Leap

Happy Leap Day!

Leap Day. It comes around only once every 4 years. This year it gave me the opportunity to fit one more post into the month of February. Thanks Leap Day! We celebrated this special day in my classroom, every fun day is a cause to celebrate in 1st Grade, there are no such things as small holidays. We made awesome frog hats (Get it? Leap!), dressed in all green clothes, had a fun Math lesson measuring and graphing how far we could frog hop (Trivia: I can frog hop a distance of 80 inches!), and we wrote about what we thought we would be doing in 4 years, the time the next Leap Day rolls around in 2016. How did you spend your extra day? Was it memorable? Was it ordinary? All of the planning for the day's activities got me thinking, how far have we come since the last Leap Day and what might the next 4 years hold for us?

Flash back to February 29, 2008. We had only been living in the house for about 3 months so everything was still fresh and new, and of course there were boxes everywhere as we were still getting settled in. Jackson was only 5 months old! Braeden was only a year and a half old! That means Amy and I were getting very little sleep! Needless to say with two small boys in diapers we were tired and busy most of the time. I was still working at Memorial and the opportunity to move to Trinity wouldn't come for another year. Amy wasn't the Director yet and wouldn't begin the process for about another month. We were only a one-dog family with Lucy and no Rex. Adoption wasn't even something that was remotely on our radar. There was no blog to document the goings-on in Drosche Land. These are just a handful of the things that were happening the last time we all leaped through a February 29th.

My how far we've come! Looking back I cannot believe how much has happened in just 4 short years. The boys growing up. Job changes. A new dog. The adoption process. The loss of family members, Granny. The gaining of new friends. It really makes you stop and think about how much goes on every day in our lives. Maybe we relish each and every moment, maybe we take them for granted. Think of all of the things that have happened that we've forgotten. The things that once seemed so important, but now are nonexistent.

Of course you can't look back without looking ahead. 4 years. It's such a short time when looking back, but when planning for the future the years stretch out in front of you and you can scarcely see the end. I guess it's good that way though. What does God have in store for the Drosches over the next 4 years? 2016. Braeden will be in 4th Grade, Jackson in 2nd! Stella, not having even graced us with her presence, will be 3 1/2! I've barely gotten used to being in my 30's, but in 4 years the decade will be half over! Will we still be in this house? Will we still drive the same cars? Hopefully we will have made great strides in knocking out our debt snowball, getting closer to financial freedom. By then, Amy and I will have long since celebrated our 10-year anniversary! How will we celebrate? We've always wanted to go back to Las Vegas. Maybe? What role will adoption play in our lives? My list of questions and musings is endless as I'm sure yours, dear readers, are as well. It's fun to think about honestly because the next 4 years is a blank canvas. True, the unknown can be daunting and scary, but it's also exciting and mysterious. My prayers for these upcoming years are simple: happiness, good health, family, friends, strengthened faith, enjoying life. Maybe it's because I'm getting older (gasp!),maybe it's having kids and seeing the world through their eyes, maybe it's my loving wife who keeps me grounded and sane. Whatever the reason, I'm choosing to approach the next 4 years with peace of mind and an open heart. HE has a plan for us and HE knows best. I'm sure I'll fall short of this lofty goal many times in the coming years, but my hope is to remain open and willing to HIS plans and will rather than mine. It's going to be a great 4 years! Can't wait to share it here! I hope you've enjoyed your Leap Day, I can't believe March begins tomorrow!

All is well, leaping about, in Drosche Land.

Sunday Snapshot - Tradition

We have several Christmas traditions we enjoy here, who doesn't? One of my favorites is something that I'm sure many people do. Each year Amy and I buy an ornament for that year. Something that represents a major event or sums up that year. One of my favorite parts of decorating for Christmas each year is getting these ornaments out and remembering why they were chosen. Looking back, laughing, reminiscing. I'm pretty sappy an sentimental, as you well know, and this means the world to me. I love it so much that I do it all over again when it's time to put them away each year! So far we have 10 ornaments (wow, a decade's worth of Christmases together!), dating back to our first Christmas together in 2001. We've already decided what ornament we will get for 2011, we just need to find it. I'll post about that later, but I thought I'd share our collection today. Plus it gave me an excuse to try out my iPhone camera for close-ups! I often think about the future when we will need an entire tree just for these ornaments! Ahhh, the memories and joys of the season! I love Christmas!

