Adoption and debt

So, I'm beyond excited.

Over the last year or so, God has been dealing with me on money. I've shared some of it here about our desire to be completely debt free. We are so close that we can taste it.

Becoming debt free is a funny thing. You completely change your way of thinking in the process.

Two years ago when we were in the process to adopt, we had a little debt. Just our travel trailer. (~on a side note, when I talk about debt, I'm not talking house/mortgage.) It wasn't much, and we didn't have car payments, credit cards or anything else. We felt okay about said debt. It only cost us 155 a month.

Then as we looked at adoption costs, there was always talk of loans to help. When I checked around it would be ONLY another $100/month. Not bad, right? never mind that fact that we did not even give God a chance to provide for us. We ran to the bank for help.

Then we started looking to the next adoption. uhm... another $100? ack! Stack on top of that another $150 for health insurance and we couldn't make it happen. Debt does this to you. It entices you with "you can afford $100/month. It's no big deal." Next thing you know, you're putting all of your money into loans!

During this time, I started listening to Dave Ramsey. He was speaking right to me. Giving me scriptures about how God feels about my debt.

So, we sold the trailer. That was hard to do. But, it was just an item. And we felt God calling us to trust HIM, not the banks.

Then we looked at our lives. What could we cut back? We found stuff, and got rid of it! No more cable tv, no more eating out, no morel little purchases. (in case you don't know, we live on one income. An average income, nothing big.)

During Christmas we were blessed with various gifts of somewhere around $700!

Next came tax time. We got a nice little chunk back due to our Adoption Tax Credit.

Then came putting things into action. Saying no lunch invites, cooking dinner when I was beyond tired at the end of the day and denying our wants. I also watched kids from January - May for some extra money.

One year ago we had $20,000 in debt. Trailer = 7,000 & adoption loan = 12,000.
As of today, we have only $4,000!!

I am so excited!! I serve an awesome God!!

And here's the thing I've been learning along the way....

I've seen people be blessed with the money to pay for their adoption all at once. I've seen others have a golden touch with fundraisers. All while rejoicing with them, I was asking God why that didn't happen for us.

This last week He showed me why He didn't plop the money in front of us. We needed to work some things out. We needed to change some priorities and He wanted to build our faith over time. I have been so stubborn about money and material items. If He had given us a $20,000 check, nothing in my life would have changed. My heart would not have been softened to Him and His Word.

I am excited to see how He moves over this next year. I can't wait for the testimony to come from our next adoption. And that I can tell people, Yes Adoption costs alot. But GOD can supply ALL your needs!!