Arkansas, so far

Hey blog world,

I'm not sure who actually reads this, but if you do, here is an update on Arkansas and what life is like here. I haven't blogged in forever. I thought that this would be so simple once I was at home and no longer working, but that is not true. My days just disappear! Being a mom to an infant sure is time consuming (and wonderful).

We have been living in Arkansas for the past 6 months. We are in a tiny apartment that I can vacuum without having to unplug and move to a new outlet. It's me, my man, our baby and the wild black lab named Bella. Matt has been in his residency program for church planting for 7 weeks and it's going phenomenally. He works all day on starting the church and learning about leadership, fundraising, personality types and a million other things. I spend my days with the baby figuring out how to get to Target, clean the house, and prepare meals with her in one arm. It's been amazing, but challenging.

Lately we are learning a lot about budgeting and using our money the way Christ desires us to do so. We went from two great incomes, to a baby and one normal income. I'm not complaining. I would rather starve and be at home with our kiddos (we are not starving) than be at a job I hate all day. But, we have spent the weekend reflecting and planning and realizing the financial mistakes we have made. Student loans, medical debt and bad purchases add up pretty quickly. Now, we have paid off an incredible amount of debt, but how is it that it seems like you can never get ahead?

It would be easy to wallow in my mistakes, but I've learned from them, repented, and it's time to move on. We are determined to be responsible and focused on how the money God provides is used. I also have to remind myself that we are so young and handling this now instead of waiting will be a huge benefit. Why is being an adult so hard?

Other than planning a budget, we did get out and have some fun this weekend! We went to Pinnacle Mountain State Park. It finally cooled down a bit, so we got out with the baby and beast. Now, we would call this more of a large hill, but Arkansaians call this a mountain. It was wonderful and next weekend we are going to try out the other end of the park.

What did you do this weekend?