Jonathan and I celebrated Valentine's Day by writing out our last check to the U.S. Department of Education. I visited our account online today and now we can officially say that as of Wednesday, February 20, we are completely 100 percent DEBT FREE!!!
The story behind this and the timing is exciting for us. Early in the summer, Jonathan and I tried to plot things out and figure out how fast we could have his student loans paid off. It turned out that based on our calculations we would be debt free in the February/March 2008 time frame. To this I said to Jonathan something like, "Wouldn't it be funny if that would be when God gives us a baby?" Of course, I was thinking we would get pregnant around the February/March 2008 time frame. Instead God blessed us with this pregnancy, due to end the month after we become debt free! God is good and His timing is perfect!
Needless to say our journey is not over. We now face a maternity leave where I'll be receiving half of my regular pay and Jonathan is still looking for full time work. But, we are confident that God will provide in His perfect timing. We know this for a fact based on our own personal experience.
Being debt free truly is freeing. It certainly was not easy. But after 28 months of marriage Jonathan and I were able to pay off a car loan and student loans for 6 years worth of tuition and some room and board. Like I said, it was not easy, but with God's help it became possible...and it is possible for you!
So, you must know that I just had to take pictures of our momentous occasion. Here we are posing with the checkbook and mailing our last debt payment.
I was looking forward to work yesterday because we were having an offsite team meeting. In other words, we were going to a restaurant for lunch and then would talk business afterwards. These are often nice breaks from "real work".
My supervisor offered to drive me and my next-door-cube-neighbor to the restaurant. We were the last ones to leave. Well, this didn't turn out to be an offsite team meeting. Instead it was a surprise baby shower. Someone in my office even contacted Jonathan to join us!
I was overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of my current and even former co-workers. My very first Supervisor was there as well as the woman who hired me (a former manager who has moved up within the agency). Someone who also retired came along. They showered the baby with wonderful gifts. Like I said, I was overwhelmed.
I was very glad that Jonathan got to meet so many people that I work with. He can not put faces to names. He was struck by how different my office seemed compared to ones he has worked in. I must say I am truly blessed by the people I work for and with. I often tell people that auditing isn't the most exciting job in the world, but the people I work with keep me coming in.
I've heard that dreams during pregnancy can be quite interesting. I had a few of those last night. One involved feeding my baby. One baby I fed, a little girl, spoke to me and expressed that she was thankful she wouldn't have to do this much longer because she didn't like the taste of her food. Then, I later found out she wasn't my baby, and that I had had a boy. To that I exclaimed, "We need to think of a boy's name!" Oh, I and I neglected to mention that my actual first baby was a rat, not a little girl. So it went rat, baby girl, baby boy. I was going to not mention the rat because it is totally out there...but I thought I'd be honest with you all ;-) I kept putting my baby rat down so I could get ready to feed it...but then I would lose tract of it. Wow, this all seems even more bizarre when I write it out. I hope you all are amused.
Another dream involved either Mary Poppins or Maria (from The Sound of Music) who was in trouble with the law because she had her children deal with issues through singing versus other means.
I hope this gave you all a good laugh.
