Bumpin' the Budget

Happy Sunday everyone! I know, I know ... I'm late posting this week. I got in the habit of posting on Thursdays, but this week was another crazy week in the Cox household and Cox's Corner did not make the priority list.

Remember last post, when I mentioned that I had WAY more interesting things to talk about than Dance Party Fridays and spinners... I told you to be patient and in time I would be able to share yet another God-given lesson! You ready?? 

This one, fortunately, does not have anything to with Caden's health but it certainly has everything to do with Caden! Justin and I have always wanted, hoped and prayed that we would be able, when the time came, to sacrifice my income so that I could quit my day job and start my career as a full-time mom. In May 2007 I was bitten by the baby bug. I was sitting in church, listening to our pastor talk about purpose. While I had always felt that my purpose in this life was to be a mom, I was affirmed by the pulls on my heart-strings that Sunday, which ironically enough was Mother's Day. On the way home from church I told Justin through my happiest tears that I was ready to make preparations so that I could begin to fulfill my God-given purpose. I was ready to start talking seriously about the steps we would need to take to prepare. Now, I know what you're thinking... it isn't that hard, just go home and you know... the birds and bees... but it was more for Justin and I.

We had accumulated a pile of debt, nothing outrageous or record-breaking of course, but enough that strict action was required. So we prayed and asked for prayer from others as we went credit-card free and slowly chipped away at the total. And finally, this summer (2008) we managed to clear our name, we were debt free... check it off the list... we're ready to have a baby and good thing because Caden is on his way! 

While I'd like to say that that was the end of the story, it was only beginning. Justin and I even amongst the "get rid of our debt" plan decided that we needed certain things, a certain lifestyle, a certain set of criteria on which to base our successes in life and that criteria as you might imagine was not God's. It was a sick cycle of pride, greed and rivalry that got the best of us. Any of you who truly understand a man's heart you understand that these three things are some of their biggest struggles as a gender, and for Justin this is also true. Now I certainly do not want to pass the blame over to him, because I also liked living a certain lifestyle, I like expensive make-up and great hair cuts... and a nice pair of jeans, while we're at it, but I certainly don't believe that those things fulfill me on any level. My happiness is not determined by these things! Justin, however, was still fighting this battle...

A few weeks ago, this lifestyle, this greed, this jealousy, this pride got the best of both of us and took us to the lowest place we've been in our four years of marriage. Our finances were in shambles, we were in a constant game of catching up, never getting ahead. We were holding on by our fingertips and any minute someone was going to come along and let us go, but thankfully, we had God... and he didn't let us go, through a piece of fabric (long story), God brought light to our struggles and offered a solution. 

Now I wish I could tell you that God gave us a $750 million bail-out plan, but unlike the government, God believes that we have to take responsibility for our own actions and not be such bad stewards of what He's given us! Sigh! So Justin and I picked ourselves up from our sunken and low state of despair and sought God's wisdom and provision by sitting down, as a family and working on our budget. We laid it all out there... from co-pays to our mortgage no item was left undefined. Then we took this and put it into the 'Caden's Here Budget' and saw that we had some fatal flaws! How in the world would we make it? The numbers just didn't crunch!

Sacrifice time! Line by line, we went through and cut... getting rid of HD and our home phone service, selling both of our road bikes, changing cell phone plans, cutting our weekly grocery bill in HALF... you get the idea. Line by line the cuts were made, the sacrifices evident, but the reward SO GREAT! Working as a team, Justin and I knocked down our budget with intensity and fervor, and we're still making cuts, getting creative... with just a few hundred dollars to go! We're excited for the challenges and can see God's hand in our work. It took going through a few days of despair, a few days of budget making, and a few weeks and counting of budget cuts to see that God has not taken ANYTHING away from us, He's only given us exactly what we wanted. He has blessed us with our reward... we get to be the parents of Caden Ford Cox... no one else on earth gets to do that. We are his parents, and we have a job to do! So we pull up our boot straps and continue to press on towards the race marked out for us, understanding that God too experienced pain and suffering when He made the ultimate sacrifice.  He LOVED us and wanted a relationship with each of us SO MUCH that He turned His back on His son so that His plan could be fulfilled, and some day, God too will get His reward and will meet His children face to face, blameless and pure, the body of Christ, the Kingdom he created will reign with Him in eternity.  There is no sacrifice or reward greater than each of these... so what's non-HDTV, or a $40 hair cut and Cover Girl make-up? Nothing compared to our reward!

So that's that... our most recent lesson... another chapter in our book! 

Okay so I know the only reason that any of you really get on here is to see the baby bump pictures... and I hate to disappoint! You get two!

This was taken over a week ago now... this is my tight-shirted preggo look!
And a little closer... 

Enjoy the last few hours of your weekend... it is time for dinner! :)