back from travels with a debt-snowball smackdown.

I spent the weekend in Minneapolis attending the last convention I've scheduled until... I feel like scheduling another one.  I flew back home Sunday night and woke up before the crack of dawn Monday to head to Dallas to work for a few days.  I always love coming home, and this time had a sweet touch of celebration.  My husband wrote the last check to Honda on Friday, the check has been cashed, and we own the sucker!  It is SO affirming - all of the travelling and whatnot isn't easy for either of us, but I have to be so thankful for the means to accomplish our goals together for the betterment of our future (in which, hopefully, if I have to get up at 4:30am it's likely to feed a screaming, round-faced baby, not drive 4.5 hrs to a studio). 

All of this is largely due to being introduced to this guy two Christmases ago.  My brother's young married class from church was about to take a 13-week course on finances, and I was intrigued enough by what he told me of DR that I asked for his bestselling book for Christmas that year.  M and I started dating shortly thereafter, and he actually read the book before I did (I was, however, already really into listening to Dave's free podcasts on i-tunes).  Fast-forward a year, and we got to take the course ourselves at our own church, with dear friends beside us and the benefit of some pretty hard-core concurrent pre-marital counselling (which, I believe, is an absolute MUST.  it was not easy by any stretch, but we certainly addressed/fought over/learned about a lot of  our differences and similarities and our marriage has most definitely been smoother for it).  We've been officially working the steps to financial peace together since we got married in April, and it has been such a blessing to us.  The program's emphasis on working together, biblical concepts and stewardship, budgeting your money intentionally and living within your means, basic education about financial products and consumer lending, planning for your family, and placing a high value on charitable giving has given us a financial compass, a common language, and opportunities to learn about and trust one another more, and we're grateful.  Aside from a game plan for our own family, we're also excited about the prospect of being able to bless others by sharing both our funds and good, helpful information... because let's face it, financial issues are common to all, whether you're wealthy or poor.

*****

The Shack...  

I finally finished it on the plane Sunday night, sniffling all the way.  I confess to a small degree of discomfort whenever I'm reading a work that... well, seeks to put words in God's mouth.  I suppose I feel that those sentiments are the writer's theology that they've worked out and are seeking to express and validate.  Not that anything expressed in this book was shocking to me or anything... I just mention it because that opinion affected my reading of it.  I actually liked a great deal of it, and I certainly cried a couple of times.  Out of the wealth of thought-provoking passages, a couple of ideas that really grabbed hold of me were 1) humans seeking independence from God to their detriment and 2) the concept of living in verbs instead of nouns (i.e., growing/learning/serving as opposed to responsibility/obligation).  Although I don't think the nouns are all bad, either, in their place.  I'll tell you, reading this book made me want to go find my copy of Pilgrim's Progress.  I believe they try to evoke similar ideas, and I'm wont to take to it more fully in the allegory form of PP.  Oh, one of my favorite things was the description of the relationship between God/Christ/the Spirit.  I did love that.

Note:  I have a history of reading affecting books while travelling.  In grad school, I rode a Grayhound home one year and pulled out The Notebook to read (before the movie, of course).  I bawled so hard people around me were offering me Kleenex.  And when I was meeting T-bird in Vegas, I cracked open Redeeming Love to stave off lengthy connecting-flight boredom, and finally met up with her at the airport with the splotchiest face and most swollen eyes you've ever seen.

*****

It's so quiet here.  The only sound is someone creaking around upstairs and the hum of the dryer.  I think I could go the day without turning any sound on.  When I got home last night, I reflexively started cleaning the kitchen, making a circuit around the house to see what was new, what flowers needed to be thrown out...  my sweet husband was probably wondering what my damage was.  This morning, I can see my reaction to being away carries some guilt, and upon return I run around marking territory and 'claiming' things, much like my dog does.  Except differently.  =)  He's actually snoring a little right now.

I feel the need to clean, and breathe, and stretch, and sort, and listen, and sleep.  and then go eat dinner with the T family.