FPU - ROUND 2

Well, remember when I told you "we" were supposed to sit down and do a quickie budget. Uhm....hmmm.....that didn't happen.
"We" meant "me" and "we" meant "he" would look over it 5 minutes before we walked out the door. Got be honest, I was a little miffed. A little frustrated.
Then we went to the second class and Ramsey took away my steam.
If you have taken FPU, then you will know exactly what I mean when I say I am a money nerd and HH is a money free spirit. For the rest of you, it means I want a detailed budget made up. One that we took an entire weekend to come up with. During that weekend, I would also like for us to develop a detailed college plan for the MCs, a 5 year plan for updating our house and property, and a 10 year plan explaining where we expect to be in the next decade. All the while, talking about how we feel about these plans and how they correlate to our Christian world view.
For HH, it means I've got 17 minutes to talk to him about the budget. After that-well, I might as well be spittin' in the wind.
Over dramatization - perhaps.(Not the 17 minutes though - that is even in the book.)
But true.
The second class definitely swung things in HH "favor". It let him off the "hook" for the weekend budget retreat I had planned. It didn't exempt him from financial responsibility, but it did help me see my way is not his way.
It also put the free spirits on the spot, in that during the 17 minute meeting, they are not allowed to say "whatever you want to do is fine by me."
Heard that before? Perhaps you are the free spirit and have said it?
DRIVES....US......NERDS........C......R......A......Z......Y!
Like up the wall crazy.
Nope, he has got to change 2 things on the budget as submitted.
And I have to shut up and let him.
See that ...."let him"....seems us nerds are a bit of control freeks as well. Pretty sure that opens up a whole 'nother can of worms.
I have to say that Ramsey hit the nail on the head with his explanations of the dynamics between married couples. I found myself nodding my head and looking at HH, and then I found myself thinking "oh that is totally me" and avoiding HH's gaze as he nodded his head and looked at me.
This week we also talked about the kids. About "commissions" and chores. How we can and should compensate them for specific jobs they are assigned, but not for every thing they do. Some where we have to find the balance between teaching them the value of a dollar, working for that very dollar and the fact that some things you do because you are a part of this family. I made up some "commissions" charts for them Saturday. HH looked over them in his free spirited ways and agreed. We have discussed them and explained them to the MCs. I'll let you know after this week how it has gone.
I have to say again, this stuff isn't rocket science. It is good old common sense. Wisdom that somehow escaped us in the pursuit of life.
Some of you have this down pat.
Great!
Please don't roll your eyes at us and say well duh.
We do that enough ourselves.
Be our cheerleader!
For those of you walking where we are and have been- we will be yours!
We don't have to serve two masters.
We are not meant to.
With Jesus Christ, we can break those chains of slavery to the small master and be free to worship and serve God and Christ.
We can.
We just need to choose to take the first step.
It is time to choose.

F...P...U

Well, HH and I have sucked it up and signed on for Financial Peace University. We have put on our big girl and big boy draw'rs and got down to business.
Translation...we have been to one class.
We, like most other couples, are money personality opposites. HH is a spender. I am a saver. Well, that might not be a fair assessment since I have a difficult time saving a brownie 'til tomorrow, but when it comes to money I am more saver-ish.
After the first class, I wish I had been a lot more saver-ish. How one class can make you feel like such an idiot in one moment and give you hope in the next is beyond me. Youth is so wasted on the young. I told HH after the meeting that the MCs were taking this class when they turned 18, if not sooner.
Our first assignment is in progress. Notice I am blogging about this on Friday because one of our assignments is to sit down and do a quickie budget this weekend. I am afraid if I wait until Sunday night to share, well, it might not be so pretty.
The first meeting was a mixture of feelings.
Mad at myself for not being smarter.
Relieved I can stop being foolish.
Fearful of the steps laid out before us.
Excited to be going down that path.
Aware that the short term work will most likely be difficult and uphill.
Hopeful, knowing the end result is so worth it.
So, we start walking.
I am sure we will grow weary some days.
I am confident other days we will celebrate victories, small as they are.
The goal is not to get rich quick.
The goal is to serve the One Master well. To be a good steward of His provision. Be able to bless others in need. Be able to provide for the boys and the generations to come.

Lucky for you, you get to come along.

For the good, the bad and the ugly.

And you will love us through it, right?

Right?

You will choose to:)

MY DIRT

One of our commissions before we left the SSMTC in Houston weekend before last....has it been that long....oh mercy......was to get a sample of dirt and bring it home with us. It symbolized the ground we were taking back from the enemy, ground he had stolen from us or we had simply let go. Sister and I chose a spot near the parking garage and scooped up our dirt. It was good, wet dirt, saturated from the sprinklers, much like our spirits had been saturated with the word of God that weekend.

