Follow-up

My own lack of faith amazes me sometimes.

After the financial disaster from a few weeks ago, we were devastated. It was going to put all our family-making plans on hold, as well as cause me to have to find a new or second job to make ends meet.

Yet here we are, only two short weeks later, and each and every bill is being met, one of them following a letter from the IRS informing us that they shorted us about $500 on our 2008 return (funny, that's exactly how much we need for the only bill we hadn't found a way to pay yet)

How great is my God? And where do I find the audacity to question what he is doing? He has proven, yet again, for the hundredth time in my life, that he is faithful, that he will provide, and that I never need to worry.

Also, on the day "The Crisis", I heard this song, and it reduced me to tears. It's an account of a real woman, poor in the worlds eyes, but provided for by the king.

All I Need - Caedmon's Call

Did not catch her name
Did not catch her tears
It hit me like a train
When her story hit my ears
Mother of eight sons
Father off to war
Got no home address
Just bricks on a dirt floor
Jesus is all I need

Tiny plot of land
Corn stored up in piles
Years it doesn't rain
They just stay hungry for a while
No fatted calf to kill
She made a feast of cuy and corn
She said, "Who else knew my name
Before the day that I was born?
Jesus is all I need
Jesus is all I need."

She bragged about her boys
How they're growin' into men
How they learned to praise the Lord
Old Style Ecuadorian
To buy the new guitar
They had to sell the swine
Said, "My boys go to school on a foreign angel's dime.
This world calls me poor
I bore my babies on this floor
He always provides
Sure as the sun will rise.
So I'll sing Him songs of praise
'Cause I know He'll keep me in His gaze."

Rain poured from the sky
We raced back to the van
There were tears in the eyes
Of this poor, forgetful man
Mother of eight sons
She knows the peace of God
Lord, help me learn to lean
On thy staff and thy rod
Jesus is all I need
Jesus is all I need

Finances

Paul and I have horrific credit. Until a month ago, we had a large debt owed to my parents and three maxed-out credit cards. It's a sad fact that, when we were young (by which I mean a year ago and before), we had an emergency or two, and then proceeded to treat our credit cards like free money on our honeymoon. In case you haven't guessed, this is a stupid, stupid idea, and will land you at the mercy of the Card Services department of whatever institution is issuing you a line of credit. They are generally nice people, I've found, but I still really don't want to talk to them.
However, about six months ago, I discovered the Dave Ramsey plan. I knew the plan wouldn't work for us in it's original form, given that we were living, literally, right at our means. There was zero extra money, and the Dave Ramsey plan really needs a tiny bit of extra money to get it going. However, tax season was looming, and, with me paying estimated taxes and the fact that tax law has really never been nicer to poor folk like us, I knew we could expect a good chunk of change, which would serve as the catalyst for The Great Debt Payoff.
Happily, I was right. We were able to pay my parents all but $500 that we owed them, and they were gracious enough to cancel the rest. With the extra money that would have once gone toward paying my parents, we payed off our smallest credit card and closed the account (I, for the record, do not care that closing a card hurts your credit. There's very little that could damage my credit and make it worse than it already is). The next card is relatively small as well, under $1000. We should have it paid off within the next three months. Following that, we move on to our biggest debt, a maxed-out BoA MasterCard that has been looming over us since our honeymoon. It's due to be paid in full by next May.
We are far from out of the woods, and I sincerely doubt that anyone will extend us credit for the next seven years, but I am taking comfort in the fact that we did something about our debt before we were buried beneath it, and that there is an end in sight.
The moral of this story, kids, is that credit cards are great for building up credit, which in turn is great for buying things like houses and cars. However, it's easy-peasy to see the plastic as free cash and just start throwing it around. Don't.

Can I Just Say..

Stephen Lawhead is slowly becoming my favorite author. I am currently in the middle of Hood, and it is blowing my mind. In a good way.

Sadly, however, when asked by T, my oldest charge, what I was reading, this is the conversation that ensued:

T: Whatcha reading, Ms. Rai?
Me: Hood. It's a reworking of the story of Robin Hood.
T: Who? (side note: WHO!?!?!?!?!)
Me: Robin Hood.
T: *blank stare* (at this point, panic is rising in me)
Me: Robin Hood...you know, legendary hero..."rob from the rich to feed the poor"?
T: He STOLE from people!?
Me: *sigh*

People ask me why I want to be a teacher. This is why. Because kids don't know who Robin Hood is.

I haven't said a word all week...

Except Monday, and that hardly counts, as I wrote the blog itself on Saturday.

Anyway, I have learned some valuable lessons this week. Would you like to hear them? Of course you would.

1. Sexually repressed Southern Baptist girls rarely understand why plastic phalli do not belong at lingere showers. Typically they will excuse this breach of all that is classy by saying "But it will be funny!" Not when 50 year old church ladies show up.

2. Our educational system is not doing enough to teach our children geography. We need to be teaching kids that Alaska is, in fact, a part of the United States, and they do not have perpetual sunshine, 12 months a year. If we don't, they end up making themselves look dumb on facebook while I silently judge every teacher they ever had.

3. You can't always bring your baby everywhere, and nobody cares that "all MY friends are fine with it! They would never DREAM of saying my baby couldn't come!" Yes, well, no one cares, all the other mommies have made their peace with it, and you never show up to functions anyway, so hush. To be fair, I didn't learn this one. Neither did the perpetrator, unfortunatly.

4. Timothy Zahn is a big nerd. Like, a really big nerd. But he sure can write a book.

5. The cover to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies freaks me the eff out.

Have a great day!