quarterly update 2013

Here's your quarterly blog update!!

I grew my hair out. Well, I was growing my hair out for almost 2 years. And I got it chopped off. I still have my donation laying around that I need to send off. What's a few more months?? (I really hope it doesn't smell or grow mold)

We've had lots of baby showers. None for me. So lots of homemade baby gifts. :)

And then getting to see sweet little babies! More babies are coming any day now, too!

Marshall and I have been working away in the garage as much as we can. We scored some amazing deals on great pieces of furniture over the last few months. Unfortunately they're not so easy to sell over the internet, but we are looking forward to our next big venture!

We moved into a store this week! We went back and forth about this decision for a while, but with the lack of sales and advertising we needed something! Nostalgia is located in downtown Statesboro and, although only open maybe 2 months??, are booming and becoming the happening home furnishing store. We get so excited when the owners post pics on Facebook of our pieces and love the responses from people!!

Marshall celebrated his 31st birthday in May. And he asked for a very expensive gift..

An appendectomy. And he stole my Mother's Day thunder. He always does that. He just had to be born on Mother's Day, too.

He was complaining about stomach pains the Saturday evening before Mother's Day. I feel horrible now because I kept telling him he just needed to poot. I was working his legs back and forth, since it works for babies! He was doing yoga poses on the floor. I eventually got tired of it and gave him a heating pad.

His dad offered to take him to the ER around midnight. After nothing eased the pain and he vomited, off they went. I was aggravated at this point. Not only were we paying off my multi-thousand dollar surgery from January, we'd be forking out a lot for his little ER visit.

After they left I went to bed, and Marshall texted updates briefly. I might have slept about 30 minutes when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. Marshall's mom and I texted back and forth. She couldn't sleep either. Shortly after 2am, I was getting anxious. I hadn't heard anything from Marshall. His dad said they were waiting for some results. Marshall's mom came over to stay with Hartley and I headed to town to relieve his dad from ER duty. He stayed awhile and updated me on what was going on. Marshall had been given pain meds and phenergan. CT scan showed appendicitis, blood work revealed it wasn't infected. (I think this is all what happened, by now it was 3am)

Marshall's dad went home and we went from the ER over to the pediatric wing while we awaited surgery. Marshall slept the whole time. I didn't at all. My mind was consumed with figuring how Sunday would work, especially with Hartley. Nurses would come in every hour, I think, checking his vitals. They asked about his medical history, etc. He would stir every now and then, helping me answer  the questions about previous surgeries. I felt like a horrible wife, not knowing what or how to answer the questions. He's the doctor and the one that knows everything.

I watched the sun come up that morning.

He was prepared for surgery right before 9am. I helped him to the bathroom and put his sexy gown on (he didn't let me take a picture). It was a slow Sunday in the hospital and the anesthetist let me go back with them while they gave him the good drugs. I wasn't sure what he would remember since he was out of it after the phenergan. He says he remembered me reaching for his hand and holding it while the anesthetist administered the meds. I'm glad he remembered that, because at that point I didn't know what to do except comfort him.

Over 12 hours had elapsed since I had anything to eat. I was hungry but anxious. That's never a good combination for me! Marshall's dad arrived back at the hospital as I emerged from anesthesia. He sent me to get myself some breakfast while he waited in the lobby.

Surgery was brief. Waking up from anesthesia took forever, though. After we talked to the surgeon we waited at least 30-45 minutes for someone to come get us so we could see Marshall. We got tired of waiting so Marshall's dad and I went looking for him. We probably weren't allowed access to most of the rooms we went into, but at least we found Marshall. Haha! Again, it was a slooow Sunday morning at the hospital. :)

Marshall has recovered nicely! Our bodies are pretty amazing and regenerate quite quickly. If only they could reproduce the same way.. whomp whomp whomp.

Welp. That's all we got. See you in four months!!! By then we'll have some awesome beach pictures to share!!

hartleyisms (November - February)

Hopefully these Hartleyisms will tide you over for another 4 months. :)

Hartley always asks Marshall about having to go to work. At night as he tucks her into bed, "Do you have to go to work tomorrow?" And in the morning, "Please don't leave my house..." Or "I don't want you to do, I want you to stay here with me." [Cue pitiful lip pout] 

Marshall makes her breakfast in the morning (while I'm sleeping in!!). One morning she requested celery. But we didn't have any, so Marshall made her eggs. After a few bites, "Daddy, are you sure these aren't old eggs?" No, I JUST made them! "They look like old eggs.. can I have some 'tella (Nutella) bread?"

