New Car

So about a month ago we met with our financial advisers, Sarah and Jeremy, from the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class we took. They also happened to be our Lifegroup leaders. We decided to be vulnerable and show them our monthly budget to help us figure out where we could save money. We are tired of living month to month and barely having any money left. After reviewing a few options for saving money on our homeowners insurance we figured out the biggest way we will save is if we sell the Explorer and get rid of a car payment. Although it would be tight fitting both boys in the Rav we were willing to sacrifice the space to get out of debt. By going on a Kelly Blue book we realized the Explorer was worth more than we owed on it. We could actually take the profit from selling it and pay off our foundation repair, leaving us only with the debt of a small student loan. Jeremy mentioned that some friends of ours were selling their 2001 Chevy Cavalier for very cheap. We decided we could purchase their car for Jonathan to drive and that I could use the Rav. We were a little concerned that buying the car would use up almost all of our emergency fund, but wanted to get the Explorer on the market ASAP and try to pay off debt before the baby arrives. We put in a call to our friends, told them not to list the car, that we were ready to buy it. To make a long story short on Sunday we were supposed to meet with our friends to buy the car. That afternoon the doorbell rang and our whole Lifegroup was standing outside, along with our friends that were selling it, surrounding the car. One of the kids ran up to us and said, "We bought you a car!" We were pretty overwhelmed. Everyone had chipped in to buy us the car so we didn't have to use up all our savings. We felt very blessed and loved. God is so amazing to provide this gift to us through our dear friends. We are hoping to sell the Explorer soon and Jonathan is enjoying getting 27mpg driving the car to work. So we are saving on gas money as well. (We will post pictures once we find our camera.)

18 Months Old

Hallister is growing up so fast. This update is a little late because we have misplaced our camera. This picture was taken early March. Hall has really thinned out, is getting taller, and he has more hair. His routine consists of eating banana and rice chex for breakfast, or if we make muffins or biscuits he will eat those. Thankfully now instead of throwing food when he is done he will gather up as much as we can and hold it out. When we place a plate in front of him he will load up all the remaining food on the plate. He plays until 9am or 9:30am and enjoys watching Baby Einstein or his Music Praise videos. If we don't put these on right away he will bring us the remote. He then takes an hour nap. After napping an hour he enjoys goldfish or Graduates puffs as a snack. For lunch he enjoys a PB&J sandwich, peanut butter crackers, and a nutri-grain bar. Around 1:30pm Hallister will take a 2 hour nap. We got him furniture from Craiglist and moved him into what was formerly the office. (The baby will have his old room.) He has been sleeping quite well in his new bed, even until 7am some mornings. He loves to go outside. We have been enjoying the slide that is at the school right next to us, in the evenings or on weekends. Hallister also loves bubbles. His newest sign is "help" - making a fist and hitting it on the other hand. His newest word to say is "yeah" which we are trying to turn into "yes", and eventually "yes mam or yes sir".