Summer is for Making Memories

Remember our week of no AC?  Dare I say that our new AC is coooooold!  I love it!  We keep the house at 75 during the day, and 76 at night.  The thermostat is in the living room (with vaulted ceilings) so while it is 75 in the living room, it's more like 68-70 in our bedrooms.  Mmmmmmm yes!
Here is a picture of Natalie sleeping with us when we had no AC.  We put a little AC window unit in our room.
Poor thing..

I've stressed a few posts about paying cash for everything.  We really try to watch where our pennies go (we are no means perfect and still have lots to learn and improve on).  We both decided it would be financially better for me to work on July 4th.  (Time in a half pay!) Kris supported what I wanted to do, whether work or not.  The 4th was on a Monday, and the Friday before while siting in meetings, I felt so bad not spending a Holiday with my daughter.  Family time and making memories is more important than making that extra Holiday pay.  I'm so glad I decided to take a 3 day weekend for my family.  We celebrated by having some nice dinners, one night kris cooked Duck, and on the 4th, we grilled and I made an American Flag Jello Cake.  Mmmm  

We took Natalie to see some fireworks.  She was stir crazy and wanted to run around until the fireworks started. She loved it, can you tell?  

That little girl just melts my heart!  Our ducks started laying eggs and we decided to try to incubate them.  We were successful.  Our hatch rate was 80% and 1 chick died leaving us at a 75% live rate.  Not too bad!  

Natalie loved the baby ducks!  She wants to touch them and pick them up.  

Our latest adventure, Kris ran across some FREE roosters.  Now this is HIS deal, he picked up the roosters and yesterday we (errr Kris and a friend) planned on butchering and processing 10 roosters and 5 ducks.  Kris got a "wild hair" (I learned that phrase while living in MO!) to build a chicken/duck plucker machine thing.  His very last screw to finish it off, he drilled a drill bit through his thumb and out his fingernail.  So yesterday afternoon instead of processing chickens, we were at urgent care getting x-rays and doped up on pain medication.  His thumb should be fine, ya know after the nail falls off and a new one comes back in.  Ugh.  But none the less, Natalie is enjoying the roosters.  

We are now up to 5 different chicken coops, bird pens, chick pens, etc.  How did we turn in to a poultry farm?  

My last post, I mentioned we purchased 3 Pygmy Goats.  We got them off of craigslist to help keep the brush on the back hill down, and maybe eat up the brush along the creek.  I don't know if we'll keep them "long term" or just until they "get the job done".  It's another animal that Natalie enjoys, and she can now say "Goat".  She is such a farm/animal girl.  I think her first word was "Duck".  (Before mama or dada)  

I tried taking pictures of the goats.  It was getting dark so, it's not great.  

Meet Billy:

Annie:

And Neo:

Last but not least, Natalie doing her favorite thing outside, playing with rocks:

I love that she LOVES to be outside, and is entertained by the simplest things.  She is now 18 months old.  I was talking with Kris tonight about what her 2 year birthday party theme should be.  I'm thinking a barnyard cowgirl theme!  Other than VeggieTales (her theme for 1 year), being outside with the animals is her favorite thing.  Now to convince my in-laws to let me turn their garage into a mini-petting zoo for the kids.  (Natalie was born January 1st, no outdoor party for her)  I'm thinking a pen in the garage for a baby goat, maybe rent some rabbits, other little barn yard animals?!?  They are going to KILL ME!  

If you've made it to the end, congrats!  This is what our Summer is shaping up to be at Goat Creek!  

Cash pt. 2 God Always Provides!

So remember my post I did a little while back about paying cash for everything?  We've had a big financial week with lots of prayer.  God never ceases to amaze me.  To back track some..........

A few months ago Natalie had a HORRIBLE rash.  First it was on her legs, then her mouth.  Even after prescription cream, the rash didn't go away completely.  We ended up having some very expensive blood work done to test for allergies.  We have a high deductable on insurance and well, that lovely bill came in the mail.  It was high enough we would normally make payments on it, but of course they add the incentive, pay it off by this date and it'll be $30 less.  We wondered how we could pay it off in one big chunk, then Kris pulled out a check he got in the mail from a customer for about $15 more than what Natalie's hospital bill was.  God thing  #1

This past weekend, we went to Arkansas to help some friends build an addition on to their house. We came home and immediately figured out our AC unit was not working.  Air was coming out of the floor vents but it was NOT cold.  A service man came out that night and basically said we needed a new unit (ours is 17 years old) and this thing: (stock photo)

was going to cost $3400.  I went in to panic mode.  We were determined NOT to go in to debt, but do not have $3400.  Monday was awful, I was at work and my face hurt so bad like I had been crying (even though I hadn't).  I was sick to my stomach, felt like the world was crushing in on me.  To make things worse, while in Arkansas, I had baptized my cell phone so I couldn't text Kris or call him the whole day. Our house was 94 degrees inside (windows open and ceiling fans running!) NOT safe for an 18 month old little girl.  I honestly felt hopeless, helpless, and never in my life so depressed.  I prayed and prayed all day.  After two days of Kris calling around for estimates, we had a plan in action.  I don't know WHAT kind of AC unit the first guy was trying to sell us, but we snagged a new unit for $1,700.  Remember, we live in a tin box, so we don't need an all out AC unit made of Gold.  

Remember my CASH post about Dave Ramsey and paying cash for EVERYTHING?  Dave says to keep $1,000 in an emergency fund.  a TRUE emergency fund.  This was a TRUE emergency.  But we were still $700 short.  This is where God does something BIG!  

I had canceled my retirement fund at work because I wanted to save that money for the first year to pay off bills.  I recently found out that my employer had been pulling money out of my paychecks and they were NOT authorized to do that.  After some phone calls and paperwork, my employer owed me $300.  My $300 check came in on MONDAY!  That, plus my almost $100 reimbursement for mileage check, we were only $300 short <--- which we were able to shuffle around and make do.  We'll just live on mac and cheese for who knows how long =)  

I don't want to get all "personal" with our finances.....but even the Bible says not to go in debt, and the borrower is slave to the lender.  I have made SEVERAL poor financial decisions in the past that has led me to a huge amount of debt that I am trying to climb out of.  My parents suggested community college first...and now I know why!!! (I was 18 and knew EVERYTHING!)

God promised that he will provide for our every need and He truly has!  This week has truly been amazing, and we are enjoying a new AC that can actually keep up and doesn't run all day.  God is good!

Now we are just praying for no financial emergencies and our fridge that drips water everywhere holds out a little longer. 

Since I am way behind on posting, just a few other sweet CASH (or free) deals we've gotten:

We now own goats!  3 Pygmies we bought for $100.

On the free section of craigslist there were some yard sale left overs.  We got a kids picnic table, sand box, and slide for Natalie all for FREE! 

I bought Natalie a used kitchen set with tons of food and dishes for $35.  I could probably turn around and sell for $50.