Always modeling a new outfit... or Momma's clothes!

She's very opinionated about clothes, mostly about what she's wearing.. but also what I wear! After I showered one day she said, "What are you wearing???" A robe..? "Well you better take it off and put on different clothes so we can go somewhere." And she probably requested Sonic or Lowe's.

Another time I was dressed for a GSU game. She asked me, "Does that look ok?" She made me feel paranoid. Does it?? "Noooooooo. Shoooweee, what's the smell??" So, apparently my outfit didn't look ok AND I smelled.

Hartley goes through phases where she complains she can't do things because her "legs are tired." She'll ask me to hoooold her. Why? "Because my legs are tiiiiiiired." Apparently everything is "a lot of work" for her!

She also went through a brief period where she didn't want to nap. She would tell me, "Sleeping is haaaaard."

"There's a crab in my room! Come shoo it, Momma!"

TitleMax is her favorite commercial. "I don't have to sell my car!" While running errands one day, she waved her monies around saying, "I got my TitleMax with title backs!"

"I want some cereal. Goldfish cereal. I just want goldfishes."

She got a gift card for her birthday! I told her, "It's a gift card! You get to buy whatever you want!" She excitedly responded, "I get to do it like this [swiiiiiipe]!"

Christmas 2012 at Grandmommie's

We're still working on potty training during the night. Unfortunately she still goes poopoo in her pull-up if they're still on in the morning. I felt like a horrible mother one morning when I finally got out of bed and found her in a stinky pull-up. I reminded her that she could go poopoo in the potty. "But you were sleeping and couldn't wipe me..." She's a really good reasoner.

Marshall got up one morning and she was laying on the couch with the remote. "I got up too early," she told him. Then go back to bed! "No, that's ok.."

She made herself an egg for breakfast..

She prayed one night, "Thank you, Je-jus, for [insert everything in her room] the princess in the pink dress, the brown princess in the green dress (her nightlight), my pillow, my blanket so I can cover my head and hide from the animals."

"Old MacDonald had a schicken in your bed! E-I-E-I-O!"

There's a clear, plastic bag that we store Hartley's blocks in. She prefers to wear it over her head and go on "space adventures!"

Hillbilly eating raisins

We have to remind her about not touching breakables. "Why is everything breakable??"

Sometimes she cuddles in bed with me in the mornings. "I'm hiding under the covers!" What are you hiding from? "Your breath."

Other mornings I hear her in our BACKYARD! chasing squirrels. "Come back, come back! I just want to hold you!" She was probably wearing just a tank top.

Daddy Daughter Dance 2013

Hartley is THREE!

[A few months ago Blogger wasn't letting me upload pictures.. hence the hiatus from blogging. Boy do we have a lot of catching up to do!]

Hartley turned THREE!! last Sunday. We celebrated the Saturday before with a "small" family party. Marshall and I had a difficult time deciding if we wanted to do family and friends, or just family. I'm so glad we just did family. There were 18 of us total. After church on Sunday, we met all our church family at Mellow Mushroom for pizza. Hartley loved having everyone sing to her!

She is one of 9 grandkids! Second youngest (for now). We let the kids play on Rebecca's jump-jump and had Hartley's favorite snacks- goldfish and a veggie tray! We also had hotdogs and chili.

For weeks, Hartley wanted a blue birthday cake with green and white polka dots. A week before her party she decided she wanted a Daniel Tiger birthday cake. I worked really hard the day before with my first frozen buttercream transfer (something I saw on pinterest). It did.not.transfer. The icing was just supposed to peel off the parchment paper onto the cake but it didn't! Luckily my Aunt Linda, who always made our cakes growing up, arrived about 15 minutes before the party started and freehanded it for me! Hartley was thrilled!

Hartley is in a diva stage these days. She's always singing and dancing, interviewing, throwing a tantrum. She can make us laugh so much, but she also drives us crazy in this terrible 3 stage!

