One step forward, two back

Well, don't you know that as soon as I brag about how much we got to save this month, it wouldn't actually turn out that way. But, we are not dismayed! We decided to insure our house for an earthquake after talking to a friend who works for the United States Geological Survey here. He says we are about 50 years overdue for a pretty good size earthquake here. We experienced the tremors from one that happened in Indiana this spring and it was a little unsettling. If the New Madrid fault goes, there is no telling what could happen here. Then we forgot about a little thing here and a little thing there in the budgeting. But, there is still money left, so nothing to sweat! God is good. I hear so much about how the economy is bad, but we have been learning to live with in our means, so we are going to be fine.

On the road to debt free...Baby Step 1

Money and budgeting has always been an interesting topic to me. A frustrating one too. Recently I read two books by Dave Ramsey http://www.daveramsey.com/ Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover. (If you can only read one, I recommend TMM.) This guy is simple and to the point and tells you some great tips on how to get out of debt. He also dispells most of the lies our culture feeds us about debt and money. One of the things I like best about him is that he is a Christian and he believes that the wealthiest people are that way because they GIVE. I love to give, my resources just don't always match the need. That is frustrating.

We have tried many different things over the years, and some have worked better than others. I used to figure out everything, pay the bills and give Joe some money to have in his pocket for what he needed. He didn't know where our money was going and never knew how much we had or didn't have so we decided that he would take it over. He did a much better job at it than I did, because he is a saver and I am a "pay it off as fast as you can" type. But we were starting to get in a rut again, because he was doing all the budgeting and work on this and I was oblivious to where we were at. Dave suggests that we BOTH do the budgeting and decide where every dollar will go every check. What a novel idea!

The book is full of real life stories of people who were so much farther in debt than we are, but made it out. We feel relieved that our cars are paid for, our credit cards are paid off and all we have to get rid of to be debt free is a HELOC and our mortgage. My goal is to be done with those in less than 10 years. We put the credit cards in the oven over the weekend to see if they would shrink like Shrinky Dinks. They didn't do much of anything except get rubbery while they were hot. Then we shaped them and let them cool and chopped them up. Very freeing!!!!

Now, you may ask, why is she blogging about this?? It is because I am so excited about this plan and I want other people to see that it is possible to get out of debt and no longer be sold the lie of American Consumerism. (greed)

So, Dec. 4th, we started Baby Step 1-Save $1000 fast. Today we have $645. We hope to have Baby step one done by Jan 31.

Think you can't do it? Read the book, there has to be someone who was worse off than you that made it out. There is hope!!

What's love got to do with it?

Apparently everything when it comes to singing Karaoke. We had the Davidson Family Thanksgiving at a hotel in Kansas City and after dinner we had some entertainment by family members singing Karaoke on Denise's 8 Track (yes, I know what I am talking about) machine.

Joe and his sisters and Niece

L-R Nancy, Jodi(niece), Denise, Marilee, Joe and Jennifer

Decorating for Christmas

The boys were so excited to decorate for Christmas that they hauled everything up from the Basement and got to work. They know how to put the tree together and everything! They did a great job!

Santa dropped by for a visit on Saturday, so they had a good time talking to him too. Their wish lists are pretty simple, video games and Legos. Erik was worried that Santa might not know what Legos were, so he thought that maybe he should just ask for a picture book. :)

Fall Leaves

We have started the annual fall ritual here of raking the leaves from our very mature 8 Sweet Gum trees in our yard. The boys were very helpful this year. They always enjoy the reward of jumping in the piles!

Erik's big jump

Adler's flying leap

My sister's wedding

Here are a few of the pictures taken at my sister's wedding. They had a beautiful day and we had a great time catching up with family in MN.

Samantha, Autumn, Wendy, Jeff and Alex

The bride and her big sis

The Murrays

The Wamsleys

The wedding party

Dad, Alex, John, Jeff, Wendy, Katie, Becky, Samantha, Autumn

Ugandan orphan choir

Our church hosted the Ugandan Orphan Choir last night. We got to keep this fun set of kids for 2 nights. The boys had a great time. We had 2 boys, 2 girls and one chaperone.

Adler is a turkey

Adler learned how to make this turkey costume at camp. He looks quite silly running around the house with no arms.

Elephant Rocks

On July 3rd, we visited Elephant Rocks State Park. It is full of huge granite rocks with trails around them. Lots of good picture opportunities, and I even remembered my tripod, so I got to get out from behind the camera! This park is about 2 hours from our house in the most scenic part of Missouri!

The Birthday boy
His big brother
The whole family
The view at the top

State Choir Tour

We had a great time with 3 of the boys from our church's state Choir Tour. After the concert last night we came home with Brian, Walter and John and had a good time talking about Camp Sharon and playing guitars. Top notch guys!

The Hike

Some homeschool boys put together "The Hike". Yesterday, Joe and Adler set out with about 20 other kids and parents to hike 20 miles on backroads from Rolla to the organizer's home.

Joe and Josiah

Adler, AKA Willie Makeit

Adler gets a boost from David
The Crew
Rest Break-8 miles is all Adler could take, so mom picked him up
Look at the big kid!

Over easy runny eggs

Adler has become quite the chef. Every morning he fixes himself two "over easy runny eggs". Here is his recipe...Crack 2 eggs in a pan that you have melted butter in.

When the whites are sort of set up, flip carefully so as not to break the yolk. Use 2 spatulas if necessary.

Nice and easy...

Flipped!

The perfect runny yolk.

Friends

Catching up with friends was a special blessing when we traveled to MN for grandma's funeral in March. Both of our families had lived and gone to church together in Bethany and we both moved away from there at the same time. The kids didn't remember each other very well, but they all had a love for Legos in common and that broke the ice quite well. Joe also enjoyed getting to read to them while us moms did our gabbing!!!

More Prince and Pauper photos

Adler gets a black eye from the Makeup artist. Made both of their days. :)

Father Andrew and a street urchin

Kitchen boy and unnamed palace guy

The set.

The Prince and the Pauper

Joe and Adler got to be in a play/musical with some of the local homeschoolers. Joe had 2 parts, Father Andrew and Nameless Palace Guy. Adler was a street urchin and a kitchen boy. They had a great time getting to know new people. They can't wait for the next one! Look for more pictures in My Friend's Blogs: Nisbetts. They had their performances the last 2 weekends.

Snowman snow!

It seems like we have been waiting for this kind of snow forever! It wasn't the ideal snowman snow, but we were able to get enough to stick together for one short snowman (or snowlady, just depends on the hat). The boys were good helpers and were out helping Daddy early this morning with the shoveling. Also a couple of snow angels!

Happy Half-Birthday

Erik's half Birthday is January 3rd. We always celebrate in a fun little way. He had Chocolate Chip pancakes for breakfast. He got some new books as reading is his PASSION. If you are ever wondering where he is, you don't have to look much farther than behind the nearest book! Hard to believe my itty bitty baby is now 8 1/2!

Santa came to visit for a few minutes on Christmas eve. Too bad Daddy missed him because he went to the store.

You don't have everything until you have a camo Santa hat!