Being prepared

For years, we have half heartedly tried to build up a savings account. Since meeting with our financial counselor, our first baby step (Dave Ramsey) was to put $1000 into savings for EMERGENCY'S ONLY! We finally got our savings built up and then our water heater went out. For the first time in our married life, we didn't worry over how we were going to pay to get something fixed! There was no stress, no burden-we didn't have to borrow from family. We actually had the money to fix our problem! What an amazing feeling that was!!
Just a couple of weeks prior to this, we had a discussion of what an actual emergency would look like. It all came down to if something happens that is unforeseen it would be an emergency. I am pretty sure a hot water heater not working would count as an emergency!
I'm so thankful what God is doing in our lives. It's so great when we can see His hand at work.

One More Down!

Monday, we were able to pay off another credit card!! We are both so excited but know we still have a ways to go. So that's one down, 5 to go! (two more that will be gone by the end of April!) WooHoo!!

Things have been going pretty good lately. Another thing we were able to do is to get our yard cleaned up finally! This winter has been so hard on it, and I'm not much for yard work so we hired someone. I know, its an extra expense but it sure takes off a HUGE burden. I can now walk outside and not cringe at the sight of our yard!

My new job is going pretty well....I still have a lot more to learn and to master, but at least now I can talk on the radio and answer phones without shaking! There was a point were after a phone call my hands would be shaking so much. It must have been because of the adrenalin?? Thursday night I am taking a first aid course and next month I will be getting recertified for CPR.

The boys are doing great too. Brady is starting to get back in shape to prepare for football and Elliot will be playing base ball this year! He's so excited. Riley is opting for Kung Fu. Both Brady and Riley are playing an instrument. Riley is learning violin and Brady is taking drum lessons. They are actually doing pretty good.

Also, today is Elliot's birthday! My baby is 7 now. I still picture him as a 3 year old. He is growing up so very fast!! He's such a fun kid to have around-he has a great sense of humor and loves his brothers! He wants to be just like they are.

Happy Birthday Elliot!!

In Progress

I have been thinking about this blog lately and wondering if I should make a theme for it...for example, I've been reading other blogs, some are for updates on family life (which initially mine was going to do that) others are about tracking their pregnancies,health problems etc. So, since right now we are in the process of getting out of debt, I was thinking that I could track our journey, good and bad on here. If it bores you, you don't have to read it. :) This will be good for Bill and I to look back and remember our journey. Where we are now, where we came from and where we hope to be. My greatest hope would be that God would use this process to help someone else through a similar situation.
Finances have been our biggest struggle throughout our whole marriage. It's amazing to see how destructive debt and bad spending habits can be to a family. We started our marriage off with debt and have been going deeper and deeper since then. Over the years we have tried different budgets and programs but have been unable to stay on track for more than one week. I think that Bill and I had to go through a process in our marriage to get to where we are now. We have had some really tough times where one or both of us didn't think we'd make it through, but miraculously God brought us through those times. It wasn't until last year that we really started working together on things. We are finally on the same page! It took a lot to get us here, but we are here.....I know we have a lot of work to do still, but this is a good starting point.
If you've read my earlier posts, you know we are seeing a financial counselor certified through Dave Ramsey-it is so great for us to have someone that we are accountable to and that guides us through some decisions and helps us stay realistic with our finances.
About a year ago, things were really tight for us as usual but we were having a hard time paying all of our bills so we decided to go through a settlement company for our credit cards. It took our payment from about $1100 to $460 a month. Although this helped a little with our monthly expenses, we were not paying ANY of our credit cards-see our $460 payment went to the settlement company in a reserve and as soon as we had enough money in our reserve, they were going to negotiate with our credit card companies (all 7 of them) at one point or another and settle at about half of what we owed. At first, we thought this would work out great...one account that we owed about $1800 on settled with us for $512. We were so excited to get one out of the way! But, even though this seemed to be working we knew this was not for us and we would not recommend it to anyone. It was like we were trying to take the easy way out but really it just caused more problems. The letters and phone calls started coming again and they were not good. So, we decided that we were going to start dealing with them on our own and either start making payments again or just try and settle on a couple ourselves (thank goodness for tax refunds!)
So, as of today, we have 6 cards to pay off totaling around $20000. That is a huge amount but sadly it was a lot bigger than that just a few years ago. This week, Bill was able to make a few calls and set up some payment arrangements and by the end of April, Lord willing, over half of that will be gone! If all goes as planned, by the end of the year, we will be credit card debt free...(then it's on to the cars). Time will tell if this all works out according to plan-I'm hoping and believing it will since now Bill and I are on the same page with this and we are making our decisions very prayerfully.
That's our beginning in a nutshell and until we are out of debt including the cars, I will use this post mainly for updating on this process we are going through. One more thing is that this all wouldn't be possible if God wasn't part of this. We have made so many mistakes and have wandered so much but God is so good. His compassions NEVER fail. They are new EVERY morning and HE is faithful!

