On Gold

The morning's that I wake up with Matt have been few and far between. Which is bizarre because when I DO, I feel so refreshed and rejuvenated. Strange how that works. My laziness always seems to get the better of me.

This morning, though, I did and the dawn lured me out into the brisk air for a walk before the children woke up. It was nice, huffing and puffing in the fresh and calm of dawn. I left the house when it looked like this.


And by the time I was done, it looked like this....



How refreshing! Beautiful! And it was a good time to *think*. It was nice having some time for reflection before the kids woke up.

This week, after reclaiming my kitchen desk chair (after moving Andrew's boosterseat) I reclaimed my kitchen desk from the junk pile that had ensnared it. Since then, I have been working at it non-stop-doing all sorts of things I have been MEANING to do for quite a while! One of which was to work out a budget for our family.

I have worked it out that, if we are wise and frugal, each year we should be able to save a surprisingly large sum to put toward our dreams of house and land. Makes me think-where did all our money go this past year?!? I still need to work on being more money conscious and even more frugal. I have a ways to go.

But-as with every delicate balance, I have made great strides too. I am happy to report, that after working at it since we have been married, I just mailed off the LAST of Matt's college debt payments. His schooling bills are now officially done with. Gone forever. Paid for in FULL. And GOOD RIDDANCE.

I have also nearly gotten our credit down to a zero balance. Two more payments and that will be done with too. We have always been very wise with our credit handlings-always paying off our balance at the end of the month. But with the move, we had accumulated a bit.

There is great good that is happening, even despite my continued shortcomings. I am proud of our accomplishments thus far. And even happier that we can put that money toward the future.

And while we are still on the topic of money, I must tell you about my dream camera. Not surprisingly, a several hundred dollar camera is just not feasible for us right now-no matter what. I have said that before, it is nothing new. But it has gotten me VERY motivated to start saving money to put toward it.

Sometimes I feel guilty for wanting such an expensive thing for my very own but I remind myself that God does not tell us as Christians that we cannot have nice things. He DOES tell us that we must be wise in our decision-making, we must WORK for the things we have and be owing to no one, and that we should appreciate that which we do have.

So-I have begun looking for ways to set aside special 'camera money'. I already save all of our silver change and have accumulated about $100.00 of that. I am having a yard sale the first weekend in June and all the money earned at the yard sale will go into my 'camera fund'. Finally, every time I think of buying fast food, I am going to put that money into a jar too. I think I will be surprised how quickly that jar will add up. I will, no doubt, put any future craft show profits in the pot as well. I hope that, with work, I can hold a Rebel beauty in my own two hands by the end of the year.

In the meantime~I comfort myself in knowing that when I get my Canon Rebel, I will appreciate it that much more.

That is what the golden sun had me contemplating on today. Our shortcoming in finance, our SUCCESSES and our goals.

I leave you with this picture of my Mattie. Fast asleep in the car as he so graciously gave in to my silly whims. He works so hard for us.