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!   

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.

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. 

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