Quick update

It's been a while again since I've posted last. This is why I hesitated in the first place to do my own blog-because I didnt think I would be able to think of things to write. I'm not a writer like some. I go onto other blogs and read these wonderful, interesting stories with so much detail and energy and then try to write something on my blog but nothing comes up! Maybe the more I try, the better I get?
Anyway, things are going well in the Beckham household. I am loving my job and most days think I'm doing ok. I love what I am doing and for the most part, everyday there is something different. I am still loving my schedule but have found that I have to be careful on my days off to make sure I dont over commit my self to anything.
Bill and I are still doing good with staying on track financially for the most part. We had a major bump in the road this weekend and not sure on the outcome of that but both of us has a peace over this whole thing. God is so good. It's amazing the difference from right now and a year ago. If our "bump" had happened this time last year, I would have sunken low into a depression and had the feeling of a ton of bricks on my shoulder but things have changed so much over this year (another story that I may tell at a later time) that when this "bump" happened, I felt nothing but joy....only the joy that God can give.
Anyway, that's all for my post this time...maybe next time I'll even have some pictures to include!

Patience

I was on a quest today to find a Wii Fit. I went to seven different stores today. SEVEN! You'd think out of that many stores at least one of them could have had a Wii Fit somewhere! Nope. I could have gone to more but ran out of time (my son informed me I should've gone up to Washington too)... All seven of them were OUT and didn't know when they were getting more. Ugh. Right before Christmas I was at Fred Meyers and Wal Mart and saw quite a few of them so I thought right now would be a great time to find one since it's after Christmas. But not so....I guess everyone else had the same idea that I did. As I was driving home from my search I called home and talked with my kids, and one certain child was very disappointed that I could not find one and went on to blame Oregon for the stores not having any Wii Fits and he wanted to move to China!? (Or Spokane, because of course, Spokane has everything we need) ;)
I tried teaching him about patience and how good things come to those who wait, but it appeared that he wasn't having any of that. Imagine that....
Oh well, at least I tried.

Goodness....it's been a while since I've updated my blog so I thought I should just write a quick update.
The snow is gone...just like that! It's amazing how quickly it came and then how fast it melted. I love the snow and miss it, but don't miss driving in it or having the kids miss school because of it. But,thankfully, the kids are back in school! I keep wondering what the first week of summer will be like since they missed a whole week in December due to the weather. I wonder if they will extend school for that week or not? I wouldn't mind on less week of summer....hey, I'm for year round school anyway. :)
As much as the kids whined about having to go back, I think after a 3 week break, all 3 of them were secretly happy to return. This school year is already halfway over....where has the time gone?
I started my new job and am loving it. Although at times I feel just a little overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I have to learn and sometimes feel unsure of myself but I guess that's to be expected in a job like this. I think I'm really going to like my new job and my new co workers. I do LOVE my new schedule! I feel spoiled...well, blessed with this schedule that has been given me. I don't have to wake up with an alarm clock right now-I wake up between 10 and 11 and have my mornings to myself. My house has been staying clean and organized and my laundry has been caught up! I love it. Lots of time to have my devotional times, read my books and do errands if I have to. Bill has been awesome! He is waking up with the kids, getting them ready and on the bus for me-it's been such a big help! I am so blessed with such a wonderful husband!
We are doing pretty good on our financial stuff....we weren't as good in December as we were suppose to be, but we are back on track now. We see our financial counselor again this Friday. The accountability is great and we need it. We did end up paying off one of our credit cards in December and got some more money put in savings this month. I cant tell you how good it feels to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel (and its not a train coming!!) One big thing we did was completely cancel cable! That has been great in saving money and our family time. We've been playing more board games with each other and Brady and I have been doing puzzles together.
But, I have a feeling that we are entering a more busy season. Baseball sign ups are this month. Thankfully only Riley and Elliot want to play this year. The fields are all at different locations so it makes it hard to figure out who is going to what game on what day etc.......it's fun though. I love watching my kids play sports, so it's all worth it.
That's about it for now....hopefully I'll do better about keeping my updates going.

Sacrifice

I found a cool video I wanted to post on here, but had trouble making things work, so here's the info instead. Go to www.godtube.com and find the video, The Bridge. It's about 6 minutes long, but worth it.