All is well, picture perfect, in Drosche Land.

2001: Our first Christmas together. The usual 1st Christmas ornament! It's like a little time capsule, inside is a scroll where we wrote the details about the day like the weather, the gifts, etc.

2002: A cute ornament and my age must be getting to me because it is the only one that I cannot remember why it was chosen! Yikes! I'll have to consult Amy about this one. But I do like it because you can put a bulb from a strand of lights in the bottom and the littl tree "lights up"!

2003: We recorded a greeting into this one where we took turns saying Merry Christmas. However, it has long since stopped working. I want to see if it needs new batteries but am afraid that will wipe out any recording (if there still is one) and it will be lost forever. Amy and I still know what we said and say it each year when we hang it up though! Man we look young!

2004: Our first Christmas as a married couple! It was very special also because we had moved to New Orleans and it snowed o Christmas Day! Our colors for the wedding were red and silver and our flowers were roses and calla lilies so this was perfect!

2005: It should have been our 2nd Christmas in New Orleans but we had evacuated due to Hurricane Katrina and were back in Houston. At this point Amy was already pregnant with Braeden and we had not yet decided on staying in Houston or returning to New Orleans. When we picked out an ornament we wanted something bold and flamboyant, like New Orleans. This one reminded us of Mardi Gras, our favorite time there.

2096: Or first Christmas as parents and Braeden's first Christmas! Or theme for him was ducks and this was given to us so we thought it fit perfectly!

2007: We bought our house! This was our first Christmas in the house and we had only been living there for less than a month. We were still living out of boxes but we had a tree, even though the majority of our other decorations were still packed and/or in storage!

2008: The first year we cut down our own Christmas tree! It was my idea to cut off the bottom and shellac it. We did it the following year but have not again due to the busyness of everything. Next year we plan on resuming this tradition because we do love it so!

2009: The year we decided to take control of our finances and began following Dave Ramsey's plan! Amy and I decided to use the pieces of our cut up credit cards to fill an empty glass ornament to represent this momentous occasion. We still have a way to go but were working on it! A yearly reminder of how far we've come and how much we (thanks to Amy's awesomeness) have accomplished!

2010: The year Amy started her Sentsy business! We fell in love with it and she's continued to sell it regularly. Yes, the scent was originally that of a Christmas tree but it has since faded!

RE-Connected!

I've been meaning to write this post for a week or so but just haven't.  I'm not sure what is going on, it's summer so I have nothing but time on my hands.  However, the blog isn't seeing as much action lately.  Writer's block?  Blogger's block?  Lack of topics?  I'm not sure.  Hopefully this will get me back on the blogging horse and resume my regular postings.

So, you may remember my post, here, where I mentioned that our beloved TiVo box had suddenly stopped working.  Well, after reading said post by lovely wife decided to put in her 2 techno-savvy cents.  Lo and behold, our digital converter had suffered an untimely death.  Well, now we had a decision to make.  The TiVo box, beloved as it ma have been, was antiquated technology.  All of our TVs are HD and digital but our little TiVo box was still of the analog generation.  It seemed silly to purchase another converter for a piece of equipment that was already quite outdated.  So a new converter was off the table.  But then what?  You know we have long since given up cable at the advice of Dave Ramsey as we pursue financial freedom and continue to push our debt snowball downhill.  Recommitting to that outrageous monthly cost wasn't really an option either.  A new TiVo box?  Talk about expensive.  Any other DVR?  Same case.  

With our options dwindling we (mainly Amy) began to research.  Apple TV?  We'd heard of it and you know we (I) are huge Apple fans (the new iPhone comes out in September!!!)!  The more we read about it, the more we were convinced that this was the option for us.  Inexpensive, no monthly cost, an Apple product, untapped future potential.  Ding!  We had a winner.  We headed straight out to the Apple store and got one!

I'll pause here to talk a bit about Apple TV if you are not familiar with it, I already had to school my mom on it (sorry mom!).  It basically connects to our wireless network and allows us access to Netflix, iTunes, and all of the content already on our computers and iPad.  There's more to it but that is a good brief rundown. You can read more about it and all it's glory here.  No, it doesn't have a DVR feature, although who knows about a later inclusion of that feature?  But that was one thing we were willing to sacrifice.  Since Amy is a few weeks out of finishing her M.Ed. (yea Amy!) we will have far more time on our hands.  Plus with Amy's better schedule we will also get home at a more decent hour, also giving us more time.  So this means we may be able to watch more live TV without the need for recording.  If we do miss something we can rent/purchase via iTunes.  All still being less than cable or TiVo service!  Voila - our solution!  

