YARD SALE!!!!!!

Two weekends ago we had a huge Yard Sale at our house. Sometimes it is convenient to live on a very busy street. This yard sale was comprised of 4 families; Heath and I, my sister Angie, Heath's parents, and our church pastor Eric. We had some really small trinkets and some big pieces of furniture. The reason for the yard sale was to get extra money to pay off some debt by selling things in our house that are nice to have but are not necessarily necessary.

Heath and Angie and I and even our Pastor Eric have been going through a 13 week course called Financial Peace University, taught by Dave Ramsey. What we have learned from Dave is how to "Live Like No One Else, So That Later We Can Live Like No One Else." The first part of that statement is the most crucial and the most difficult thing we have ever done in our 11years of marriage. We have always lived paycheck to paycheck. Since Heath has become a financial advisor at the bank we have learned many important principals to teach our children about the right way to be financially free, but we had never known exactly how to put those principals into practice and be the example for our children. So instead we got further an further into debt. We have made progress in that we are not getting further into debt anymore. The next part of the process is now to pay off the debts that we owe. This is the kicker. Heath and I are both looking into extra jobs to help pay it all off. We hope that in one year we will not only have 1.) A thousand dollars in a savings account for true emergencies, but we will also have 2.) Paid off all debt except for our mortgage and 3.) we will be working towards saving up 3-6 months of our salary pay. After this things will get a little easier and will be able to start the process of ensuring that "...One Day We Will Live Like No One Else." We are excited about the possibilities for the future, but we know that we will have to work hard to get to that point.

Anyway, this blog is about the Yard Sale. It turned out to be very successful! Also we got to meet many people that we might not have otherwise been able to meet. One lady had just moved to town hours before dropping by and had no furniture for her new house. She had just been through a divorce a year ago and has four boys, one of which has autism and one of which is starting to show signs of autism. We connected and exchanged information and she has an interest in attending our church this week. We also met a man that is an Orthotist. Bet you don't know what that is do you? He makes orthotics to go in shoes. Well, he talked to Heath and gave him a consultation right in our driveway. Turns out Heath's ankles and knees are worse than we had thought. It seemed to be one divine appointment after another. So even if we had not made the money that we needed (which we did) We still would have called this Yard Sale a Success!