She had her 3-year check-up last week and did great! She took a vision test and was so funny. The nurse would point to a shape and ask her to identify it. "That's a star, that's a circle. That's another circle. That's a tiny star." It was funny to me how she described them instead of just what shape they were. She also asked her pediatrician a lot of questions!

We've been horrible about keeping up with her development and all the things she says, but she's pretty advanced with everything! She loves to mother her babies, kick her soccer ball, help Daddy in the garage, wake up early! This morning she came to me at 6:45 and asked "is the sun up yet? I want some breakfast!" I told her not yet! She left me in bed for a little bit and came back telling me that sun was up and she wanted a 'tella sandwich (nutella). Later I walked by her bedroom and noticed her blinds pulled up and her chair directed towards the window. I think she was watching for the sun!!

Hopefully Blogger will continue to allow me to upload pictures and we'll catch y'all up with November through December!

the bug.

The past few days have been miserable around here. Hartley (along with more than half of our extended family) caught a nasty stomach virus. She started vomiting Saturday evening. This was her first experience with it and she was so upset.

 Marshall caught it Sunday, although his symptoms were different. He ached miserably from head to toe.

And then I got it Monday. I never knew I could strain my back muscles from vomiting. But yes, it's possible.

Apparently it's going around, so beware! If your stomach starts gurgling and cramping up.. head straight to the bathroom! Quick!

jump jump!

This girl loves jump-jumps! A jump-jump, according to Hartley, is anything that's inflated. Some neighbors have a inflatable Halloween spider decorating their yard. To Hartley, "it's a jump-jump spider!!!!"

Last Friday, Mill Creek Park (where we Splash it up all summer) hosted a FREE! trick-or-trick event. There were 2 jump-jumps. Hartley spent the majority of her time there. 

 She quickly made 2 new friends and they ignored the "one at a time down the slide" rule. :)

 There were small basketball/soccer goals set up, bowling pins, a fishing station, and a huge pile of hay for the kids to play in. And lots of candy.

 We are continually having to find new places to hide her loot. She's very persistent, especially in the early morning hours! Daddy leaves for work and she quietly finds a stash. She's a sneaky thing!!

 Daddy met us after he got off work! The two of them went on a pizza date while I met up for girl's night out!

 We are attending a Fall Festival tomorrow night, so I've got to get Hartley's costume clean again. I made her peacock shirt and tutu!

She's been enjoying Halloween too much! She actually likes scary stuff!

our debt story

Last summer we bit the bullet and Marshall bought us a new(er) car. We had a few thousand in savings and made a big down payment on a 2007 Trailblazer. 

It was a necessity for us.

We both owned '99 Fords. And Marshall still does. But we had a baby, okay she was 1, but I was constantly fearing that the old T-Rex would break down any minute.

So we did it.

And less than 2 months later we enrolled in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. It could not have been better timing.

Actually, it could have been better had we enrolled in the class before buying a car. :)

We've never written down our story, but in 7 years (at the most) from now, we should be DEBT FREE! And I want to be able to look back and remember how challenging this has been, how much we've grown, how we've changed. And how we managed to do it?!?

THE BEGINNING

When I went to college, I had no idea about budgeting. I was never taught how to budget and manage finances. My mom setup a bank account, there was money in it, I was set. Then I had to buy textbooks. And suddenly I was poor. But that didn't stop me from spending the monthly military assistance I received rather than saving. If it was there, why not?! It was in this time that I learned the value of thrifting. Clearance racks became my best friend. I guess my philosophy was, 'hey this shirt's only $5.. although I have 3 other shirts that are similar, you can't beat the price!' That was my path of destruction.

Marshall's background is very different from mine. And I'm so thankful for that! He's always pushed for saving and avoided stupid/thoughtless purchases. He does indulge from time to time. But he's very careful!

Thus far neither of us had credit card debt, but student loans totaled over $56,000.

DIVING IN

So, you know how I'm a sucker for clearance sales? Our house was clearanced. It was up for foreclosure. That's about as close to clearance prices you can get on a house! Although we got a fairly good deal, on the house I wanted (sorry Marshall), and an incredible rate, we had not been saving up for a down payment. I had been working the past 2 years making a measly $1200/month and Marshall had just started clinicals. We were renting and we didn't like the thought of renting again when we moved to Brooklet. We just had to buy a house. And back then, anybody could get a house!

