This is for anyone who has been following our journey or who wants to help keep us accountable. Five years have passed since we took our first FPU class, at the same time as buying our first home and embarking on totally new careers: machining for Brett, homemaking for me. Each subsequent year, Brett changed companies, but as his pay and benefits steadily increased, our debt decreased!
You can ignore the one on the left, that mortgage will be gone when we sell our old house.
Recap:
|
Year |
2011 |
2016 |
2018 Goal |
|
Household Income |
24K |
42K |
+ |
|
Debt + Mortgage |
83K |
24K |
– |
As I look at these numbers, I am astonished. This craziness happened only by the grace of God. Yes, we have worked hard and long to put an average of a thousand dollars per month toward debt for five years, but, more than that, we have been flooded with encouragement from family and friends, without which we would have long ago given up. Our hope is to reach the finish line in 24 more months, on the eve of our 10th wedding anniversary. Lord willing, only two more years of playing the tortoise in Aesop’s fable, and practicing extreme frugality—which feels like luxury surprisingly often when one considers how much humbler things could be.
I am saying this not to brag, but to assure you that momentous feats such as this are entirely possible even from the lowest of starting points. I am saying this to inspire you to start on your goal, whatever it is, today! I am saying this to remind you to keep on keeping on, even when the shadows are long and the way is steep. I am saying this to bolster myself, to build my altar of remembrance, to delight in the feast God has prepared for me.
And in two years, what then? Well, we will dream new dreams. Forever and ever, amen.
By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches.Proverbs 24:3-4
ob·jec·tive
əbˈjektiv/
noun
1.
a thing aimed at or sought; a goal.
synonyms: aim, intention, purpose, target, goal, intent, object, end; idea, point, design, plan, ambition, aspiration, desire, hope
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