Once we got our Apple TV home we set it up.  True to Apple fashion we were able to do so immediately within a few minutes!  However, here is where we ran into our first roadblock.  We decided to rent our first movie in iTunes, Transformers.  The estimated time was several hours!  WHAT?!?!  Turns out our Internet connection was ridiculously slow.  We figured this since we hadn't upgraded in a while, but we didn't realize it was the same connection cavemen used a millennia ago!  Once again my wonderful wife stepped in and upped our connection.  This solved our problems for the most part, although I will be awaiting an AT&T technician between the hours of 8-12 tomorrow because our service has, for seemingly forever, been intermittent and randomly stops and starts with no rhyme or reason (can you tell we are frustrated with this issue?).  Hopefully said technician will bring me a new router box or something and solve our problems once and for all!  But I digress.

Apple TV is awesome!  I am totally in love with it and am extremely pleased!  As for our dear pal TiVo, we just finished the Grey's Anatomy episodes we had stored on it.  When we clean everything else off (several Glee episodes) we will put it to rest.  So, the moral of this story is Apple TV is awesome.  Oh, that and Amy is a techno-genius!  I was so enamored with our purchase I took pictures!  See below!  :)

All is well, iConnected, in Drosche Land.

 This little box houses a lot of awesomeness!

  iLove!  Small, cute, powerful!  Plus the remote controls every other Apple device!

Connectivity

Ok, so you know I love me some TV. However, life doesn't revolve around my TV schedule, as much as I'd like it to (stop rolling your eyes Amy!). That is why I have broadened my TV love to include the technological wonder that is DVR! I mean seriously, what did we do without it? How did we get everything done AND see every must-see show on every network at the exact same time? I have no clue. Luckily I don't have to ponder this too often because of the aforementioned DVR. Since we have long since dropped cable service to knock out our debt snowball my DVR of choice is our trusty TiVo box that Amy got me as a gift many moons ago when we were still living in the apartment and had just one itty bitty baby. Luckily she had the incredible foresight (as often is the case with her) to purchase the box outright rather than rent it. Flash forward a couple of years and that investment has more than paid off!

Said TiVo box is housed in our bedroom so we can relax and watch everything we didn't originally have time for at our own convenience. Due to the lack of cable and the age of our TiVo box a digital converter was needed when we connected it. This resulted in problem-free recording and hours of blissful, commercial-free programming on demand! However, things have taken a sudden turn for the worse. Sometime Tuesday something went wrong. Very wrong. It appears as though the connection between our converter and television has been lost. Now, I consider myself a pretty techno-savvy person. My kryptonite though, is connecting televisions, DVD players, Blu-ray players, the Wii, etc. For some reason I have extreme difficulty in this area. Enter Amy, she's a wiz with the cables, cords, and connections. I did give it my best shot though, to no avail. The connection is still lost and I am clueless. Luckily it has nothing to do with our network so I can still access Netflix via the Blu-ray (I'm totally addicted to the original Melrose Place right now but that's a post for a different time) so not all is lost. Also luckily it didn't affect any of our previously recorded programs so we can watch those, we currently have 5 episodes left in this past season of Grey's Anatomy so that was a blessing. Oh and one last luckily - it's summer so there aren't any new shows to record and our schedules are slightly easier and more accommodating.

So, tomorrow I will once again try to reestablish the connection of the two once inseparable companions an save the day. I have a while until the fall season begins so I have pretty high hopes still of figuring it out. Worst case scenario - we learn to live (gasp!) without a DVR! But I'm not even going to give that horrific thought another moment. Who knows? There's still time for a miracle right?

All is well, attempting to reconnect, in Drosche Land.

Complications

So, I've been a little MIA here for a while.  I missed about a week.  I missed a Sunday Snapshot.  I've also missed blogging.  But it has been crazy busy here with Amy's recovery, the end of the school year, and beginning summer plans.  In addition to these things though something else has occurred that has taken over our time and thoughts.  This post has been brewing in my head and I've debated over how and when to post but I think we are ready now.  