My mother-in-law and I braved some South Georgia winter weather on the courthouse steps February 5th. I offered up $132,000 when they called out Parcel Lot 31. Just kidding, I was so sick to my stomach I barely remember what they said!

We miss y'all, friends!!

We were buying a house. We were getting the $8,000 first-time home-buyer tax credit. Marshall was graduating and becoming a doctor.

And we did what any young couple would do next-

GET PREGNANT!!

SINKING

Fortunately for us, there's a "seasoning period" when you purchase a foreclosed home. We "bought" our house in February, closed on it in August, and started making payments in October.

Um, do you realize how much money we could have been saving in all those months?!? Loads. Loads of money. Student loan payments were not necessary at this point either!

But we were young and foolish. Okay, I was am young. Marshall is old. But we weren't thinking. We weren't exactly spending money we didn't have, we just weren't saving! And then payments became due. We have a hard time remembering where the $8,000 went. That's not good...

And there was a baby.

Gosh, she's so cute. [awkward moments of silence while I stare at her swollen-faced sweetness]

Okay.. so.. let's see where we're at now. Lots of debt. I got a Belk credit card. Marshall had a Cabela's one. We weren't saving.

And then we bought a car! Yay!

We were living the life. New house, new car, new baby. I got a tan that summer, too! Things were looking up after all. :)

SINKING IN
Our church was offering Financial Peace University in September 2011. We had to pay $100 for the enrollment kit. My first thought- what kinda Ponzi scheme was this?!? My other wishful thinking was every week on the way to class. Would this week be the week where they give us our $100 back as a reward for being so faithful to living debt free??

That never happened.

We started budgeting and the cash envelope system. We did great for the few months we were in the class, but then Christmas came and our session ended. And honestly, we slacked off for a few months. It didn't help that we were finally making new friends and enjoying the benefits of going out and socializing. But there was a cost! And mint.com reminded Marshall quite often that we went over our restaurant budget of $0 by $80.

We had to go back to that gazelle intensity. We had to budget better. We had to say "no" to friends.

Source

Unfortunately, we feel like friends don't ask us to do things with us anymore because they've grown tired of our "we can't afford it" excuses.

We struggle so much with bitterness and jealousy these days. I never imagined paying off debt would be this way. I knew we would get tired of eating rice casseroles, but I wasn't prepared for how much this would change us- our actions, our priorities, our relationships. At times I feel so burdened by wanting to become debt free and not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We scrimp and save, trying to make ends meet and still barely make it by sometimes. It's discouraging that we go through this, but there's so many people around us that can afford everything, or at least it seems. We are surrounded by a culture where it doesn't matter if you don't have the money now. It's so tempting to give in. What's one more payment??

But Dave has changed our financial philosophy. We don't want to be in debt. We don't want to be enslaved. We want to be able to tithe happily. We want to be able to bless others financially. And one day, we will! I'm looking forward to the day when we are able to bless a young couple with $10,000.

THE SHORT ROWS
So, here we are. We have less than $700 that we owe on my car. There's still a long way to go on our student loan, but I know it's sooner than later.

This past year has been one of the most challenging, emotional, and depressing years. Not only have we been ridiculously poor, but we've grieved with monthly reminders that we are still not pregnant. There are days and weeks when I feel like I can't make it, when I can't see any good in this. But this is why I'm writing it all down. Because, one day. One day, we will be debt free. And we can look back and see where God was and is and has brought us through.

another video overload

Oh, just a few videos for yoouuuu todaaaay! (as you will see, Hartley thinks she lives in a Disney movie and sings/narrates her life.

She loves playing catch with Marshall.. and she's pretty good at it! (July)

She's been learning about the Toots of the Spirit. Haha. (August)

She knows her ABCs! (August)

And this is all we hear and see these days. Interpretive dancing and singing! I can only understand her singing about her green shirt, something about Marshall's work, her necklace, going to Addie Grace's house, and "I'm gone wear dis haaat!"

She's a ball of energy, this one.