New debt assessment

So, we paid off our business loan, as I said in the previous post. But, we also managed to ring up a bit of credit card debt. Christmas always brings some because otherwise we can't hide from each other what we bought. Also Brent had to make a purchase for work, and we put the repayment money on the business loan. Boo.

Only $3500, so that's hardly anything. We can knock that out in a couple of months - hopefully less.

We probably should have paid off the CC debt before the business loan because of the higher intrest, but the joy of seeing that business loan go was so much better. Brent and I have just been walking around the house saying to each other "Can you believe our business debt is gone?" It's a nice feeling.

After our CC debt is gone we will only have the car loan. We are currently paying $76 every week on this - and we're halfway done. We have thrown around the idea of paying this off early also, but we also have to save a crapload for this adoption, so we're torn. If we dumped all of our money into that loan, it would probably take us until fall to pay it off completely, and we're hoping to be in the middle of our adoption by then. So I think we're going to keep it at the weekly payments. Maybe if we come into a large amount or manage to save a lot, then we'll pay ahead on the car, but we really need to save a lot for this adoption and every dollar we fail to save is a dollar we'll need to borrow later. So maybe instead of saving, we're really forward-paying on a loan we have yet to get.


I'd like to start a new goal at the NCN Network (for our adoption) but right now the dollar amount is indefinate and the due date is indefinate. So there's no way to plan for a goal. Maybe I'll just make a random goal of saving X amount by X date, and if our adoption goes through before that, then I"ll just have to refocus our chart.

First we should focus on the CC of course - should I make a chart for that too?

Wahoooooo!!!!

Back in February of 2004, Brent and I got a business loan for Brent's video editing business. It was for $25,000.

In March of this year, we had $12,500 left and I joined the NCN Network with a goal to finish paying it off by the end of the year.

Today, Brent and I went to the bank and paid the last bit off.

We have no business debt left.

I am so happy I am bouncing off the walls!

Wahoo!!!

Merry Christmas

Get some money from Amazon

In case you didn't know, or have forgotten, Amazon has an unadvertised policy about price drops. If you make a purchase and the price drops within 30 days, you are eligible for a refund of the difference.

This way you can shop early for Christmas, and then take advantage of the deals later on.

I did this just the other day, and got $50 back on some of our Christmas purchases.

I also found one gift that went up $100, so I'm glad the policy doesn't work both ways.

Go here to submit your refund. - Return and Refunds Contact Form

Thanks Blueprint for Financial Prosperity for the tip.

Handy people we are not

Our shower drain has been clogging lately. Well it's clogged a lot because I have a slight shedding problem, but I clean it out as much as possible every couple of months, and then it's fine.
But not this time. I did everything I could but it just would not drain properly. And then the tub would start to fill up during my morning shower, and that is just nasty. I should be able to enjoy my shower, not be hopping up and down and hurrying because of all the icky water around my feet.

I got out the home repair book that my parents got us for Christmas last year (probably so we wouldn't have to call them every time we had a problem) and it said to clean the drain trap - the U shaped thing under most drains.
So Brent and I went to work. We managed to get the drain trap off - and removed what looked to be a dead animal from inside. I'll spare you the pictures - you should thank me for that. But then we couldn't get it back on. I'm not really sure what the problem is, but we couldn't get a good seal and it was spraying water everywhere.

I called my dad. He said he'd come over right away, but it was 8:30 and they live a half hour away so I told him it was too late. He's coming over this morning. Which means I didn't get a shower today. I had to wash my hair in the sink. Not fun.

Sorry dad, apparently you can give someone a book and some tools, but that doesn't make them a handy person.

The Lighthouse Project

We have some friends who know we are planning to adopt and, thinking of us, they kindly stuck a newspaper ad in our Christmas card for The Russian Orphan Lighthouse Project.

This program takes school aged orphans (7-15 years old) and sends them on vacation to America for 10 days. They attend Vacation Bible School and do other fun things. They stay with a host family and get to experience some family life too.
The goal is not only for these kids to have a great time and wonderful experience, but also to be adopted into a family.

We are applying. Eep!

So we're sending in our application today, and if we are accepted, there will be a little guest in our home from March 23 to April 2, 2007. Hopefully everthing will go well, and after he goes home, we'll take steps to adopt him and bring him back to us.