Amy and I have had to stop our adoption process.  We've had to release Margaux and her information back into the shared list.  We recently contacted our agency so we could begin again on the work that we had left to do.  This summer was to be the time when we finished up our paperwork and got everything in line for submission on Amy's birthday.  However, we found out that we would need updated medical paperwork.  Amy's recent surgery to treat her adhesions created a complication.  One complication begets another.  See, one of the many stringent rules in this process is the fact that neither parent can have had a surgery in the year prior to the adoption.  This rule, like the age factor we have already become aware of, is not something that can not be bent or broken.  

We really didn't have much of a choice in the matter, the decision was made for us.  One  year.  That is how long we would have to wait before moving forward.  That would just be until we could submit our paperwork.  It would then be months more before receiving approval and traveling.  The total time would be close to 2 years from now.  It wasn't fair for us to allow Margaux to wait that long.  We've had to come to the realization that it wasn't meant to be.  She wasn't meant to be our daughter.  We don't fully understand His plan, but we do trust it.  We know that it is best.

A year.  A lot can happen in a year.  Who knows what will happen in a year?  Who knows what He has in store for us in a year?  True, we are sad.  We are disappointed.  We are grieving.  But we are somewhat at peace as well.  It's an odd mixture of feelings really.  He definitely is at work in this process though, providing us with supportive family, friends, and each other.  We did have to tell the boys.  They were, understandably, upset.  They too had become attached and were looking forward to Margaux joining our family.  They too are sad and grieving.  But the 4 of us are doing well, together.  

What are the plans for us?  Where do we stand on adoption?  What will be do next?  Pursue next?  For the meantime we have decided on just being.  On abiding with Him and reveling in the blessings and happiness that we have.  Ironically the year that has now been assigned to us is not necessarily a punishment.  Sure we could look at it that way.  But it is also a chance to think.  To pray.  To plan.  To abide.  That's exactly what we intend to do.   

So, things here in Drosche Land have yet again changed.  But we will make it through this also.  We will come out of it better, stronger, closer, and wiser.  Because in the end we have each other.  We have a wonderful network of family and friends.  We have our faith.  We have an abundance of blessings.  We move forward.

All is well, adapting and changing, in Drosche Land.      

Countdown

Well, it's official.  My M.Ed. program is quickly coming to an end!  As of today, I have only 3 weeks left.  Yes, you read that correctly, 3!  Needless to say, I am stoked!  The problem isn't that the work has been hard, but rather that there has been work.  Yes, I know I have a strong tendency toward procrastination and slight bouts of laziness, but still.  Honestly, I think I'm lucky though since my coursework has been entirely online.  I have no clue how people take actual courses.  Juggling the boys, work, the adoption, life in general, and homework has not been easy.  I know I'm not really one to complain, but this is my blog after all!  :)  My poor Amy though still has a few courses left.  I'll need to focus all my energy that I would use on homework to motivate her as she finishes.  Admittedly it's not much energy that I put forth, but anything can help! 

So, what will I do with my new found free time when I have completed my coursework?  Well, I'd like to say that I will replace it with the bliss of nothingness, or maybe take up recreational reading again (you may recall the brief resurgence of this over this past summer).  Truth be told though, I will probably just replace it with something else, hopefully something with less work!  :)  Right now at the top of my list is Trinity's yearbook for the 2010/2011 school year.  I have done nothing, scratch that, I have only gotten the cover done.  There is plenty of time left since we have a fall delivery, but I will definitely need to begin devoting some attention toward that.  But it is hardly work, I've done it before at Memorial and I do enjoy it.  Then there is the reading thing.  Lately I have taken up reading again, occasionally though, every few days.  I am currently in Beaches.  I know, sappy and I'll admit the movie makes me bawl like a baby, but so far it is good.  I enjoy me a nice emotional dramatic book every now and then.

The best part of being enrolled in my M.Ed. courses has been the fact that, with continued education, my student loans have been on automatic deferment!  This was also done for Amy's loans and has come in super handy as we whittle down our debt snowball and begin paying for Margaux's adoption.  Even better news?  I know, there has been a lot here already, but wait, there's more.  Amy and I both just got letters stating that our loans will remain on deferment until February/March of 2012!  That's just around the time when we will either be traveling to get Margaux or (hopefully more likely) we will have had her for a while by that time.  Pretty awesome coincidence huh?  Guess HE does know things better and plan better than we do right?  :)  

So, not major news, but good nonetheless.  Things here are (somewhat) calm right now.  We are though smack in the middle of considering the potential purchase of a second car.  But that's an adventurous post for another day, maybe tomorrow.  

