Alex at one

Tank.  Bam bam.  Travieso.  Just a couple of nick names friends and family have given to Alex.

He shows no fear.  He's rough and he's tough.  He likes to wrestle with his big brother and usually wins. 

He is into everything, (STILL) puts everything into his mouth, and doesn't give up trying to open that one cupboard that isn't locked.  I actually resorted to duct tape the other day.

He will eat anything...even if it's not edible. Including a piece of ceramic (long story).

He loves to hug his big brother.

He loves to play peek-a-boo.  

He is always looking for Da Da while he's at work and stands at the baby gate yelling for him along side Mateo when the garage door opens.

He is happy being with his family and friends and I think we are happy to have him around.  Especially Mateo, who when sad will often say, "I need Owwww Ex.".  And a big Alex hug makes it all better.

He's incredibly squirmy, somewhat rough, has pulled out more earrings than I can remember, and often pokes his brother in the eyes unknowingly or tries to rip off his ears.

He got his first black eye last week.

He weighs 22 lbs and has 8 teeth.

He's happy crawling around the house and climbing on things for now and isn't too interested in walking.  We're OK with that.  Walking means even more chaos. We can wait a little longer.

He still doesn't sleep through the night and graces me with his presence about 4:30 or 5:00 every morning to nurse.  Yay about that lol.

He waves at everybody and says HI. 

He tries to be sweet even when he's sick.

He drives me crazy by his inability to comprehend the word "NO" and his unstoppable diligence in getting into things he wants into (hence the reason why all but one of our kitchen cupboards are locked now.  Have fun coming to cook in OUR kitchen....lol). And hence the reason why our living room curtains are draped up AND the reason I often drag the coffee table to block off areas.  Fun times. 

He melts my heart with his big blue eyes and big cheesy smile.

Happy Birthday to Alex.  Our blessing, whose name means "Defender of Man".  Maybe that's why he tries to be tough.  Thanking Jesus today for his life.

An epidemic

We've been doing something pretty odd over the last year and a half.   It may be unheard of.  Few people do it anymore.  We must be pretty strange. 



What you ask?  We've been saving up to buy something. We'd like new furniture for our living room to replace the 1980s hand me downs we have.  They're wonderfully comfortable but have seen better days.  But, really, we don't NEED new furniture.  So it was an easy thing to say..."in the next few years we'll get new couches".  No, we didn't put it on a credit card.  We didn't do the "NO interest for a year!" or whatever the stores advertise these days.  That's because that "old" concept of not buying something if you don't have money for it really does pay off when you want to live debt free.

Perhaps my favorite pod casts to listen to are from Andy Stanley, a Christian pastor at Northpoint Community Church.  A recent series I listened to was called Recovery Road.  Part 5 was called The Spending Crisis.  It was fascinating to hear how our nation's thoughts about debt have changed over the decades.  Debt used to be a bad thing.  Now it's a sadly normal thing.  America used to do layaway.  Now it does loans and credit cards. I highly recommend the pod cast series (and any of his pod casts for that matter!) They can be downloaded on their site or on a podcast app. A friend of Andy once told him...

"There are two kinds of people in the world.  There are people who make interest and there are people who pay interest.  You need to decide which kind you want to be and reorder your finances around it."

It was reassuring to know that we aren't the only "crazy" people who do perhaps "extreme" things in order to live debt free, honor God with our finances, be generous, and not carry the weight and burden of debt on our shoulder.  The four main points in the pod cast were:

1. "You can't have everything you want."

2. "You can't even have anything you can afford."

3. "You have to live on a budget."

4. "When the money runs out, you have to quit spending."  

Definitely download the pod cast!  I devour them.  They are like my equivalent to soap operas and bon bons as a SAHM.  Naps, drives in the car, etc.  I sneak them in when I can!

The saddest part is that the new generation (and my generation) is growing up thinking that debt is normal.  You want to go to college, you get a loan.  You want a car, you get a loan.  You want a house, you get a 100% loan on a house that you really can't afford.  You want those shoes, put it on a card.  You want to take a trip to Hawaii, credit card. How did it become such a mind shift?

Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if our youth were taught about money management and living within their means?  About being content with things they have, not putting hope in things but putting hope in Jesus. About treasures in heaven. About alternative ways to paying for higher education. That living within your means is not just possible but a virtuous and freeing thing? That less can really be more?

