Cutie Toddler

600

Things haven't been great lately, including an ill-timed accident involving a semi and our newly purchased car (October 2014) after Tim's last accident. However, Tim is very friendly at work and one of the contractors and he have talked. One day last week, he came and gave Tim a check! He learned about what happened, and likes to do nice things for people. He used his business account and blessed us. So thankful to have some extra money to put toward a new car. With a loan on the car involved in the accident, we are basically starting over with money toward a new car since we just purchased the last. The crazy thing is that the gift amount was the same amount that we gave a friend that needed it last April 2014. We were going to use it toward a laptop, but gave to him instead. God blessed us with the exact amount back, and although we still don't have a new laptop, and this money will go to a car, we can still see God's blessing in the midst of frustrations.

Kai

So many blessings have happened the past few months, and God has provided in so many ways!!!

• Kai was born 12/31/13. He is the sweetest, we love him so much, and thank God he is healthy!

We have been given so many gifts for Kai and us. So wonderful! Including:

• Crib and Mattress
• Armoire
• Changing Table
• Rug, Curtains, Paint for Baby Room
• Car Seat
• Stroller
• Bouncy Seat
• Rock-n-Sleeper
• Pack-n-Play
• Monitors
• $185 from my coworkers in Des Moines and Gainesville
• $200 from a Change Jar (they gave us the jar and we counted it at the bank--around $217!)

We also had a great tax return since we claim 0 each year, and that helped pay for the hospital bills!!
$2,483.81 DELIVERY
$1,566.92 ROOM
Plus, the extra charges like Kai's Pediatrician visits and discharge.

God is so good. I was so concerned about the deductible since it was $5,000 and the funds to pay for that since Kai was born in 2013.

Then, the tax return helped pay for Tim's CAT scan. Very thankful.

Love this guy:

Operation School Loans: 2 PAID!

We paid off our Iowa Student Loan which was over $21,000! Feels so good to be done with it, especially with Tim's cut hours. This will help the burden since we don't have to pay this bill every month. So thankful!

Shoes

I needed new running shoes. I didn't want to just buy anything because of my knee problem, so knew I should go to a place that has "experts" that could help me decide what is best for me. I didn't want to spend the extra money that it would cost though at a more specialized place. Well, I knew I was going to get money from my side accounting job, but I didn't think it would cover the cost of the shoes. I bought the shoes and hoped we would get a good tax return to help with it. Well, the amount that I got paid for my accounting job was almost the exact amount of the shoes!! PTL for God's provision.

BONUS: THEY ARE GREEN!! I've wanted green accented shoes for so long.

New Position at Work

I got a promotion at work. I am very thankful for God's blessings. He is so good to me. I have worked really hard at my job to prove myself, and I went up against some really great and hard-working people. Thankful that He provides and helps me do a good job! I am working for Him and want to do my best for His glory!

Thankful

Some things I am thankful for these past few weeks:

• My friend Ashley, and her asking her husband, Lawrence, who fixed our garage door
• My friends Angie and Lindsey who I was able to get together with and where we can just pick up where we left off even if we haven't seen each other in awhile
• Hanging out with Lindsey to watch our movie series--that I only watch with her
• Being able to see Tim's brother and niece and nephews twice in a few weeks after not seeing them for three years
• Having Tim's mom come out from Ohio
• My great manager and coworkers
• God's care for me providing our needs

Tim's Student Loans--Update

I have been getting tired of paying these, so thought I would write out where we are at with Tim's loans so I can continue to feel like this is an exciting challenge so that I can continue to be motivated to keep going with payments!

As of today, August 10:

ISL: $8,213.22

ACS:  $37,369.95

In October:

ISL:  $11,820.06

ACS: $39,305.69

Well, not as much as a difference as I would like, but it's something, so this visualization has helped me mentally keep going!

New Carpet!

A few months ago, Wells Fargo decided to charge me for having a little savings account. Well, instead of moving the money I had in there to our regular checking account, I asked Tim if we could get new carpet instead. I was having bad allergies and I didn't think the carpet was helping matters. I scraped up $1,800 to spend, including birthday, piano, and amazon visa rewards $$. It is tough when you are on a tight budget and have $50,000 in schools loans.

Well, the carpet total came out to $1,827! I was so happy!

Wow, ripping up the carpet was a lot of work! I wanted to save a couple hundred dollars though since I only had $1,800 to spend. It really hurt my wrists--especially pulling up all those staples that held the padding!  

Here is what the house looked like when we toured it. I was not that excited about it. ;)

 

Ripping up the carpet!
It was so dirty, it made my nose hurt so bad and I didn't feel good after I ripped it out each day I did. It took me many days to rip it out! Little by little.

 

Notice the orange up the stairs in the background? Yeah, it's hideous.

   

Yes, it's ugly. I know. 

  

We found this little treasure when we were moving furniture! I was so happy! I just got this for Tim for Christmas, and the last one before this was stolen! He thought he lost it outside. Praise God we found it, I was praying we would! 

 

Tada!! It's so nice!!! Tim says it's like walking on clouds. We love it!

  I LOVE how my piano room looks!

 Timmy likes it. :) I am so thankful! 

 

Oven & Thankfulness

So the oven part of our range died. The stove still worked, but not the oven. I knew it would be a lot to fix because service calls are outrageous, so I tried to figure out how to fix it by looking at the online manual. I figure it was just a switch to the gas that needed reset or something. Well, the manual pictures were not very good and I couldn't find what they were trying to tell me. I think I may have had the wrong manual anyway. :) So we had to call a repair person and $200 later, it's fixed. Yes, I did not want to spend all that money, especially as I was trying to save the money that we had from paying off one school loan to put toward another, but thoughts of thankfulness entered my mind. I am so thankful that I have an oven and a house to put it in. I am thankful for that blessing! God is good to us and He provided the money to pay for the oven repair. A new oven that I want is over $1,500, so while I save money for a new one someday, I will enjoy my $200 repair and my old oven in all it's glory.