All is well, 3 weeks left!, in Drosche Land. 

Sit Down, Relax, Stay A While

Well, you can tell from the lack of posts this week that vacation, in all its forms, is finally over.  School resumed on Monday and our courses began again on Thursday.  Although it was a nice and smooth week to ease back into things, it was busy nonetheless.  Luckily though, all is well and we have remained sane despite the end of a wonderful vacation.  Which brings me to the title of this post.

So, as you know, there has been zero, zilch, nada, nothing, no interest in the house since it was listed almost 3 months ago.  Yes I know 3 months is relatively short, especially given the housing market.  And yes I know it was the holidays.  But seriously.  Nothing.  No showings, a failed Open House, and no inquiries from the website or the sign out front.  This has caused Amy and I to reevaluate our plans right now.  Since around Christmas/New Years we have been discussing whether or not we want to keep the house listed, or move at all for that matter.  After a couple of weeks of heavy discussions and looking closely at our lives and plans for the current and near future, we have decided to un-list the house and stay here for a while longer, a few years at least.  

See, apparently you can only proceed forward with one major life change at once, if you want to keep your sanity at least.  Right now we have 3 major adventures swirling around - the adoption, moving, and possibly buying a 2nd car.  Financially, mentally, emotionally, logistically we can only do one of these at a time.  Once we looked at the situation in this manner the answer to the question was clear, the adoption is far more important to us at this time.  Having made this decision now, we can begin saving up and planning for the adoption, so once Amy turns 30 in August there is a strong chance we may be ready, or very close, to beginning the actual process.  This means that by this time next year we would be fully into the process and possibly (fingers-crossed) have a picture of our daughter as we prepare to travel to her!

So, although it sounds easy it wasn't.  After much praying and thinking about it I truly do believe that this whole process was God's way of getting us to prioritize our life and get everything ready, finding out what was most important.  I'm comfortable with that thought because then all of the work we put in wasn't for naught.  Another silver lining is the fact that the house is immaculate and well-organized.  We have been able to purge and organize our house and can now work on keeping it that way.  Also, we will be able to do some of the minor updates to the house we have always talked about - flooring, lighting, etc.  On the downside, Spring Break will bring the back-breaking work of reclaiming the garage and unpacking and sorting everything in there, deciding if we truly need it or not.  Eventually, in the future, we do plan to move.  But that will be when there are 5 people residing in Drosche Land!

So, this will most likely be the last post with the tag of moving for a very long time.  All in all it was a fun and educational process.  I'm happy with the decision, I cannot wait to have our daughter join us finally and making this decision has just gotten us closer to her!

All is well, staying put, in Drosche Land.
 

Resolutions!

Well, 2011 is officially here.  We decided this year to ring in a new year quite uneventfully by relaxing at home and blissfully doing nothing.  Boy did we do it too!  After Amy and I picked up the boys from my parents' house following our Date Night we made a quick stop at the ridiculously crowded grocery store before heading home to enjoy our brand new couch.  Oh, I totally forgot to mention that the other day so I will go off on a tangent here for a minute to discuss this.  Amy has been gently insisting (bugging) me for the past year and a half to get a new sofa.  I have been holding out and I must give myself credit for lasting so long.  However, I was blindsided the other day when out of the blue Amy mentioned we would go couch shopping.  I was trapped so I went a long.  A day of searching later we are the proud new owners of the most amazing couch in the world!  Thank you Gallery Furniture for your awesome furniture and great deal!  It has 4, yes 4, recliners and a console where we can hide things like remotes!  The best part of it is the fact that it is a 3-piece sectional that includes a full-size sofa, love seat, and a ginormous wedge.  So we can rearrange it however we see fit.  This will come in very handy when and if we ever do move since we obviously do not know what kind of living room we will end up with.  Needless to say, we are thoroughly enjoying our new couch and have been spending as much time as possible lounging on it!  But I digress, time to get back to the post at hand.

With the arrival of a new year I have been debating what my resolution(s) will be.  Such a difficult decision to make every 12 months.  What can I realistically accomplish, stick with, or do???  Maybe this year I will just list all the things I can think of and attempt to get as many of them checked off as possible.  After all, I do love making a good list.  That way if I don't finish all of them I will still have some sense of accomplishment when I check things off.  So, on with the ideas.  Some easy, some quite lofty.  We will see what successes 2011 brings.