Now I know there is stuff that comes up in life that sometimes requires us to take on debt.  Surgeries, emergencies, unemployment, unexpected hospital bills, etc.  I'm not talking about those things.  I'm talking about the intentional debts that we take on.

The hardest debt (besides home loans) I've seen is something disguised as "FINANCIAL AID".   I know college is expensive.  Really, I do.  BUT...is it worth getting a degree at a school you can't afford just so you can drown in debt while you want to get married or raise a family? I've had several moms tell me they could never stay at home with their kids for a season b/c they have too many school loans to pay off.  How can we encourage our kids to have a different financial future?

For our own boys, I would NOT encourage them to go to a private college if the degree was available elsewhere because I see that as a waste of money.  I would encourage them to save up for college.   Mateo and Alex already have savings accounts for the occasion.  Maybe start at a community college and transfer. Scholarships and grants help.  Having a part time job helps.  If you have to get financial aid...using it to pay ONLY for tuition seems like a given, but it isn't.  Many go shopping for clothes, shoes, and other "non academic" items without thinking about the implications of interest they will be paying on those items.  Above all the micro decisions made about money, I want this verse to resonate in our hearts as a family....so much to learn from this still.. 

"Honor the Lord with your wealth,
  with the firstfruits of all your crops; 

 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
    and your vats will brim over with new wine."

Psalms 3:9-10 

Andy Stanley's motto of "Give. Save. Live." is one we love for how to use our money.  Give (tithe, donate) first, Save (put money away) second, and Live (off the rest).  Love it.  



I'm done now.  I don't know why, but I feel the burden of other people's debt and I want to fix it.  Not sure what that means, but maybe in a former life I'd have been a Dave Ramsey wanna be. 

No Longer A Slumdog

We took a trip to the dessert recently as a family to visit my hubby's grandma.  No wi fi or TV meant I should probably bring a book.  In reality, I only read the introduction but it got me craving some reading time.  It was a book we have had for a while:

 
You can order a free copy from their website.  

If you need a little perspective. If you need a little shift back to the realities of the word.  If you need a reason to pray and to remember to be a person of gratitude.  If you need some spurring on to righteous anger and away from complacency.  Read this book.

It's an easy read in that it's very well written and captures your attention.  It's a hard read in that it will likely break your heart. Basically, it describes the plight of many of India's children and families, the caste system, and the poverty.  And it tells stories about the ministry Gospel For Asia has there for those kids.  It's pretty amazing.

I've always (for some reason) been captivated reading about the holocaust, learning about slavery,   etc.....studying all of those things in "history" that we are taught in school.  But, though it may make you angry that those things happened, it seems the chapter is closed because things "have changed".
But more and more I learn about the realities of depravity and disgusting injustice where a people group is literally treated like less than dogs.

While I sit in my air conditioned home, with filtered water available at any moment from my brand new refrigerator.... while I type on my iMac computer and prepare to wake up my toddler from his nap...which he takes in his own comfy bed in his own comfy room that he doesn't even have to share with anybody and that's filled with clothes and toys...while I prepare to make a dinner for my family that will fill their tummies....

it's easy to forget about the rest of the world.  I do feel a little guilty.  There are 250 million Dalit children alone in India.  With little hope of ever having any value...of ever even having enough food, water, and education, or ever escaping the caste system.

There is new hope for some of these kids as they enter the Bridge of Hope program.   Instead of believing that they have no value and deserve to have nothing and be treated as animals and abused....they can learn of a God that not only created them with a purpose but that loves them and values them.  The gospel has a whole new meaning when I think of these people.  It's not "just" Jesus died for your sins so you could live in eternity with Him in heaven.  Take it a step back to the fact that God created and world and knit them together in their mother's womb.  God cares for them.

While people debate about homeschooling vs. public school vs. private school......

it's easy to forget to be grateful that we can provide an education for our children at all.


While we debate about grass fed beef or organic produce or locally grown whatever foods...it's perhaps easy to forget to be grateful for even having access to food.

And perhaps it easy to forget all these things because we feel entitled.  It's an American epidemic.  We feel we deserve the best of everything as if we are somehow better than the oppressed.

So the question of the hour at our house...how do we instill a sense of gratitude and compassion in our children?  I would love our boys to grow up with compassionate hearts, a righteous anger for injustice, and a passion to change the world...whatever that looks like for them in the pursuits God calls them to. Definitely something to pray about.  Is it possible to "live simply so others can simply live" as the slogan goes?