Hawaii

I was able to go to Hawaii from December 6-12. I visited a friend from school, Cassie, and was able see this beautiful place. God's creation is amazing!!!

I was able to fly around the island in a little plane. That was such a wonderful experience. I would love to go to Maui and Kauai and ride a plane around those islands too.

These are just a few of many pics. I feel so blessed to have been able to visit such a beautiful place, and am thankful for the money provided so I could go, as well as the people there I could stay with.

Shoes

So I've had the same brown clogs for...at least 8 years and it shows:

The middle of both shoes can bend in half and the heel of both is missing most of the rubber. They were really not good for my feet or posture, but I still wanted to wear them as they still were comfortable.

I am really picky when it comes to shoes, so it has really frustrated Tim over the years. :) Finally, we found some! Actually Tim found one that I had completely passed over! I got a black and brown pair. I needed black because my black boots' heels were half there too...*sigh*

Tim found these black ones! He was so proud of himself! :)
Pretty excited to find shoes I actually liked. :)

Operation School Loans: 1 PAID!

In an earlier post, I listed Tim's school loans so I could get a visual. I am happy to say that we paid the Sallie Mae loan with our tax return! I am SO EXCITED. One down, two huge ones to go, but it's a start and I am so thankful!

Sallie Mae, originally: $7,815.21
Amount Still Left when we paid it off: $2,555.68

At the rate we were going now, it would have been another 2 years before we would have paid this off!

YAY!

11/11/11

I have always loved the number 11 so I have been excited for this day to come. How fun!  Well, if I love this number, one of my best friends, Angie, loves it 111 times more!   I even mentioned to her that maybe she could get married on this day.  That did not work out, but I still think she is going to have a great day. :)

Angie is the one in the middle. No, we are not sisters, we got that so much growing up! :) People thought because both of us had red hair that we HAD to be related. :)

Photo taken from http://justinsalemmeyer.zenfolio.com/, someday I will get my own copy when they are edited! :)

So, Angie, this is my tribute to you. Thank you for your friendship. Love you! Happy 11/11/11

My Car

I received my bill for the yearly registration of my car and thanked God that He provided me with a car for which I had to pay this. I am very thankful for my car. I used to have a lovely 1995 Mercury Sable. I actually adored that car and it got me through college and the first 6 months of marriage.

I think this is the only picture I have of my sable and it's with my hunny. :)

Toward the end of having it though, the engine would smoke every time I drove and then it would not have heat in the winter. The cause was some radiator problem that was supposedly fixed but then never really was.  The last time I drove the car the smoke not only was on the outside, it went into the interior of the car smoking me out. I thought I was going to die from smoke inhalation. That was fun. Anyway, so God provided the money to buy my current means of transportation, a 2003 Toyota Corolla.  So thankful. :)

Here is my love after Tim so graciously washed her.  The cleanest she ever has been. :)

Washer

Our washer decided to quit a few weeks ago.  It started the spin process and sounded terribly loud.  I thought that maybe it would be a lot to fix or unable to fix because our washer is so old!! Well, I was able to get the name of someone in our church and he came out, thought he found the problem in 5 minutes, and said he would buy the part and put it in the next day.  He put in the $27 part and it worked!! However, I started to do laundry and it smelled REALLY bad like a belt was burning.  THEN it squealed during the wash process. I was so nervous.  So I let the repairman know about the smell and he thought it would go away.  Well, after 5 loads the smell is better (still there), and the squeal is gone (for now). :)  All that to say, so thankful that it was not too much to fix!! Although, I was excited to maybe get a new high efficiency, low water washer. :)  We didn't really have the money for this, so just another thing to be thankful for--the blessings that God gives me!! What a cheap fix for now! :)

 My Happy Washer (as of now) :)

Buildings

I LOVE Nature--God's creation is AMAZING.  But I also love huge buildings as you can see from the background of my blog. :)  Wanted to post some pics I took in Chicago. :)

Willis Tower in the Background!

 More Willis Tower!

 I would like to work in this building. :)

 Love the Chicago Skyline!

 Going to Willis to go to the top!! YAY!

Tim's Student Loans

When I got married, I knew it would be an uphill battle financially. Tim has a Bachelor's degree and 2 Master's and it was not cheap to obtain those degrees. Needless to say, I have had many different emotions regarding the 3 loans he had. I have come to accept it and now actually like the challenge of paying the debt down.  I like seeing the amount owed go down each month. I feel accomplished. :)I really love accounting, numbers, and anything to do with calculating money.  I actually like paying bills each month because it makes me realize how much God has provided for me and it's also a good feeling that I worked hard to obtain the money to pay to live.  God just continues to prove Himself over and over to me and it's just amazing the blessings He has given. I have more posts about little blessings that I hope to write about.  Back to the loans, I wanted to "put in writing" how far we have come to see our progress.

When I got married in July 2009:

 $71,644.13


Loan #1: $43, 463.08

Loan #2: $7,815.21

Loan #3: $20,365.84


Now, October 2011:
$54,128.61


Loan #1: $39,305.69

Loan #2: $3,002.86

Loan #3: $11,820.06
Yes, we have a long way to go, but I am rejoicing in how far we've come. :)
I love seeing the numbers, so like I said, putting them on paper helps with the pain of paying a bunch of money each month. The amounts owed are getting smaller, little by little!

Thankful

This blog is really for my benefit as I want to put some of the things I am thankful for and remember the blessings that God has given me and how He provides.

Plus, I love computer design, so I am excited to work with design and style of this blog too. :)