Miracles

Last year was tough financially. I don't fully remember the pain of trials we went through then, because our situation has stabilized and the future doesn't look scarily uncertain anymore. I'm much more comfortable with the way life is going than I was last July and August. I felt that it just wasn't fair. We had avoided debt up until 2012, and suddenly we had 3 loans. We didn't even qualify to take out the other 2 (besides a student loan) without having co-signers, due to our lack of credit history. I felt that we would never see those loans paid off, because X looked like a huge amount of money. James started his job, so we started saving immediately and slowly making payments on all 3 loans. I resigned myself to being in debt for at least another 5 years, not knowing how we'll ever buy a house, get another car, or build up a substantial savings. A teacher's salary is plenty for us, but we aren't going to be millionaires.

Kenny miraculously took a long nap yesterday afternoon, which allowed me to completely do our taxes. I wasn't expecting much, but to my surprise, we got a very good refund. This refund is worth X-3. Yes, just 3 dollars short of those 2 loans. Since we've already paid on them, they are no longer worth X, so we have enough to buy a new computer, something we really need. (The laptop is falling apart at the seams and 3 1/2 years old!)

I'm still in shock that such a wonderful thing could happen. If we can keep up a "debt snowball", we could be out of debt by next year, easily! By paying off the ones we have, we will establish good credit, something we still wouldn't have by now. A house could be in our near future, and that makes me very excited. The Lord was watching out for us this whole time. Instead of handing us X amount of money, he helped us grow through the tough times, then gave it all back this year so we can continue on with our lives. I will never forget this experience, and it's definitely one that I will share with my children as soon as they will understand. Pay your tithing! It really works. :)