I can see the change in her countenance. She is so much more sure of herself. I love her so much. I am so grateful she has this opportunity for growth at this time in her life.

Today is a new day and I am excited about the future. For those who need a great free website for getting out of debt. I use this website to help me plan paying off debt. It has helped a lot. The last debt that I have is going to take some time (student loans), but I can see how much extra payments affect the pay off date.

I don't have a chest full of gold to pay off my debt, but I have an amazing family and my goal is to get through the next few years of paying off my debt while letting my family know how amazing they are and how much I love them. I don't want to pass on my financial stress to them. That is my goal. How I will accomplish that is still a work in progress.

I have decided that I feel like this yo yo when it comes to my diet and my debt. I don't seem to be making any progress or going anywhere. Both my debt and my extra weight seem to just hang around. Sometimes they go up and down, but that is just about all they do. I think I need to figure out why I can't seem to make the progress I would like to make if I hope to make any real progress.

Goal update

This month we are not making the progress that we want to on our student loans, however we are paying with cash for 3 kids to be in college classes at community colleges. My sister laughed and joked with me saying, "I hope we pay off our college before I start paying on my kids college." I love my sister she helps keep things fun for me. I guess it would be nice if I had my college paid off first, but at least we are starting a new legacy here of paying for school without going into debt. I am teaching my children that debt is to be avoided whenever it is possible, so even though I am off to a late start with my financial goals I am moving forward avoiding debt.

I had to admit I am behind with learning new recipes too so today I need to break out the beans and try a new bean recipe.

Today may be a Dave Ramsey day. I might need to listen to his show for a few hours to get on fire again about getting rid of our debt.

Last week was a week of new beginnings. We took our oldest daughter to college and signed up our oldest son for classes at the local community college. Our second daughter was already signed up for classes. This means that our three oldest children will all be taking classes this semester at a college. The rest of the kids will continue to homeschool with me. I am so grateful that we continue to be blessed by a loving Father in Heaven who has given us so much.

I have asked my children to make this year a year of goals. Yesterday we learned how to make white bean dip. Learning how to make more foods with food storage items is a big goal for our family. We got the recipe from here.

A year in review

In 2013 we are going to continue to work on paying off our debt, living within our means, and learning how to live frugally.

This last year we:

• Learned how to cook beans.
• Started buying a lot of thrift store items.
• Finished some sewing projects.
• Paid off debt allowing us to afford braces for two of the kids.
• Cash flowed college classes for two oldest girls.
• Cash flowed our home school supplies (after switching to homeschool for all the kids).
• De-cluttered our home making it more organized and peaceful.

In 2013 I want to continue all of the things we have worked on in 2012 and learn how to live more frugally paying off all our debt as quickly as possible and being able to pay for our kids missions and weddings.
I also want to lose 30 pounds.

I am so grateful for the experiences my kids have had this year. Carrie was able to take 2 classes at the community college, and she did really good. Katie took 5 classes and she did really good too. This year we have had so many amazing experiences here in Show Low.  I am so grateful for a Loving Heavenly Father who brought us here and enabled us to be here and to make some wonderful friends and do some great things.

We don't know how long we will live here. There is a good chance that we will be here at least one more year, but we are willing to see how things turn out. So grateful for a Loving Heavenly Father who knows more than we know about what we need.

Christmas this year was so nice. We worked really hard to get the kids gifts that they will like and take care of. I think we did a good job. There are a couple of gifts that we got that I think we could have went without, but overall I think we did a good job. Again, I am so grateful for good friends and family who helped to make this a great Christmas.

My son's Eagle project has four major parts and three of them are completed. The final part involves locating children who are in need to the clothes that he has collected and getting the clothes to them. It could actually be the most difficult part, but at least he is almost done.
I am so grateful for so much help and love from friends who have helped and supported us.

It Came and Went

How many times are we so busy that something comes and goes and we miss it completely. I had been looking forward to 12-12-12 for a while. I had no particular reason, I just thought it was cool. I wanted to be able to write it at least once on the actual day and think, that is so cool. Yesterday evening one of my kids mentioned it was 12-12-12. What, it had come, and now it was almost over. I still had a lot to do that evening and I didn't enjoy my "date." That is okay, but I ask myself, how many other things come and go and I am so busy that I don't take the time to ponder and reflect and enjoy the date.