No judging please...

I am now going to admit something that is embarrassing and I am not proud of......although we are missionaries and mature adults, Jon and I allowed ourselves to get into debt.  Perhaps not much debt compared to a large portion of the population in the United States, but for us it was large.  Large and looming. Now I realize that many of you would never let yourselves get into this situation in the first place. You are wise!! We were not. 
Not long after reading a book that I posted about here, God really convicted both of us.  It was not right that we were in debt.  We were not using the resources that God has given us well, and we were not teaching our children so many things that come with being faithful in finances. Things like patience and the ability to distinguish between wants and needs.

So we talked and prayed about it and decided to be drastic.  No more.  THE END.  We started praying together as a family about our debt.  We prayed that God would help us to be wise with our spending and help us to get rid of our debt and never get in debt again.  Our motto became "Cash on the barrel" just like Pa in Little House on the Prairie. 

I am happy to say that as of this month we  have paid 75% of the debt off!!! We hope by the end of this year to be completely free from debt. 

One of the best things has been seeing our kids understand and take to heart the importance of financial responsibility.  I was talking with Ben the other day. He wisely told me that after we pay off the rest of the debt we shouldn't just go back to spending everything.  We should start a savings so that if something comes up we will be prepared.   He is going to be so much smarter than I was when he starts being responsible for himself!

It's also been really great to see how God is taking care of us.  Since we are living  extremely frugally so that every extra can go to pay the debt, there are times when things that we really want to do are put on hold or cancelled completely.  But God also provided very specifically for some things that we as a family have prayed about, and the kids were able to see those prayers answered through God's generosity.  We are writing them down, so that we can look back and see how God gave us more than we needed!

We are definitely going to celebrate when the day of freedom comes! Anybody have any free celebration ideas?? 

Boys will be boys

I noticed that they were all three sitting on the swing. Chatting about something.  Oh, I should take a picture.  After all they represent three generations of our family.

So I quickly got the camera out.  Smile, I'm taking a picture.

Thank you Jon for cooperating.  Really Grandpa and Ben?  Smile!

Granpa, that's your smile?



That must be where Ben gets his uncanny ability to make a face every time his picture is taken.

As Jon patiently waits, Grandpa and Ben decide to see what's in the shirt pocket.

Sunflower seeds.

Hello, I'm trying to take a picture......

Oh, let me drop them...

and smile....

Jon's face says that he has given up.  Grandpa's innocently wonders what the problem is.

Boys!  Can't we get a good picture?

Look a real smile from Ben!

 Sigh....these are the men in my life.

El arbol que se ve desde el autopista...

We left our kids with friends and went on a date. We decided to go climbing up the mountain to the little tree that you can see on the way to camp from San Juan. It was awesome.

You start by walking up the emergency brake ramp.

There were a few cacti.  They looked like trees, and Jon kept grabbing them. Ouch.

There was also very tall grass.  Logan would have been completely hidden by it. Jon slipped once, and totally disappeared...jajaja. I laughed at him.  Next time we go we will make a video of a velociraptor sneaking up through the grass to eat one of us. 

 You can see our car at the bottom parked under that tree....

Jon the explorer

Good times. Good times.

There it is...sweet little mango tree!

Confessions of a closet introvert

Last month Eli was in a ballet show.  It came at the end of an extremely busy month full of work groups and visits from friends and family.  I usually volunteer to help out backstage with Eli's group.

 It goes something like this....arrive an hour and a half before the show starts, twenty excited girls crammed into a little room putting on makeup, getting hair shellacked to their heads, dressing in there costumes for the first dance, then the mass exit when it's time for them to dance, wait, wait, wait, mad dash to change into next costume...where are my tights? can you help me put my glow in the dark, sparkly head band on so it won't fall off and trip me while I dance? OH NO, I LEFT MY SHOES AT HOMEEEEEE!!!!....mass exit for the next dance, wait wait wait....you get the picture.  It's fun. Actually it's funny. I chuckle to myself a lot.

Anyway, this time I ended up sitting and talking with one of the other moms for a long while about homeschooling and her little four year old boy. She talked a lot.  And for a long time.  She is very nice, and I was interested in the conversation.  But after a bit I found myself thinking....Wow, she talks a lot. And then I thought....When is she going to stop talking.  And then later...I wish I could just ask her to be quiet for a while. 

Now before some of you think I am just an extremely rude person, let me explain something about myself.  I am an introvert.  It's true!!   I can hear the laughter and cries of disbelief from people who know me. But I repeat, it's true. I always have been.  I enjoy people. I like to be crazy and have fun. But there comes a point when my people meter gets into the red zone, and when that happens I have to be alone.  If I don't get time alone, bad things can happen. I get impatient. I end up with a permanent scowl on my face. I get annoyed easily. Not a pretty picture.

I always knew this about myself, but last year I read something here that put it into words and made me understand myself better.  I'm not shy.  I enjoy people.  In small doses.  This explains why I found myself wishing for earplugs to enable me to smile and nod while at the same time tune out the friendly nice lady's voice. After a month FULL, no MORE THAN FULL of talking and getting to know people and seeing great old friends and having a good time, I was in desperate need of down time, by myself time, alone time.

My Ben and I are the introverts in our family.  It's very obvious in Ben who at 12 is in the process of learning how to not be rude. I hide it much better.  Which is why most people laugh when I tell them this.  The challenge for us is to balance the needs of the two introverts with the two extroverts and one extreme extrovert (guess which one!!).   It makes for interesting times here at Casa Marshall.  Benjamin and I usually opt to A. stay at home or hang out just with the family, while Eli and Logan want B. to go everywhere everyday with as many people as possible. Jon usually ends up being the one who balances it out for us.  So glad that I married him!

Really though who wouldn't be glad to be married to this handsome fellow??!!

So i was scrolling through some of the pictures on my ipod...

and I found these. 

Did I tell you all that my little brother Jay and his lovely wife Michelle came to visit? 

 Also my sister Grilla eats like a pig.  I still love her though.

 Saris made from leftover wedding decorations....is that how you spell sari?

Mountain climbing in the park....

"Shut the door, the dog will get in"

My kids must hear me  say that a hundred times a day.  Usually the dog gets in anyway.  We seem to have an extraordinary amount of door opening and closing..or not closing as the case often is..here at our house. People, kids, cats needing in and out on a regular basis.  Here in the land of  'it's warm out so let's be barefoot all of the time',  that lack of cold weather seems to equal lack of need to close doors on our way out.  No way would those doors stay open in Wisconsin where Grandma Marshall lives! (Ben would like me to point out that right now at 10:16 PM both doors are shut.)

Here are some other things that I have heard in the last couple of days that made me laugh. 

"This one works like a dream"- said Logan while using Mrs. Barbara's rake after deciding our rake didn't work correctly.



Whadya think? Time for a haircut?



"Let's do the jig"- says Ben to me about thirty times a day...the "jig" is a very complicated series of dance steps we have created that only professionally trained dancers should attempt.

"I love to shop..does it show?"

"Oh look, it's a really weird bug"- said Eli while exploring in the river and catching tadpoles and little fish at the rain forest.  By the way, the exploring apparantly made the young ones ravenous because they polished of a bucket of chicken in five minutes flat and were still crying for more.

Eli making bacon with her grease splashing shield

"SERENITY NOW"- said Jon today at lunch time when things were getting out of control due to several smaller people...ours and some extras...and their constant neediness. (Ben would like me to specify that he is not one of the "smaller people".)

 Dariel, one of the "smaller people"



More "smaller people"

What things have you heard around your house lately?  

What's happening at your house?

Location:Backyard, Puerto Rico