Gazelles.

This post is really more of a plea to you, my devoted (ish) readers. Josh and I are fortunate to be blessed with full time work and sound finances. We went through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (which I recommend to ANYone!) before we got married and have been able to start off doing what feels like all the right things – we work a budget every month, save for planned expenses, and have a small emergency fund. We are currently working to pay off massive student loan debt (as I’ve mentioned in a previous post). Yes, the mountain of debt is largely my fault – $100,000 education for a $20,000 career but it is what it is. Recently I’ve been re-listening to the Dave Ramsey stuff on my commute to and from work and have gotten really fired up about paying off our debt, as he puts it, getting “gazelle intense.” One of the only ways to accelerate how fast debt is paid off is to make more money. Now, in my career it is nearly impossible to get a raise outside of just putting in more time and praying for a decent governor. Josh is likely to get a raise in pay when he passes his CPA but that’s not guaranteed and is at minimum a year away. Why do I mention all this? Because I would LOVE a second job to use to pay off our debt. This where you, my reader who has made it this far into the post, comes in. Do you have any odd jobs I could do? I have many skills – sewing, cooking, cleaning, babysitting, making grocery store and even *gasp* Wal-Mart runs, etc.

I guess a more “traditional” second job would be easier or more reliable but my problem with that is that my family is still a higher priority than my work. I am afraid that if I were to wait tables or deliver pizzas that I would do so at the cost of my relationship with Josh and others. I’m hoping there are some people out there who wouldn’t mind paying a couple dollars for someone else to do the grocery shopping or clean the bathroom or watch the kids. It feels like a sure way to get a win-win to me.

So if you can help me out, let me know! 🙂

Feeling Reflective…

One year ago (minus about a week) I got to meet this little guy:

He’s a bit bigger now but still cute. His name is Jonah. Unfortunately though, it was also the last time I got to hang out with this goofball:

That’s my Uncle Ronnie. He was killed just a few months later. I’m not trying to be morbid or sad on purpose. I’ve just been reading this book lately called, “One Thousand Gifts.” Essentially, the author discovers that the only way to know God fully and to live a full life is to practice euchariesto, or the giving of thanks in everything. She especially talks about giving thanks in the hard things, the tragic things. Ron’s death was definitely the hardest thing I’ve faced this year. I guess I’m trying to do this “hard thanks”.

See this guy?

That’s my Uncle Kenny. Those of you who’ve known me for years may still have never heard me talk about him. There was some sort of fallout when I was kid (I was too young to know exactly what) and after he, my Aunt France, and cousins Melanie and Justin moved away, we basically didn’t speak any more. I don’t know that the fallout was over anything major but I do know that anger + distance x time = silence. He’s my dad’s oldest brother. When Ron died, Kenny and my dad finally saw each other and spoke again. They have since promised to keep in touch once a month, even though even more distance separates them than ever before.

I guess that’s what I’m naming as a gift to be thankful for in this. Two brothers who hadn’t spoken in about 15 years are talking again. That’s a blessing, one I know Ronnie would be so happy to see. Naming the gift doesn’t make everything ok – I still miss him all the time. But I choose now to see God in it all, I choose to trust that this spot that looks like a huge mistake in God’s painting of my life is going to be indispensable when, one day, I can step back and see the whole thing.