-  Lose the 4 (or 5 depending on the day) pounds I have put on this holiday season.
-  Be a more active member in the financial freedom of our family (Amy stop rolling your eyes)
-  Be more patient with the kids, not everything has to be done my way (Amy, didn't I just ask you to stop rolling your eyes ;)!)
-  Finish the Bible reading plan I began last year (only about 2 months left) AND start a new one!
-  Begin praying for the adoption process and our daughter
-  Finish my Masters!  (Yes I know this will obviously be done, but it'll give me something to check off and provide motivation!)
-  Take more pictures of the boys and document everything (should be a cinch with my new camera!)
-  Stop worrying/thinking about the move.  What is meant to happen will happen.
-  Start reading for pleasure more (I still haven't finished Breaking Dawn!)
-  Drink more water!  (Not instead of caffeine, I'm not cutting down on that, but in addition to!)

Ok, so there are 10 things.  I'm sure more will pop into my head over the first few weeks of this new year, but for now that seems adequate right?  Some seem like easy successes, others more ongoing ideas.  Maybe I'll revisit this post in 364 days and see how I've done.  Plus having 10 things will make figuring out percentages easy!  Ok, now let's get to work!

All is well, resolved, in Drosche Land.

    Our awesome new couch - huge & wonderful!

 

Year In Review

Well, 2010 is rapidly coming to a close.  A little over 8 hours left, depending upon your time zone of course.  With it ends another decade as well.  So, I thought what better way to end the year via blog than to revisit, review, and update some of the information covered in the posts of our blog's inaugural year.  There were 181 (182 counting this one) posts this past year.  Not too shabby for my first year if I do say so myself.  So, on with the review (yes, I have anally put it in alphabetical order of events).

Adoption - This was the big reason that we started this blog really.  We wanted to keep everyone informed with all the happenings of our lives, but it was also our intention to document our journey to our daughter.  We have extensively discussed this and we know that this is how we are going to expand our family.  We have looked through the lists of special needs and have noted the ones we are capable of  accommodating.  We are still fully into the adoption, but with our current lives it has gotten pushed a bit further back.  Right now we plan on fully entering into the process no later than next January 2012.  With the possible move in the future and the financial aspects of the adoption, we feel this is the best choice for our family.  We are super excited about the process, especially the trip to China, but we have to be realistic about it all and do what is best for us all.

Amy - Of course there is the big news about Amy's gastric bypass surgery this past summer.  It was a big decision she made for herself, her health, and our family.  Honestly I could not be more proud of her.  She has done remarkably well and has lost 80 lbs thus far.  She looks amazing and we are both super excited to see how well she continues to progress over the next 6 months until she hits her 1 year anniversary.

Dave Ramsey/Debt Snowball - This was a big year for us financially as well.  Thanks to Amy (and Dave's program) we are happily on the road to financial freedom and being debt free!  It has not been without some bumps and setback here and there, but we trudge forward knowing the pay off is going to be totally worth it!  The biggest victory possibly came this Christmas as it was a totally "Cash Christmas" here in Drosche Land.  No credit was used for anything and we are super proud of ourselves.  2011 will undoubtedly bring further success in this adventure!

Lady Gaga - Of course I had to include this event!  Amy scored me tickets to the concert and this summer traveled to Dallas for an amazingly fun concert.  A mini road trip and kid-less fun was just what the doctor ordered for the adults in Drosche Land.  She comes to Houston again in the spring of 2011, we will see if I have any luck with the radio contests that are sure to happen!


Masters - We are almost done, the end is near, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  I have just 2 courses left, Amy has 4 (sorry Am!).  While it hasn't been hard work we are definitely done with being students.  Let's just say that I will not be pursuing another Masters, or Doctorate for that matter, any time soon.  I cannot wait until we graduate and one thing is removed from our over-crowded plates!  On a positive note we did get some postcards from GCU in the mail the other day stating that graduation was near and we should log on for more information about getting ready for the big event.  I think I'll do that once this is posted.

Moving - The latest adventure here in Drosche Land.  We made it 3 years into our planned 5-year stint here in beautiful Cypress.  The house has only been listed for about 2 months but we have had no interest whatsoever.  You may recall the showing that never was or the Open House where no one came.  What's next?  Well, after much debate Amy and I have decided to keep the house on the market until Spring Break.  If it sells before then, we will obviously make the choice to move.  However, if March rolls around and we are still here in Cypress struggling to maintain a clutter-free home we will have to make a decision to stay or go.  Right now we are combining the wait & see and prayer stances on the move.  Amy thinks that we will have no offers or interest in the house at all, I am working to remain positive that something will happen.  We will see what God has in store for us concerning this adventure though!

