There's a new game in town.

Bean and Lou, our daughters, have made up a new card game.  It's a game with rules all their own ... you know, the kind where you can change the rules at any time so long as the other player agrees.

And if you're the oldest player, it's possible to change the rules at any time, whether the younger sister objects or not.  ;)

Though they've tried to explain the game in detail to me, the point of it still escapes me.   I'm not even sure if it's a game that you can win or lose.  But, they love this game and have even taught a neighbor girl how to play.

So, why blog about it here?

Because one object of the game is to not go into debt.  They make piles on top of a row of cards and these piles are your "debt".  How one goes into debt or gets out of debt makes no sense to me... but I love that the object is to not go into debt!

So what did they name their game?

You probably already guessed it, but they call it, "Dave Ramsey"!

Oh, how I love them!

Livin' like no one else is hard to do...

"Live like no one else so that one day you can live like no one else"... Dave Ramsey's voice echos in my head.  Some days that's all I need to strengthen my resolve, it literally allows me to put my head up high, throw my shoulders back and smile at what's to come.  Then other days it becomes a whiny little mantra in my head that I stumble over and become resentful of and I trip over my desire of the here and now.

Press on!

I'm finding the longer that this journey of financial freedom goes on the less excited our support people are ... as if to say, "That was okay for a time, but this is getting a little old."  And if they think it's getting old for them, I just want to shake them and says, "Hey, this ain't no picnic for me lady!!"

We are in a battle.  While we battle our own wills to do what we want, when we want (aka right now) we are also battling other issues of time.  And so it seems like time has become the one resource we need more than money to pay off our debt.

With five turkeys, an active church life, Turkey Bottom Haven, homeschooling, helping two other families with their finances, and numerous odd jobs for Hotsauce we are stretched thin.  Not to mention his full-time job (that has weird hours for two weeks out of five) and my regular household duties and just regular old life we have little time for much else. 

It seems to me that nothing really ever gets accomplished.

Nothing ever gets done.

For instance, we signed our oldest son up for Tiger Cubs.  Talk about a bad year to make that decision.  His meetings never fall at a "good" time, but instead always seem to conflict with a ministry opportunity or an opportunity to make a financial gain.  For instance, last night was his awards night and it got missed because Hotsauce is remodeling a bathroom for a really great price (more per day then he makes at his day job) and in the shuffle of getting that job Hotsauce didn't see an email from the Pack Leader about awards night. 

But, even if he had I'm not sure that things would have changed much.  We are determined to pay off our debt.  It is our conviction that debt is sinful.   We believe that God has forgiven us for the sin that brought us to this place.  Yet, there is always consequences for sin and we must take responsibility for those consequences.  Right now, that means that we have to give up some things that we'd really like to do.

I'm also looking for the sunshine in the consequences.  Hotsauce is really great at seeing sunshine, rainbows and puppy dogs while I just see a glimmer of hope.  He inspires me to keep fighting the good fight! 

It would be appropriate for me to highlight some of the things I'm thankful for in the midst of this battle!  Did you notice in this blog that I mentioned that we are helping two other families with their finances?  Who in a million years would have ever thought that we would be giving good solid advice to people about handing their money??  No one in their right mind would have asked us how to budget a mere seven and a half months ago!  Isn't God so good to use imperfect vessels? 

I'm also thankful for this side job that Hotsauce has gotten.  He did some work for a neighbor, who recommended him for this job putting in a tub surround.  Last night was his first night and while there the gentleman that he's doing the remodel for decided to hire him to do some tile work in the bathroom as well! And before the night was over it was determined that Hotsauce would also put in a wood floor for them!  How faithful is  God to us?? 

How have you been doing in your journey to get out of debt, build wealth, and help others?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to court we go!

On Wednesday we were back in court trying to recoup the money owed to us for our rental house.  If you're unsure of what I'm talking about you can go here to read about our wonderful renters of old.

This time we made sure that we had done everything right.  Hotsauce poured over the Iowa Code Sections to make sure that everything was done by the book.

You bet your bottom that we sent our former renters a copy of the damages and the estimated amounts that were owed to us... both by regular mail and certified mail.  That list was itemized and exact.  And it was long!

When all was said and done they owed us for back rent for the month of February and 8 days of March, they owed past due amounts, they owed for damages to the house and for the labor to fix it all.  In all we determined that owed us $2,970.07.  Of course they had paid a deposit of $400 upon moving in so that dropped the total to a mere $2,570.07.

That's a lot of money kids.

We arrived at court with our girls in attendance.  Joy, the former renter, also arrived just in the nick of time. And let me tell you it was disgusting.

It's very hard to sit and listen to someone out and out lie.  And then in the midst of their lying to accuse you of destroying the house yourself (you know, because we're trying to sell it and want her to pay for all of remodeling we're trying to get done).

After all was said and done the judge said that he would review everything and take it under advisement and that we would hear back on his ruling in 2-3 weeks.

As we left the courtroom with our girls we were able to hold our heads high knowing that we told the truth.  And as we climbed into our truck and left town Hotsauce began praying.  He prayed that we would get what we deserved and that Joy would get what she deserved.  He acknowledged that God is in control of all things and that He could do whatever He wanted.

His prayer also proved to me what a great man I married.  Because I was really hoping that the girls would be preoccupied and we could start blasting that woman and her lying tongue!  Ah, but he continually points me heavenward, reminding me to set my mind on things above and not on earthly things!

Today as I went to get the mail I noticed that we received a letter from the courthouse.  Not knowing what to expect I cautiously tore open the envelope to find that the judge had made his ruling much sooner than expected.

While we were not awarded the full amount the judge did grant in our favor!  I believe that God granted Ben's prayer and we were awarded what He saw fit.  We are very excited to get past this and now are praying that they will pay what they owe and that we will never have to see them in court again!

Thanks to all of you who have prayed and supported us along the way!  Please keep praying that all of this will be paid and resolved quickly!