Monetary Milestone

Heather and I have never been particularly concerned about money or motivated and powered by its allure. Throughout the beginnings of our marriage we were never particularly wasteful or extravagant in our spending, but our practices were not the most financially sound. Life's ongoing parade of unexpected expenses and unexpected unemployment made sure savings accounts were thinner than preferred.

From 2006- 2008, a series of unavoidable medical bills exceeded both our monthly income and eventually our savings. Our credit card interest rate suddenly skyrocketed from manageable to astronomical and we found ourselves in a real pickle. Then in late October 2008, when Norah was 16 months and Justin was 4 months old, I was laid off. I thankfully found a great job in a tough recession when nobody was hiring, but I had to take a pay cut, making progress agonizingly slow.

Balancing child-rearing, feeding times, diaper changing, cleaning, baby-proofing, sicknesses, multiple jobs and schedules, home repairs and vet bills, etc while trying to get out of debt and still paying the everyday bills escalated our stress levels above our previous thresholds. Life was tough as we kept plugging away to keep our heads above water.

Unessential expenses and even some essential expenses were eliminated. We were never big on "keeping up with the Jones's, but it was emotionally devastating to not give reciprocal gifts to others on Christmas or birthdays, not attend out of state or international weddings of lifelong friends who attended ours, or to decline invitations just to go out to dinner for a movie with friends. It cuts deep to look at the monthly budget and see a credit card payment 14 times our donation to the church and read "Your heart is where you keep you treasure." Anger, embarrassment, frustration and a sense of never ending futility grew as we tried to get out of the hole.

We've made our mistakes, but learned that the way out was to quit digging deeper and start climbing up, and we have kept climbing ever since. We've worked hard and made sacrifices, enduring setbacks, but exhibiting discipline and pushing ourselves further much like our marathon training.

Even in our most trying of times Heather and I were happy to recognize our countless blessings: our marriage, our children, our faith, our health, our family, our friends, acquaintances, and even strangers, all have brought us joy, encouragement, and love. Although we paid the vast majority of our debts, our parents along the way have generously paid for expensive repairs, replaced broken essentials, or paid a debt or bill, giving us breathing room to actually make progress with our own resources; other times they have given us simple joys like free babysitting and some movie passes and restaurant gift cards as a break from the everyday.

Now after years and months of fighting, scrapping, and battling the almighty dollar and the devious exploits of "the man" we have reached a new milestone. The last check is in the mail. We have eradicated all our credit card debt and can turn our attention completely toward building savings and our future!

Bang! POW! Score! Booyah! Homerun! Touchdown! Goooooooooooooooal! Fireworks! Finally, at long last this day is here! With air horns sounding, canons firing, and angels singing, we're not broke, we're building! Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Holy Cow! Amen! Where's the Tylenol?!

We are very grateful for this day and we intend to display prudent spending and saving tendencies for our children, so hopefully they do not have to re-learn the difficult lessons we've already learned. We want to break the cycle, and teach our kids to live a life of faith with less stress and more joy!

We may never be millionaires or independently wealthy, but our heads are above water, we're making good decisions, and we're doing what we think is right! Thanks be to God!