Today has been one of those surreal experiences that has left me pinching myself and asking, "Is this really happening?!" There are some dreams in life that just seem so distant, I wonder how this one can be coming true for us. This is our family blog, so I am posting about this to mark this monumental occasion in our family history. I don't at all mean to boast or brag, though I feel so thrilled about it that I could shout it from the rooftops! God has been so incredibly good to us!
We Paid Off Our House Today!
We are absolutely free from any and all debt! I am so grateful for how far we've come. I think it's worth telling about our journey, for posterity's sake. When we were first married we had each been brought up by frugal parents, but had yet to gain much experience and wisdom ourselves when it came to matters of money. We made plenty of mistakes those first few years including not saving, not budgeting, and purchasing a certain $1300 sofa. {cringe} Thankfully we didn't do anything too stupid and were smart enough to stay far away from credit cards! After college we settled here in Boise and promptly bought 5 acres of land up the mountain upon which we planned to build our dream home. Of course, we couldn't afford to build our dream home at that point, so we bought a certain modest 4-bedroom, 1900 sq. ft. home on Orbit Drive. Hindsight being what it is, we realize now how impractical our acreage purchase was, but, oh how grateful I am that the Lord allowed us to make that mistake! If we hadn't we surely would have qualified to purchase a much bigger home somewhere. It's been many years since we sold that property, and we probably lost a fair amount of money on the whole thing, but through it the Lord brought us here.
Some years and 4 kids later, at the beginning of 2009 to be exact, we bought another house. The country was in a recession and this house was collateral damage. It was a 5-bedroom, 3400 sq. ft., one acre property that had been foreclosed on. Anticipating that we'd definitely be adding to our family, and that we'd never have another chance like it, we took the plunge. We prayed about it, felt good about it, and we did it. One year later our home on Orbit Drive still hadn't sold and, after some promptings that we felt and many long discussions on what we really wanted in life, we put the big house in our rear view mirror and settled back into our first home. It would be another year before the big house sold, and with the economy in even worse shape, we lost a lot of money on the sale. After living for two years with two homes, we were left with basically nothing in our savings. But again, God had taught us so much through this experience! It was during this time that Dave Ramsey and his principles of money management entered our lives. We really defined what kind of stewards we wanted to be over our temporal blessings and how we wanted to go about achieving our long-term goals. We had tried and tried for years to manage our finances and establish a budget, and those efforts were not completely meaningless or unfruitful. But I think it was through this experience of moving back and doing what we felt was right for us, despite how irrational or financially unwise it way have seemed to others, that the Lord was really able to start changing our hearts. He needed us here! We haven't been perfect, but our goals and desires have always been centered on our faith and our family. Far beyond our own abilities and effort, the Lord has magnified our willingness and blessed us so much.
As soon as we sold the big house we completely made-over our budget. We created a better tracking and budgeting system. We built up short and long term savings. We established more savings for retirement and for each of our kids. Every month we hacked away at our mortgage by paying triple payments. And the Lord filled in all the gaps, of which there have probably been many. Honestly, as I review my own efforts I feel conflicted! I feel so proud of myself for how far I've come. Truly, the Lord has made my weaknesses in money management into strengths. But I also recognize that my heart isn't always perfect. Sometimes I fudge the budget to make it work. Sometimes I covet things that I don't have. Sometimes I am not as content or grateful for my blessings as I ought to be. But, for whatever reason, the Lord has chosen to bless me despite my many imperfections. (Here I would venture to say that the good heart and righteous living of that husband of mine have garnered the majority of the blessings we have received! He is a rock.)
As much effort and progress as we have made trying to pay off this house, it would still have taken a few more years if not for some good fortune (read: divine intervention). Brett has been receiving stock options from Micron for years. Recently Micron has begun to do pretty well again and the stock price reached a point where we could sell what we had and pay off what remained of our mortgage. So that's what we did! And afterimpatiently waiting for checks and mortgage-payoff quotes to arrive, today we packed up the whole family and went to the bank together to send a wire transfer to our mortgage company. We paid off our house!
Some years and 4 kids later, at the beginning of 2009 to be exact, we bought another house. The country was in a recession and this house was collateral damage. It was a 5-bedroom, 3400 sq. ft., one acre property that had been foreclosed on. Anticipating that we'd definitely be adding to our family, and that we'd never have another chance like it, we took the plunge. We prayed about it, felt good about it, and we did it. One year later our home on Orbit Drive still hadn't sold and, after some promptings that we felt and many long discussions on what we really wanted in life, we put the big house in our rear view mirror and settled back into our first home. It would be another year before the big house sold, and with the economy in even worse shape, we lost a lot of money on the sale. After living for two years with two homes, we were left with basically nothing in our savings. But again, God had taught us so much through this experience! It was during this time that Dave Ramsey and his principles of money management entered our lives. We really defined what kind of stewards we wanted to be over our temporal blessings and how we wanted to go about achieving our long-term goals. We had tried and tried for years to manage our finances and establish a budget, and those efforts were not completely meaningless or unfruitful. But I think it was through this experience of moving back and doing what we felt was right for us, despite how irrational or financially unwise it way have seemed to others, that the Lord was really able to start changing our hearts. He needed us here! We haven't been perfect, but our goals and desires have always been centered on our faith and our family. Far beyond our own abilities and effort, the Lord has magnified our willingness and blessed us so much.
As soon as we sold the big house we completely made-over our budget. We created a better tracking and budgeting system. We built up short and long term savings. We established more savings for retirement and for each of our kids. Every month we hacked away at our mortgage by paying triple payments. And the Lord filled in all the gaps, of which there have probably been many. Honestly, as I review my own efforts I feel conflicted! I feel so proud of myself for how far I've come. Truly, the Lord has made my weaknesses in money management into strengths. But I also recognize that my heart isn't always perfect. Sometimes I fudge the budget to make it work. Sometimes I covet things that I don't have. Sometimes I am not as content or grateful for my blessings as I ought to be. But, for whatever reason, the Lord has chosen to bless me despite my many imperfections. (Here I would venture to say that the good heart and righteous living of that husband of mine have garnered the majority of the blessings we have received! He is a rock.)
As much effort and progress as we have made trying to pay off this house, it would still have taken a few more years if not for some good fortune (read: divine intervention). Brett has been receiving stock options from Micron for years. Recently Micron has begun to do pretty well again and the stock price reached a point where we could sell what we had and pay off what remained of our mortgage. So that's what we did! And after
Our Family at the Bank - We Did It!
We've had several people ask us lately if we plan on staying in our "little" home, now that we have 7 children. My answer without hesitation is, "You Bet!! We love it here!"
It's All About Family!
