FREEDOM!!!!!

As of July 2009, our family of 3 is officially.......



..... DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!

We are so pumped to finally "owe no man anything" and I have my hard-working, diligent, faithful husband to thank for the entirety of this huge feat.

This really is a huge blessing and accomplishment for our family, for as of Christmas 2007, we were $17,000 in debt (school loans & other expenses) and felt very burdened down. For the first time, we couldn't pay off all our credit card payment the month it was due and thus, began to stack up interest debt as well. That only lasted 2-3 months, but it was enough to kick us in the butts. We finally decided to listen to the book on tape that Dad Fugler gave us: "The Total Money Makeover." While it sounded extreme at first to our virgin ears, we gave his ways a chance and began to make small (& big!) differences in our financial ways. Not too many people were encouraging, scoffing and saying that "all debt isn't bad debt," and "no one can ever be fully out of debt." But, faster than we knew it, we were seeing a light at the end of a tunnel and the middle of last month, we knew we had enough in our savings to pay off the last big chunk of my school loan. Praise the Lord!

Now, we are on our way to saving for a second car....

happenings

Travis and I finally did it: we got rid of all credit cards! It was a momentous day yesterday and we even had our own little photo shoot. :-) Dear ol' Dad-in-law got us Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover" book two Christmases ago, and we are finally getting around to putting into action all that we have gleaned from his wisdom. We are on our way to financial freedom and it's exciting!

Other happenings around the Fugler household: Hazel's been bringing us many gifts - inside our home. It all began with leaving the dead flies that she would catch just lying around... then she began dragging in grasshoppers. Yesterday, we came home from running errands and there was a bird inside our house. Yes, she had caught a bird, carried it through her cat door (that we installed in our screen door), and let it loose to play with it in our home. We were a little traumatized and Trav was really mad at Hazel. He saved the poor little creature (while I tried to catch a clawing Hazel and put her outside!) and found the birdie a safe place outside.

The culprit, safely watching from a distance...

Just an hour later, Trav watched helplessly as Hazel found another bird outside, attacked it and licked her chops! Needless to say, we didn't really want to snuggle with her last night, or let her face get close to ours... she is no longer our innocent, little kitty!

*********

No baby yet... still waiting and walking....

Does little Bella want to share her birthday with her Daddy and Uncle Tommy - theirs is this weekend!