Babies and Money

Life is slowly getting back into a routine around our household this week. Hope and I have been playing babies a LOT! She is really loving all of her baby dolls and her little nursery set to put them in.

We line the babies up and sing to them, check their diapers to see if they are dirty, and we even rock them. This is a whole new world to me and it is so much fun! Here is my favorite toddler with her bitty baby and her Disney Princess Baby Doll. Santa brought her the cinderella and I think we will get her another princess for her birthday. She loves this princess baby and you can get them in all the disney princesses. She calls it "pin sis" and it is adorable:)

Mr. Dave is loving his Vtech Reader from Oma. We have downloaded additional stories on it and he loves it! I even bought a car adapter today for long road trips. Doesn't he look so studious?? :)

About my beloved camera-I have been in touch with the Sevier County Police Dept and it appears that so far the mean thief has not pawned my camera in that area. They are still working on it, but the reality is that it is probably long gone. My new point and shoot is driving me crazy, but I have started an envelope to buy a new camera.

In this family we do not buy stuff on impulse or on credit. It stinks in times like this, but since we started the daveramsey program 8 years ago we committed to not buying on credit, living below our means, and saving for down the road. We are on a somewhat aggressive plan to pay off our mortgage in hopefully a decade or so and to do all that we avoid credit cards like the plague. Not to say I don't do damage on our card with a little Etsy shopping, but generally we do not buy now pay later on anything.

I would like to tell Dave Ramsey to jump off a bridge and hop online and order the Nikon D90 right now. Seriously, I have one in my online cart right now, but I know that because we committed to this program and it has been miraculous for our marriage and bank account I will start an envelope and save up the cash for my coveted D90.

Sometime later I will do a post on how we do our monthly cash-only finance system. Some people think we are totally nuts (I do myself sometimes) but it has worked for us and we both are committed to it. I love the idea of living below our means so that we can live peacefully in the future. I also love the idea of living below our means so that we can use our money wisely to tithe and bless others. I do not believe that God blesses us with money to simply boost our own lifestyle- I think He wants us to use our resources to further His kingdom.

Off to the gym-that is another topic for another day. I started a new class at the gym this week and ALL week I have been so sore that I cannot laugh or sneeze without cringing! Ha!