a place where we can cash flow a trip with one paycheck. I mean real CASH. I write a check to ourselves after we have budgeted the trip into our allocated spending. We put the cash in an envelope before we leave.  We never touch plastic. We never worry about money during our trip. More importantly, we never worry about it when we get home. 

The only thing that follows us home are the memories. Watching our daughter play with her cousins. Singing with our church family.  Feeling the arms of our family around us. Hearing the joyful laughter of Mama Krabbe.  Playing cards with our dearest friends.  Visiting home should never be a burden. 

Dave Said, "Sell the Car"

I don't consider myself to be a materialistic person, but for some strange reason I get attached to vehicles.  They become part of the family. Perhaps it is because we rely on them so much.  Maybe it is because they are involved in so many memories.  The first time I recall selling a vehicle was my family's little jeep. One of those gems with the wood paneling. My sister and I loved that car!  We went to work with Dad the day he sold it.  We cried when it drove away.

I'm not the only one that feels this way. It is likely the most difficult part of completing Dave's plan.  It is also the most monumental. It reiterates your emotional commitment to Dave's plan.  It frees up several hundred dollars a month and many thousands of your total debt.

Did we sell our trucks?  You bet!  Was it easy?  No way.  Did we, like so many of Dave's callers, resist and make excuses?  Absolutely!!  Why?  Those trucks were a part of the family.

Cinnamon had to go first. We sold her while still living in Ridgecrest. I thought I felt about her the same way I feel about little dogs; little pickups just aren't trucks.  But the day she sold, I nearly cried. That little red pickup was the car I couldn't wait to see every other weekend during our six months of dating. I would wait longingly, like a child waits for Christmas, to see that truck pull into my driveway. Even after we got married I found myself looking out the window waiting to see that truck every lunch hour and at the end of the day. It was a symbol that my Love was within arms reach and not seven hours away. 

We survived nearly a year with only one vehicle. After moving back to Northern California we finally admitted that we needed to sell Pepper, our beautiful diesel F250.  My first truck. This was going to hurt. I survived. We survived.

We now proudly drive two beaters. The car doesn't have AC, only one window rolls down and the stereo doesn't work. The truck's AC is finicky, the paint is peeling off the hood and it smells like smoke. I doubt I will cry the day we sell (or donate) these cars, but I might.  They have become part of the family. They are reliable. They aren't accompanied by a large monthly car payment. They aren't contributing to the family debt. 

It isn't an easy step. It is an important step. It is life changing. If you have a car payment it is time to sell!  You too will survive.

Your Family has a Mission Statement?

Being on the same page with your spouse and your family is a must!  This is true for any goal in life.  Agree on everything?  Certainly not!  Agree on the important, life changing aspects?  Absolutely!  

Before our first child turned one, we sat down TOGETHER and made a plan. A plan for who we wanted to be as individuals and as a family. Our financial position certainly isn't our only aim, nor is it our main one!  We gave our family direction. A parent guide. A child guide.

We encourage you to do the same.  Where is your family headed?

The Krabbe Family Mission Statement

Papa’s promise:

I will always put God first and allow him to lead me as a man, as a husband and as a father.  I will be the spiritual leader of this family and take full responsibility for myself, my wife and my children.  I will be faithful to Mama, loving and honoring her and I will never leave her.  I will teach my children to love God, be faithful to His Word and live responsibly.  I will walk with integrity and teach my children to do the same.  I will protect my family and will diligently work to provide for their needs.

Mama’s promise:

I will always put God first.  I will always trust and respect Papa, and I promise to never leave him.  I will always love and serve my husband and my children, and I promise to keep our home a place of comfort and peace.  I will always be productive, and I will be joyful in my work.  I will keep my body and mind strong.  I will lead by example in teaching my children to care for those in need.  I will keep my family nourished and clothes, and I will do my part to provide for my family.  I will give my children an excellent education.  I will pray daily for my husband and my children, in thankfulness and supplication.  I will be praiseworthy of my husband and my children.

As a family, we promise:

We will always put God first, and will only use His name with honor.  Our home will always be filled with laughter, music, and hospitality.  We will pray together and for one another, and treat each other with respect.  We will honor and love our parents.  We will love our enemies; we will be kind to them, pray for them and see them as Jesus would see them.  We will be wise stewards with what God blesses us with, and will be thankful and content.  We will take time to enjoy and be in awe of God’s nature.

          Together, we will strive for heaven