Vacation

No I'm not going on one, but I sure wish I was. Unfortunately I have no vacation time until September 17th. Yes I have it down to the day. This warm summer weather has me craving a sunny beach If it wasn't for the economic mess and high cost of living, California would be my place to live.

It was a good weekend. We made the mistake of going to downtown Fort Worth Saturday afternoon. We walked from Sundance Square all the way to the Water Gardens behind the convention center. The walk there was not too bad. Kaylie loved the unique fountains and pools. I recommend checking it out if you are ever downtown. It really is an amazing piece of work. Unfortunately the temperature really started to heat up and we had a long walk back. We were all dragging the whole trek back to the car. Saturday night Chris and I went on a date. We had some wings at Buffalo Wild Wings and then coffee at a new shop called Roots. It was a cool little shop in North Richland Hills. The decor was aweseom and the coffee not too shabby. My only complaint was the people were not too friendly, even after I attempted to engage one of the baristas in conversation.

Sitting in the coffee shop made us realize once again what a great desire we have to one day open our own coffee shop. It has been a dream of mine since I was a teenager, and Chris just happens to share that dream. We spent the rest of our date brainstorming and crunching numbers. It was fun to converse about something we are both so passionate about. Hopefully that dream will be fullfilled in the near future, but more on that later.

Sunday was a relaxing day. We had lunch with the family at Saltgrass (so very good). After lunch we took the kids swimming for the remainder of the afternoon. It was quite enjoyable. As usual I did not want it to end. I will post some pictures later this week from out trip to the water gardens.

Time to sign off. Until tomorrow!

Another Day

I was a bit worried today would drag on an on. I am fortunate that I kept fairly busy, a welcome surprise during the slowest point of the season. It has been harder than I expected to return after a nice long weekend. Luckily I have another few days off that will help ease me back in.

This week I have found myself daydreaming about doing other things...being with my kids more, traveling, missions, maybe being in an occupation that is more fullfilling. Of course money is always a key factor in all of these things. My greatest goal for 2009 is to continue the process of getting out of debt. I long for the freedom from bondage to creditors. I dream of being able to save huge portions of our income for the future. I am am hoping that with a lot of diligence we will come close to accomplishing these goals in 2009. We are seriously considering selling our home this summer when some terms in our mortgage become more favorable. A lot of our income is tied up in an adjustable rate mortgage that is higher than I would like. It is very difficult in this economy to decide the benefits to selling and perhaps settling for less than we want or sticking it out a little longer and not having as much extra to pay down debt. We both know we want something a little bigger, but if we do sell we may have to settle for an apartment for a short time to make the savings really add up. These are all difficult decision that we face this year, but I am determined to see our family free and prosperous in the coming years.

I apologize for the rambling. These were just thoughts rolling around in my head as I anticpate the year to come. I pray that this coming year will bring each one of you much joy and that you are blessed with the perseverance to see each dream, goal, or resolution through. If you fall off the wagon there is no shame in getting back on for another try! Happy New Year!