Finally!

About three years ago one of my brothers loaned us a set of CDs by Dave Ramsey. My husband and I decided that we would begin following the baby steps to achieve financial freedom. The first step, put $1000 into savings for an emergency fund took awhile, but it was finally done. The second step, to pay off all outstanding debts except for the house and utilities and the like, took a long time. Today I went to the bank and paid off the balance of our home equity loan, the last debt we had to conquer.

Dave Ramsey has lots of stories about people who were thousands and thousands of dollars in debt and they paid off everything in 1-2 years. It took us longer because we did not start in a place where we had cars and other things we could sell and make some quick money, thus reducing the debt quickly at first. It has been a long, hard road. Sometimes it is hard to watch other people accumulate stuff, but it has been well worth it to say no to things we did not need.

My husband's company held a meeting last week to discuss the immediate future. It will involve fewer hours, but at least no one is being laid off yet. It is a tremendous feeling of relief to know that if he does lose his job we only need to come up with the money for our basic needs.

One last thing. There is no way we could have done this on our own. It is only because of God's wonderful grace that it happened. All praise should go to Him.

Before the Season Ends

Regency-era romance is one of my favorite genres to read. I have wanted to read Before the Season Ends by Linore Burkard for quite awhile and finally the copy I had on hold at the library came in. It came in on a Friday, but I decided not to pick it up because we were going to be busy the next day and I didn't want to be tempted to read. When Monday arrived, I was sick and I remained so for most of the week. Alas, I didn't get to pick up the book until Friday when I went back to work (at the library).

Why didn't I just buy the book when it came out instead of waiting so long for the library to FINALLY acquire it? First, I had not read any books by Linore Burkard before, and I didn't know if I would like her writing style. Being on a limited budget, I can't be buying books on a whim only to discover that the writing is not to my taste.

Now that I have read the book, I can say that I did enjoy it. Even though it is set in 1813, there are still topics brought up that we need to address also. What is a Christian? This book states that one is not born a Christian, which is true. A decision needs to be made for that to occur. Also brought up in the book is immoral behavior in one's past. Do we reject a relationship with someone because of something in his/her past or do we extend grace?

I'm looking forward to the next book in this series, The House in Grosvenor Square. Now that I have read a Linore Burkard book, I might just buy it for myself.

Tender Grace

My good friend at the library where I work loaned me a book recently, Tender Grace by Jackina Stark. I have been involved in a reading challenge, so I put the book aside until that was completed. A couple of days ago I was finally ready to read it.

Audrey Eaton, the main character, is in her mid-fifties. Her husband died about 15 months ago, and she is still finding it hard to live life without him. The book details in diary form her journey to return to an abundant life.

I have not lost many loved ones through death, but I have experienced times of "hibernation" in my life. One of the great things about reading is that it can pull us out of our life and allow us to experience life in someone else's shoes for a season. Tender Grace is a good book and I would recommend it highly. It is entertaining, but it also has some important truths to impart.

Issues

What issues are people focusing on when they cast their vote for a certain candidate? I know that many people focus on economic conditions. My main focus is how a candidate views those who are growing and developing (and have a soul), but have not been born yet. It brings a verse of Scripture to mind.

"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26

It saddens me that the president of our country has chosen to reverse an order prohibiting the federal government from funding abortion overseas.

Wii Want to Play

We now have a Wii gaming system. For us, this is a big deal. We are not ones to run out and get the newest thing being offered in the stores. We still have an analog TV, our cars are old, and the only video game system we had up until now was a Nintendo 64 (and we got that when Nate won it during summer school years ago).

So why did we buy a Wii when we could have spent that money on other more important things? My hope is that it will encourage interaction among us as a family, or at least between father and son. Tonight I watched my son "box" and it was funny. I hope it is only the beginning of great times ahead.

Friends For a Season

I am participating in the Librarians' Reading Challenge. That means reading juvenile/young adult books and keeping track of how many pages I read. The library system with the highest average number of pages read will win a trophy and some bragging rights. I don't think the Mid-Continent Library system has ever won.

So far, I've read the Friends For a Season series by Sandra Byrd. I had read two of her adult books and really enjoyed them, so I decided to check out the books for younger readers. There are four books in this series - Island Girl, Chopstick, Red Velvet, and Daisy Chains. Each book features a friendship developing between two girls who come from different backgrounds. Even though it has been many years since I was a young teen girl, I found these books to be very interesting and I would highly recommend them.

A Birthday

Five years ago today Nate accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. Each year we celebrate that decision with a card and a gift. Saturday he and I went to the Family Christian store to find something that could help him grow as a Christian. He decided on a Bible handbook that has information to help him understand the Bible better.