criticized

It is amazing how people can criticize another person for trying to better themselves. Let me explain. Peter and I have what I would consider a moderate level of debt. All of our debt is considered "good" debt (if there is such a thing). A car payment, a mortgage, and school loans are all considered "good" debt. Lately we have not been feeling so great about this "good" debt and have been trying to find ways to pay it off. I came across the book "The Total Money Makeover" and instantly we knew we found the right book for us. This books main theme is about Living like no one else now, so later you can live like no one else. That means we have a lot of things for the immediate future that we are willing and going to have to sacrifice in order to gain what we want in the long term. Debt is a means to obtain the I want's before we can actually afford them. He uses the scripture in Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender" to drive his point home. So we are working on our debt problem. We started at the beginning of the month and we are doing really great for one month of time. In his book he discusses how when you start the program that immediately unexpected costs will arise and let me tell you - we have had A LOT of unexpected costs this month. Anyway, we were also told that most people will not understand and we will get a lot of criticism for the choices we are making now. For example, one of the things we are doing to cut our grocery bill drastically is to eat a beans and rice diet for most lunches and most dinners. People at work have started to notice and the comments are coming! It is obvious to them that I just bought a house and we must have bought a house that we can't afford - WRONG! I honestly don't care what the people I work with have to say though and we press on.

I don't know if we will actually follow the program completely and get out of debt and become millionaires or not. But I do know that we are making great progress in the here and now and we are trying so hard too!

On with other news: I had mentioned some unexpected expenses. One of the things that came up was our dear little Juno. She tore one of her dew claws on Thursday and she had to have surgery on Friday where they removed both of her dew claws. She has hardly even noticed that she had surgery and it is amazing how tough this little dog is. The vet told us that it is the equivalent of us getting our thumbs cut off (ouch!) and there is no way that I would have been doing as well as she has done.

I leave you with some pictures of the babies:

Juno's wrapped legs and painted toe nails

Little Indy

Yummy Treats

So anyone who knows me knows that I cannot wait to be a mom (no I am not announcing anything) and am counting down the days until it is my turn :) I can't wait to be pregnant and feel a baby kick and move around inside of me. I can't wait to be there for my babies first breath and see what parts look like Peter and what parts look like me. There is a lot I can't wait to experience as a new mom. But in the same way that I desire to biologically become a mother I also have the same exact feelings for adopting children.

I have always had adoption on my heart and I know without a doubt that I should and will adopt someday. When we were dating I shared this with Peter and thankfully he is fully on board with this desire. In the same way that I look forward to being pregnant and holding my newborn I also look forward to the moment that I will walk into a room and see my baby for the first time.

I read a lot of blogs in my spare time and several of the blogs I read are from parents who have adopted from all around the world. This one particular blogger adopted from Ethiopia and I love hearing her reports with their family. They have two biological children and one adopted child and hope to add to that someday! Watching this video makes me want to run out and sign up to adopt right now (I promise I will wait). Check out this video. I can't wait to have my very own moment just like this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr-fODBn4sY&eurl=http://www.expandingalbertsons.blogspot.com/

One Final Week

Things are going really well for us. Now that all the stress of selling the condo is behind us. We are still finishing up on settling into the new house. We really love our new house - no doubt that it all worked out in God's timing. Before we looked at this house we had put offers on a few other houses that we thought would be perfect but they obviously didn't work out and here we are in this one. I promise as soon as everything is presentable I will post pictures of the new house on here. We are ALMOST presentable.

We are in the calm before the storm for Peter. He has one more week of work left before busy season hits. Since this is our first busy season we are not fully aware of how bad it will be but from all the other accountants we have spoken with they said it is awful. We shall see. I am trying to get Peter to do all the little projects I need him to do around here and also just enjoy a little time with him before he is gone. I will be sure to post about how bad busy season really is in the coming weeks.

My job has become quite boring over the last couple weeks and I will not complain about that. It is nice to slow down and be back on a normal 4 10's schedule. We are going to be slow for awhile but I hope that we do recover eventually because for very good reason - I don't want to be out of a job.

Juno is doing great now. A couple of weeks ago she got an awful rash and she had a Staph infection. We knew that with her rare skin condition she could get one easily and she did. So she has been on a lot of antibiotics and is doing much better.

Indy is 12 weeks today. He went to the vet this morning and got more shots. He is a whole 5 lbs now! It is so fun watching him play with his 45 lb sister. They have a lot of fun together!

I will end this post with some things that I am loving right now and if you feel so compelled you should check them out too:

The first one is not anything new but I do enjoy getting them and I recommend it to all of you out there. It is a daily email I get about being a generous wife (husbands and get them too). It just gives simple tips and ideas to make marriage better. So check it out: http://www.the-generous-wife.com/

A constant struggle all of women seem to have is staying in shape and making it fun. I tend to get bored very easily with workouts but I found a great fitness video that works on your Wii. It is inexpensive when compared with a gym membership and it is customized to fit your needs and it changes daily to keep some variety and work out different parts of your body. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001H0RZX2/?tag=yahhyd-20&hvadid=45857457511&ref=pd_sl_8zzoqza6hs_b

Another area of life we are trying to improve this year is in our spending. We blow way to much money and we need to get focused on paying down our debt. I came across this program and we have begun our Total Money Makeover and are already seeing great improvements in our spending. We are not blowing nearly as much money and we have already been able to pay off one school loan! http://www.amazon.com/Total-Money-Makeover-Financial-Fitness/dp/0785289089/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231609702&sr=8-1