My dirt sat by my computer for about a week. When I moved it to another location, I heard it rattling around in my cup. It was dry, and I knew how it felt.

It had only been a week.

How could it have been dry?

Now although I teach science, contrary to what my kiddos would tell you, it is not rocket science.

It was dry because it had not been watered.

Not even a drizzle.

It sat on my desk, out of the elements, and had simply dried out.

The moisture from Houston gone.

I didn't add any to it.

It wasn't exposed to anything that would let it get water.

Nope, just plain ol'dried out dirt.

Aren't we so much the same?

We can sit under the greatest teaching, hear the best sermon from our pastor, or straight up get a word from God in our own study time, and our spirits are saturated with Christ.

We are on fire and WE ARE GOING TO MAKE SOME CHANGES!

Then a day goes by, and we didn't get back in the Word.

Then another day goes by and we didn't have time to stop and pray.

Pretty soon it has been a week and we feel dry.

We feel like we are starting to crumble.

We just sort of rattle around in our "boxes".

Unlike my dirt, dear friends, we have choice.

We don't have to be "placed" under the water of God's word;we can go there ourselves.

We can let the presence and the power of Christ saturate our lives, soaking deep into our hearts and minds.

Making us into something able to be molded and not just crumbly.

From Sunday to Sunday, most of us in this country have the opportunity to open up our Bibles and read.

We have the opportunity to sit before the feet of Christ and hear what He has to say.

We have the opportunity.

We also have the choice.

You and I have a choice.

Today, let us choose Jesus.

Posted by the chic who needed to hear this probably more than anyone else:)

MY SSMTC RECAP

I feel it is required.

I feel obligated.

But it is difficult to put into words.

How do you explain to your husband how meeting with 1200+ other women you only know from this side of the screen is incredibly emotional?

How do you express to someone why you are moved to tears when you worship with ladies you have never ever met in your entire life?

Ladies you only recognize because of their little picture thingy?

How can I tell you how awestruck sister and I were at the hand of God on our very interactions with these women?

How can I convey the great emotion I felt leaving the "sisters" Saturday after lunch, when we had just met them Friday night?

How 1200+ women sit with Bibles open, laughing and crying at the same time, hungry for a word from not only their teacher but their God?

It is so hard to explain how 1200+ women, with a few men thrown in for good measure (and good worship!), can sit and listen to the same teaching and each feel as if the lesson was designed just for them by the Lord God Almighty.

Why would ladies travel from Hawaii and the UK for approximately six and a half hours of fellowship?

How do you explain all that?

This is how....

Jesus Christ.

Easiest recap of SSMT,

Jesus Christ showed up.

Enough said.

OVER ON DELIBERATELY DELIVERED...

FALTERING

WHAT ARE WE TO DO WITH TEBOW...

I finally got to watch the Year of the Quarterback special about Tim Tebow. I just loved how his mom and brother still call him Timmy.
Like most of you, I have been following the Tebow lovers and haters in the press. In doing so I have formed some opinions.
I do that.... have opinions.
Ask anyone who knows me, they will tell you.
If they don't, let me know and I'll tell you why I think that was.


Here they are in no particular order:

1. As Christians and fellow believers in Christ, we need to pray for him and his family. For protection. For wisdom. For discernment. For strength. For favor. For quiet times. For godly friends. For godly counsel.

2. As Christians, we need to make sure we don't put him on a pedestal he can't stand on. Which would be ANY pedestal. He is a human, flesh and blood, just like you and I. And I never have much luck standing on pedestals. Don't know anyone who has. We always seem to fall.

3. As Christians, we should be encouraged by Tebow's very public stance, which seems to be backed up by his private time with teammates. We should absolutely applaud his faith. I should let the MCs see a man living out his faith in a very public forum and remind them he has a private relationship with Christ that makes it possible.

4. Then, as Christians, we should be challenged in our very own walk. We should be asking ourselves if we are having that kind of impact where we are placed. Are we speaking Christ Jesus regardless? Are we proclaiming our faith when things look bad to the outside world as well as when they seem good? Are we living out our faith publicly and privately? Is Christ the most important relationship in our lives?

5.We need to hear what Tebow is saying and take him at his word. Jesus Christ is it. Christ is the end all of all. Jesus is what matters. Jesus is the only One who deserves and can handle the pedestal.


Well, there ya go.
My Tebow Top 5.
In all seriousness, let us cover our brother in prayer.
Let's cover his parents in prayer as they guide their son through this season of his life.
Let's make sure we are guarding the glory of the Lord (totally stole that from Beth Moore and the Passion session I saw today) and not putting it on anyone else.
We can choose to.

ONE CLICK AWAY...

One of my goals was to write more on here.

But last night my heart was moved to write over here.

Let this be the year Lord, let this be the year!