The year so far...

Two months into 2015 and we've already blown our emergency fund +$7000! One of our cars needed a new transmission. There’s a leak in our roof that is right above my side of the bed. And, Blake has to take one summer school class so he can finish school by next year in May instead of waiting until December. Blake’s school part isn’t a bad thing but coming up with $1200 extra that we didn’t budget for isn’t so great. However, with all of that happening at least the percentage of anything else hitting us has significantly decreased!

Blake and I sat down in February right before submitting our taxes talking about what we were going to do with our refund. We knew we wanted to pay off some debt and then take the girls to Des Moines to visit Blake’s dad and grandmother. They have met Anna on our last trip but no one has met Macy so we thought that would be a trip worthy of taking. So, we e-filed and were eagerly awaiting our refund when Blake called and said the truck wouldn’t get out of some gear (insert car talk here) and it was probably the transmission (I knew that wasn’t good). When all was said and done we had $100 left of our tax refund.

Cha-ching.

Then, a few nights later I hop into bed and tuck myself into wet, cold sheets. I first thought, "Great! Macy had an accident!" She had recently learned how to take off her britches, had she tinkled on my bed?! But, in my huffing and puffing I threw my head back, looked up at the ceiling and there was the leak. We knew the roof hadn’t been done since the house was built and figured that’s going to be a call to the insurance and we have to pay our deductible.

Cha-ching.

A few more evenings pass and Blake comes home with awesome news. He will be able to graduate in a little more than a year if he takes one summer course. I was ecstatic!! I have been waiting for an “official” date forever! But, then he dropped the cha-ching bomb. I was so excited that I had forgotten about the whole money part of it all.

    Cha-ching.

 Plan B, go!

Last summer we bought another car and since we just dropped a bunch of money into the truck we decided to sell the car we bought last summer to come up with the money for school, the insurance deductible, and pay off the debt we had planned to get rid of. No sense in having three gas guzzling suvs/trucks. We prayed and parked it on the corner of Blake’s mom’s house in a busy neighborhood and it was sold, cash in hand, in two days. Praise the Lord. 

Through all of this, like always, I fretted, worried, and stressed about it all. But, like always, I prayed and left it in God’s hands. He has never once failed us. In every single situation, every single need, the Lord provided. And, he provided the exact amount we needed in every single situation. This isn’t a message of prosperity theology but just like His Word tells us,

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  Matt. 6:34

I am so thankful that even though there have been stressful moments the first two months of this new year, I have a God who is always in control, who always provides and who is always there.