How does this differ from a normal Russian adoption:
- In a normal international adoption, you get your homestudy, send your paperwork to whatever country, and then they match you with a child. The waiting for the match is the long wait part. It takes months or sometimes years to get a referral for a child. With the hosting program, you already know the child you are adopting, so that step is skipped, and you just have to wait for a court date to make the adoption official.
- You only have to travel once to Russia. In a typical Russian adoption, you go to Russia the first time to meet your child and accept the referral. Then you go home and wait for a court date (could be months) and go back to Russia for court and to bring your child home. Since we already have met our child, we only have to go on the second trip. This could save $3-4K in travel costs.
- You can really meet the child you are adopting. When you visit an orphanage in Russia, you may have only a few hours or days to play with your child and then decide whether you want to adopt or not. The Lighthouse Project is only 10 days, but there are other hosting programs that last 4-6 weeks, and your family can really see if this child will fit well with you.
- The children are older. Well, that's not really a difference, since you can adopt older children without doing a hosting program. However, after orphans get past toddler age, their chances of being adopted drop dramatically. This hosting program gives familes an option to 'try out' an older child adoption even if they were not previously considering it. (like us)


So, wow. When Brent looked at the ad and said he thought it was a cool idea, my head just started swimming. There is soooo much I want to do to prepare, and only three months before it happens. Not to mention the mini homestudy which we are so not ready for. Yikes.
I am pretty freaked out.
I also want to jump up and down from excitement.

And one more thing - speaking of adoption, everyone should go over to Three Sons and A Princess and congratulate Jennefer who is finally bringing her little princess home as I type! After two years it's finally happened for her! Yay!!!

Well I could have told you that!

Kids With High IQs Grow Up to Be Vegetarians

A-MEN!

What the hell happened to Christianity?

Dumb thing of the day

Yesterday I ran a ton of errands, and bought Brent's last Christmas present. I was very proud of my accomplishments.
So when I got home and checked the mailbox, I found a package - with the same thing I had just bought for Brent at the store. I had ordered it online last week. D'oh!

God and adoption

I've been a Christian since I was 18, but I think just the past few years I've really, really learned about God and His love. It is true that growth comes from hurt.

When we were first trying to get pregnant, it was so frustrating and I would think that God was angry with me or just trying to spite me, and that's why we weren't concieving. But I slowly learned to see God as our parent, and how He is not trying to hurt me, but cries with our pain and holds us through it.
All this is true, but I think that this adoption journey for me has shown that even more.

This past year some time, I remember being in the worship service at our church, and I was so angry and frustrated that day. Someone must have been praying, and I said to God - 'you have no idea how I feel. You have no idea how much this hurts.' And He said back to me - "Yes, I do. I waited for you. I hurt and cried because you weren't with me. And I know exactly how you feel."

Our son has no idea how much his life sucks right now. He doesn't know there's anything outside the orphanage. He doesn't know what parental love is and what a normal family life is like. As far as he's experienced, life is just sitting in a crib staring out, and there are these big, uncaring people who bring him food a couple times a day and clean him up once in a while. His life is empty and he's longing for love, even though he doesn't know what it is yet.

And my life sucks too. Not compeltely, but I know I want a child. I want to be a mom. And I know my son is somewhere out there waiting for me. He doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to move heaven and earth to get to him. I don't even have any idea where he is, but I'd do anything for him already. I see orphanages on TV and I cry and have to fast-forward or turn it off. I know my son needs me and I need him too.

The same is true with the Christian life. We have no idea how much our lives suck without God. Before I became a Christian, I knew of God, I had a concept of Him, but I didn't really know who He really was. I was trapped in myself, and there was this big, uncaring being who supposedly cared about me. My life was empty, and I had no idea why.
But God fought for me and moved heaven and earth to get to me. Even though I didn't know what was going on, He put people in my life and opportunities in my path so that I would find His family, and experience His love.
Now looking back, I know all the things I was missing out on. And I have them now, because my God - my father - adopted me.
I need Him, and He needs me too.

Last night I was so discouraged, and I told Brent that I didn't even want to go through with it anymore. I would be happy childless. But God didn't give up on me, and I'm not giving up on my baby boy. My son.


I love you, dear boy. I love you and I can't wait to meet you....

My poor kitty baby

But right now he is locked in our bathroom. :( He's had two bladder infections before, but this one we caught right away when he made a big red puddle in the middle of the kitchen.
The vet gave us some meds that it takes both Brent and I to give to him and I'm keeping him locked in the bathroom because our other kitty smells the sickness and is hissing and crying every time we let kitty #1 out.
I'll let him out later when I'm home to supervise, but I'm afraid if I have to go anywhere, then it's back to the bathroom for him.

