Updates

Just for posterity sake…

At Max’s 10 month appointment he weighed 24 pounds, was 30 inches tall and was in 80th percentile for both. His head is 60th percentile. He has a bigger body than head, haha! He is full on toddler running now and being one crazy kid. The most precious thing happened yesterday, he was home sick and Rob called. I put the phone up to Max’s ear and he started “talking” and then very clearly said, “ Dada? DADA!” It was so cute!

Since starting my weight loss plan with my Dr. on August 14th I have lost 3.2 pounds. I have 63.8 pounds to go. I have still been counting calories and exercising several times per week. Somehow I hurt my right knee so I am back to walking versus walk jogging. Hopefully it will get better in a few days. Monday (08.25.08) I started BABES at church. It is a 12 week program and my BABES goal is to lose 30 pounds in this session. That is 10 pounds per month, wish me luck~

Dave Ramsey-We are still following our budget and debt snowball. It has been tough lately because July was slow for me at work so things are still playing catch up.

Deployment-We are now 88% done with this deployment! Can you believe it? Rob should be back home with us in about 7 weeks. We haven’t gotten any details on homecoming yet but we are getting oh so close. We are trying to not countdown because it makes time crawl by.

Power of a Praying Wife-Still praying, still loving this book. I have started meeting with an accountability partner on Fridays and we are discussing this book together and praying for our husbands. It is a very powerful time. I have also started Beth Moore’s study on Daniel and have started attending Titus II women, a women’s bible study class on Sunday mornings before service. In just my two short visits I have had one lady lay hands on me during prayer and tell I would achieve great things and another speak a prophetic word to me. WOW…it is mostly women older than me but I enjoy it immensely.

Ministry Opportunity-I have been in contact with the director and have completed the testing phase. According the Myers Brigg testing I am an ENFJ…the analysis was pretty accurate. I am now waiting to be brought in for a second interview. Leaving this one in Gods hands!

So this post is more for me than you lovely readers. I needed to play catch up and record my progress in these various endeavors. Thanks for playing and praying along!
Always

Dave Ramsey Update!

Well we are on our way, our grand total of debt paid off is over $4000! YAY! We love the prospect of living debt free and it has motivated us to be more fiscally responsible to be more financially free and prosperous in the future!

I am on week two of Cash Spending and the Envelope system for our basic expenses and I love it. It is so nice not having to worry about what is going through the bank, balancing the accounts over and over again because of the mindless debits we all make. I think about my purchases more and I see a tangible reminder when I pay with cash. When I bought my muffin and coffee this morning and had to pull out a $5 and a $1 I stopped and thought, WOW! REALLY $6 for coffee and a muffin! YIKES! Guess I will be buying muffins in bulk from Sams and using my pretty red coffee maker on some Folgers.

However when it is budgeted and written in black and white it makes tithing so much easier. I love our church, because you can give online! (Ok I love our church for way more than the online tithing but you know what I'm saying) If you know me you know I only pay for things online. The only thing I use checks for is daycare and if they took Debit Cards I wouldn't need checks at all! So anyways, I loved tithing online this month. It was super easy and gratifying as always. I love to remember what we say after tithes and offering each Sunday, Thank you Lord for meeting all of my financial needs that I may have more than enough to give unto the kingdom of God and promote the gospel of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!

Wishing you all financial blessings!
Jess

Debt Free and Fabulous

Yes ladies and gentlemen, that is the goal...

I am sure that many of you have heard of Dave Ramsey and his money plans like Financial Peace University and The Total Money Makeover...well Rob and I have bitten the bullet and decided to go forth with this awesome plan.

Essentially Dave talks about living a life FREE OF DEBT. Yes, DEBT FREE AND FABULOUS as I like to refer to it. Rob and I have been very blessed financially for a young married couple. But are we truly being stewards of our money? Do we tithe every single month? Are we 100% completely honest about money? Do we waste money on useless items while procrastinating on the things that are truly important? I wish I could say no to all of these questions but unfortunately I cannot.

So when Rob shared with me that the ARMY was forcing them to take classes on money management from this Christian guy, I pounced! Dave Ramsey? Financial Peace University? Yes, he said...that is the one! We talked through it, I bought the book, Rob will continue to take a class every Friday in that sandy school called Iraq and we jumped in with both feet.

I spent hours poring over Excel spreadsheets, writing down details, all of our bills, and all of our debt. I even looked up all the customer service numbers and got the exact balances on our credit cards and our cars and our student loans...even our mortgage. Gulp.

And then I started to follow Dave's words. I wrote out our debt snowball (more info on http://www.daveramsey.com/) and looked at it with new eyes. I toiled away, planning out each month until our debts became ZERO (except our house, we are following the baby steps of Dave and the house is last).

It was September 2011...if we follow this plan we will completely debt free except for our home by September 2011!!!! Only 3.5 years and we could sigh relief every month when we only have to pay our mortgage, childcare and utilities. WOW!

If we apply extra things like our tax return and my bonuses from work we would be done even sooner! So we took the first step, I stowed away my lust for Pergo floors in my living room and used our tax stimulus check to pay off bills. And you know what? It felt awesome! Rob has decided that if he wants a motorcycle that we will save up for it and pay cash.

Not only will this improve our financial future but it will improve our marriage and our communication. Working together on a common goal enriches any relationship but especially that of husband and wife. The sense of accomplishment by sticking with a plan will only build confidence in one another.

I look forward to keeping you updated on our progress. As of today we have already paid off almost $2000 in debts. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we enter this new journey together for the betterment of our family and our future!

Always
Jess and Rob