The way things are

Life is inevitably full of thousands of different decisions, all meshing together and influencing one another. Nothing seems straight forward anymore and decisions no longer seem easy to make. Lately I've been terrified of making the wrong decisions, scared of putting our future in jeopardy, scared of not being able to achieve our dreams. But that's where faith comes in. I'm choosing to be faithful and trust in the midst of what feels so very overwhelming.

You're probably wondering what I'm talking about. So let me explain.

Cameron and I are very strong advocates when it comes to the power of education. We believe that when you're educated you have the ability to achieve the type of career you dream about. When you're educated you have choice, you have doors opened to you, you have the ability to do what you most want in life. So we chose to go after education for both Cameron and myself this year and that means all sorts of sacrifices.

This decision has not come lightly to us. We have a son, we have obligations and dreams to have more children sooner rather than later. And to some people (even friends) our decisions seem crazy, irresponsible, stupid and financially impossible.

But we aren't stupid. We have looked at our decisions at every possible angle. We take days (often weeks or months) to decide on something big like this. We crunch numbers, live off of cash from jars, keep track of our money in spending journals, budget every single penny, save in every way possible. We will be doing canning this spring, I'm learning to sew, we buy clearance, use points, compare prices, cut coupons, park the car and take the bus. We buy used, go to swap meets, diaper with cloth, watch out for sales, wait to make purchases and focus on the goals we've set forth for our family. We've put the credit cards away and take on extra shifts when necessary and show up at our parents dinner tables if we're really in need of a meal (that's welcomed by the way).

It's possible. Everything and anything is possible. The biggest and most important lesson in all this for us is having faith in God to meet our needs. Realizing we don't have to want and live according to society's impression of what is "right". We do not need stuff to be happy. As long as our needs are met we can choose to be content in the midst of the sacrifices we make now to obtain our goals later. Goals that include the careers we want, a home of our own, a big yard with a couple large dogs and children running around our feet.

Anything is possible if you set your mind to it and believe God has good things in store. I believe that more now than I ever have before.
N.