DEBT FREE

TODAY IS THE DAY AND I CAN BLOG IN ALL CAPS IF I WANT TO BECAUSE IT IS MY BLOG. OK THAT LAST PART DIDN'T SOUND TOO NICE, BUT REALLY WE ARE VERY EXCITED AND HAVE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS DAY SINCE ABOUT THE 6TH OF JANUARY 2008. IT HAPPENED AT 12:31am.

If you have told #1 or I that we would be debt free today, a year ago today, we probably would have responded one of two ways. 1. So what? What does that even mean? Do we care? OR 2. No, I really don't think that is possible.

Well, it DOES matter, and it is POSSIBLE. Being debt free means we owe nothing to anyone except our bigger mortgage (we had a small and a big one). The Bible tells us in Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." To us, this means if we owe people money, we are a servant to them and then not able to serve God wholeheartedly.

Hebrews 12:11-"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." This verse has been so true. It has not been easy. Our lives have been changed. However, we know it will be well worth it. We still are "living like no one else so we can live like no one else." From this point on we have quite a bit of work to do and still will be living on a very strict budget. However, all the payments we were making on school loans, the van, our small mortgage, or credit cards. We always paid our credit card on time, but without it we know more precisely where our money is headed and are spending way less.

We would like to thank Brent and Doneda for giving us the book "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey for Christmas last year.

We would like to thank my parents "Pop Pop" and "Grandmommy aka Bama" for totally supporting us through this ongoing journey and paying our tuition into Financial Peace University.

We would like to thank Faircreek church for hosting FPU over the past couple of months and encouraging us to keep going.

We would like to thank Dave Ramsey for starting FPU and his ministry there. http://www.daveramsey.com/

And last, but absolutely not least we want to thank Jesus, our Lord and Savior for teaching and blessing us through this experience. We know we are still at the beginning of our journey, but the hardest part is indeed behind us. We also know that as we progress through the 'baby steps' we will be able to give more and more and be able to bless other people as we have been blessed and beyond.

PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY

*And what do you do to celebrate being debt free? Well, at our house you watch 4 small children that are not your own all day, make quarts and quarts of applesauce to give away as Christmas presents to the neighbors, make an equally large amount of Great-grandma Powley's sour cream cookies for Christmas party tomorrow, clean the house from top to bottom for afore (is the a word?) mentioned party, and eat Chinese take out-WHAT? Yep, we are going to carefully select money from our envelope system and get take-out. Wow. :o)

____________________________________________________

As a side note, and a rather somber one, I'd like to ask you to pray for the Hagen family. I don't know them, but follow their blog (see sidebar). They had a little boy today named Max and he passed away. That is really what most of the blogs are about that I read. Christian mommies who post things about themselves and their families. The good things, the funny things, the cute things...and the sad things. And we who believe, and we Drays defiantly believe, can pray for brothers and sisters in Christ that we may never meet until heaven...and that is where Baby Max is tonight. He is in heaven with Baby Pearl, Baby Opal, Baby Carter, and the countless other babies who Jesus chose to take to heaven with Him before they ever knew this world. The Lord gives and He takes away. I just hope I would have the strength and grace these other mommies have in their situations. String of Pearls is a ministry that ministers to families such as the Hagens. Click on the Rebel Camera button on the side of my blog if you would like to donate to them and help them in their ministry.