.One Month Under Our Belts.

I wrote here about starting our Total Money Makeover via Dave Ramsey last month. Little did we know that just after beginning the makeover and just after cutting up all of our credit cards and vowing to never go into ANY kind of debt again, God would ask us to step up our faith a notch farther. We learned a few days after starting this money journey that Jim's last day at camp would be January 31st, rather than this spring like we had originally been thinking. So that means Jim's last paycheck came last Wednesday. I have had moments of panic and wishful thinking regarding those silly plastic cards, but overall I am at complete peace. Thankfully because of starting the makeover last month, we were very frugal with our money for the whole month of January. We stuck with our budget plan for the month, and we were very faithful in allocating our money each week before spending it. It has worked beautifully for us. We even came under budget in a couple areas! So we start this month of February a little differently. According to Dave Ramsey's plan we should start snowballing debt this month, but we cannot do that with our current financial status. Rather we are just trying to survive the month! We sat down a few weeks ago and figured out if we could make it work to not get paychecks for February (Jim does not get voted on at our church until the last week in February), and while money will be very tight and stretched and we will need to figure out how to go without some things, we can do it! I am excited to see how God provides in a few areas, as we have already had a few expenses come up that we had not planned for - doesn't that always happen?

I just cannot get over the way God has been growing me since October when He made clear to us His desire for our family to leave the ministry at camp. I never could have imagined trying to go a month without any pay - that seems way too crazy, scary, unstable, etc. I am the person that likes everything planned to a fault. And God has taken all of my plans torn them to shreds and then asked me to trust His plan while wearing a blindfold! But here is where God has placed us, and I am surprisingly calm and dare I say - excited?! God is so good and so faithful. When we finally come out on the other side of our faith story I am going to be such a different person. God has been at work. Looking back over even these past few months, I can see that so much that has happened needed to happen to get me to this place. So with one month under us in this makeover, we step into month number two and we continue to pursue our Savior and stand in awe at His providential care!


My sweet family. I caught Jim snuggling with our children this morning before breakfast, and I just had to preserve the memory. Cadi and Jim still have sleepy eyes, and Scotty just looks completely perplexed. Sweet though.

I am kind of excited about mornings this month. I anticipate that they will be slow and easy as Jim will not be rushing to be at camp, and I will not be rushing to get his lunch together and such. I am planning to enjoy these moments. I think God is being especially gracious to us in giving us this family time before we jump into whatever ministry He has planned for us next. We are not taking this for granted at all.

Cadi is adjusting well to her glasses. She did not care for wearing her patch this morning, but I do hope she will get used to it. I am sleeping a bit better than I had been. I feel tired during the day, and I struggle to fall asleep at night still. However, once I do fall asleep I have been able to stay asleep, that is a huge blessing. Thank you dear readers for your kind and encouraging comments and emails. I am just blown away. I was chatting with a friend today and she remarked over the number of readers my blog has attracted. I am completely perplexed, but I have truly been blessed by the kindness of strangers. And honestly some of my faithful readers are feeling less and less like strangers and more like friends. The body of Christ is such a wonderful thing. I continue to write what is on my heart and to record these cherished moments for myself. I do not want to lose focus of my reason for blogging - to remember these fleeting moments of mommyhood, but having people enjoy or be encouraged by reading my ramblings is certainly the cherry on top. Thank you.

Edit: I just realized this was my hundredth post! How fun. {grin}