I am so excited to share my blogs' new purpose with all of my friends! Not that the cute pics of my kids and hubby will be eliminated but I have recently felt the tug to start blogging about some decisions that Joe and I have made basically regarding the way that we live. What do I mean by that?.....Well it all started back during this fall (and well really our whole adult lives) that we realized that we were getting increasingly sucked up into idols of this world in SO many ways. We were not being as responsible as we could with our money, our bodies, our family, our time, and so much more. All of these blessings that God was just pouring out on us were not being treasured or sometimes even acklowedged. We were so often being irresponsible with what God had given us, always longing for the "next things," giving in to one indulgence after another, and plain not being the best stewards of the blessed lives we were given. So after a indulgent fall and holiday season our pocket books were thin and my waist was not!..... SO began our January "month of nothing!" So you may ask what is a "month of nothing?" Well basically this is a phrase that we coined back when we were saving money for our adoption. "One" month we decided to save every penny that we could by only buying things that met our basic needs (what a concept huh?) We did not go out to dinner, or starbucks, buy things willy-nilly like new bath mats at target (hey they were on sale) or random items that made us happy for a nano-second....no, it was food, basic toiletries, gas, housing, bills ect. Wow did we save a TON that month. Hmmm you may think that we would have continued this, but no when the month was over we tried to "do good" with our budget, but had no plan and thus did not do very good at all. Now don't get me wrong I am not a shopoholic or a super spender by far but at the same time I left purchasing decisions up to what felt good and what I thought we needed. So come January we realized that things needed to change. Dave Ramsey's words were finally starting to sink in, and so we once again started out "month of nothing" and voila we started saving (a lot!) As we continued this "month of nothing" MON (from now on I will use the acronym after-all we are a military family) I had an epiphany, not only do we need to focus on our budget but we need to take this basic concept and apply it to other areas of our life, especially for for me that applied to my health and my body. I have started a weight loss and workout plan. I began to realize that all of this indulgent behavior can manifest itself in so many ways and so many areas of our lives. I needed to regain control and at the same time trust in God and acknowledge His control in my life. So this is the inspiration for my blog and for our new way of life. I will be using this forum to talk about how we are doing this, obstacles we are facing, tips for doing this and anything else I fill a need to share. At last I wanted to end with a few goals for this upcoming "year of nothing" YON and basically our new way of life:
Goal -1 To give thanks to God for all blessing and turn to him for strength and fulfillment!
Goal -2 To blog about this journey a minimum of once a week
Goal-3 To tithe 10%
Goal-4 To save 20% each month for this entire year
Goal-5 To be at a healthy goal weight by the end of the year
Goal-6 To share from the heart and be very real about this journey.
I leave you with our new family motto stolen from one of the greatest coaches ever (Chip Kelly head coach of the Oregon Ducks) WIN THE DAY!
Candace and Joe, I applaud your efforts! We also are doing Dave Ramsey, and will debt free except for the house this year. Tithing has been a big step for us, and we are walking out in faith in many ways. Raising children in a society that has taught them to covet is difficult, so we've started volunteering more, and I know we'll have future mission-type trips to help teach them about the bounty we have HERE.
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