I just can't bare to hear my poor kitty baby cry. :(

Moldy Cabbage is gross

Well, obviously, right? Yet some people eat it and actually like it! Ick.

So our CSA gave us an abundance of cabbage this year, and since we were getting sick of my only cabbage recipe (cole slaw), I decided to venture out and try making sauerkraut. Brent said he liked it, and I had never tried it, so what's the harm?

I found some instructions online, and realized I had to sacrifice my crockpot for 6 weeks. Horror! And we had so much cabbage that I had to borrow my mom's crockpot for 6 weeks too.
Here's how you make sauerkraut...

Make sure everything you use is non metal and sparkly clean.
Shred cabbage and sprinkle with kosher salt. Let it sit for a while and it should start to sweat. If you get impatient, you can just add water and more kosher salt until the water covers the cabbage.
Then you cover the cabbage with plastic wrap to protect it from the mold (which you want to grow - yuck!)
Then you weight it down with a big ziploc bag of water. Make sure everything is under water - no cabbage touching the air.
Cover the crock pot and put forget about it for six weeks.
Actually you're supposed to go every couple of days and clean the mold (erk) off the top, but I was much to afraid to go anywhere near them, for fear that the mold would come alive and attack me. Or that the smell would kill me. Either one wouldn't be very fun.
After six weeks, put on a full hazard suit, complete with air mask, and take off the cover. Skim the mold from the top of the water and remove the ziploc bag and plastic wrap. The cabbage should be an ugly brown color and stink like death. That means it's edible.
My mom was there when I unveiled it and assured me that it tasted like sauerkraut. I then learned that I didn't like sauerkraut. But I put the minimalest amount on a sandwich and Brent and I had reubens for lunch. I tolerated it, and then went around asking everyone I saw if they liked sauerkraut and if they wanted some. So I got rid of most of it. I'm kind of afraid to throw it out - it might eat through the garbage bag....

Micromanaging for Martial sanity

Ever since the beginning of our marriage, I have handled the finances 100%. I enjoy it and frankly, I'm better at it.

I try to keep Brent in the loop, but it's hard for me to even remember what exactly what we spend every penny on and let him know what our financial situation is at any given time.

So began the "Last Week's Financial Review" email.

I made a chart in Excel, and at the top is Brent's weekly take home pay.
Then I list every day of the week and what we spent on each day - bills, car payment, McDonalds, cat food - everything. Then the next Tuesday, when Brent gets paid again, I email him the last week's spending, and start over for the next week.

I love this, and so does Brent. Now we both know exactly where our money is going. It's simple and easy to read at a glance, and it makes our communication so much better in this area. I give the Weekly Finacial Review 2 thumbs up!

First day of December means Christmas parties!

Last Friday was our church's Worship Team/Tech Team Christmas party. So much fun! Carmen (Worship Pastor's wife) and I decorated the room at church and made it as fancy and nice looking as we could. Another lady cooked delicious pasta and steamed asparagus, and there was various cheesecakes and other rich deserts to fill us up at the end.

On Sunday night our sub30 group had a concert by Sean Feucht. That was pretty cool too. The band sounded awesome, even though I sat up in the sound booth the whole time. After the concert we all had Christmas cookies and hung out in the church's Cafe.

After that, Brent and a friend watched Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, while I sat next to the stereo and had to adjust it because some connection would fail every time it got too loud (which was often).

Yesterday I took my last vacation day and Brent and my mom went out to lunch. Then in the afternoon I finally got around to putting plastic on the windows and worked on cleaning the spare bedroom. The bedroom should be cleaned out soon and then we can paint. Of course that means we have to agree on a color, which might be a while...

That's it - now I'm back at work. Today I have a couple of meetings at church, and then I hope to finish our Christmas shopping. Any last minute ideas would be appreciated! :)

Ew Ew Eeeeew!

My cube neighbor reported to me this morning, that yesterday after I left, a bird got into our office and was flying around, knocking dust off the rafters and causing general havoc. The bird also decided to do his business on my keyboard. Yech!!!! My co-worker assured me that my desk-mate spent about a half hour scrubbing and spraying it down, but I think I will still have to scrub extra well when I get home.

*shiver* Yuck!