Scentsy - Amy started her own adventure this year as she became a (quite successful) Scentsy consultant!  This started quite innocently when she was introduced to this awesome product by some friends (Thanks Taryn & Dedrick!) and quickly turned into something super fun and super rewarding.  Amy has already enjoyed success as she moves up the ladder and builds her team.  2011 should be very exciting as she is going to be traveling to shows and conferences to run a Scentsy booth and spread the scentsational joy that we have come to love.  *Shameless Plug Alert* Remember you can always visit her website here.  I personally am proud of Amy for doing so well and I cannot wait to see how she continues to amaze me this coming year!


30

Does that cover it?  I think so.  Those seem to be the biggest adventures from the past year here in Drosche

All is well, bidding 2010 adieu, in Drosche Land.

Tune In

So, I think it's pretty obvious that I am a raving TV addict.  But I'm ok with that.  Some people have sports as a hobby, or scrapbooking, or collecting something.  I watch TV.  I'm pretty sure that I would go into withdrawal if I were without it.  I know that when the power goes out I am lost and all I can think of is what my TiVo will be missing also!  It's is amazing I have done so well without cable.  However, the drive to be debt-free has inspired me.  Plus with Netflix, Hulu, and networks posting shows on the Internet, I'm good.  But I am not in the school of thought that TV is bad for you or rots your brain.  Quite the opposite in fact.  I think TV is awesome and extremely valuable.  I mean think about all one can learn, do, or enjoy via this magical box.

Cooking, home improvement, history, crafting, entertainment.  The possibilities are endless!  Plus you can learn a lot about yourself.  For instance, through watching Supernanny I know that my crazy rascals aren't that bad, and neither are my parenting skills!  Watching Hoarders shows me that my house isn't really horrible messy, plus it inspires me to clean it lest I become a featured guest on the program.  See what I mean?  I've given this a lot of thought lately and feel that it completely justifies my love (obsession) with TV.  I'm just further educating myself and maintaining life-long learning right?  Right!


This morning Amy and Jack left with her mom, Adam, and her grandparents to attend the funeral for her aunt in Kansas.  I stayed behind because it is not the best time for me to miss work and I kept Braeden so he would be able to attend as many practices for the Jingle Bell Mingle as possible to avoid another performance catastrophe.  We are having a little vacation of our own as we stay at Amy's Mom's house to take care of her dogs and Lucy.  Why is this relevant to this post?  Well, Amy's Mom has cable!  So, needless to say I plan on doing a lot of learning over the next 3 days!  Ahhhh, hundreds of channels of visual enjoyment how I've missed you!


All is well, remote in hand, in Drosche Land.

 

Done

So, it's official.  The Drosches are tired of living out in Egypt and making the 65 mile round trip every day to work and home again.  So, as if our plates weren't full enough with our Masters courses, Amy's new Scentsy business (which is soaring off!), planning and working toward our adoption, and everything else, we have decided to add moving into the mix.  You know Amy and I, when we decide to do something we jump, head first, into it without looking back (think building this house, buying a van, and countless other decisions!).

We have been mulling over the idea for a few weeks now.  As the area we live in grows the traffic getting home is growing as well.  It now takes us at least an hour to get home, regardless of when we leave (up from about 50 minutes at most) and at least 50 minutes to get to work (up from 40-45 minutes).  With the boys getting older, and getting closer to nightly homework, we realize there is no way our family can continue to make the drive in.  There is too much strain on our schedule.  We love us some Cypress, but it has just gotten about 15 miles too far away from everything. 

So, yesterday Amy was at home with a sick Jack (think back to the last post found here).  We took him to the doctor yesterday and found out he had strep.  So we have him on medicine and I stayed home with him today.  Luckily the fever is gone and he will be returning to school tomorrow.  But i digress.  Anyway, Amy was at home with Jack and called Bank of America, who has our home loan now, to ask about what we could qualify for.  We got great news!  While we can't get a loan right now, due to no down payment, we could get a great loan, for the amount we were hoping for, at an incredible interest rate, far better than what we have now!  Long story short, we can afford a more expensive house (a must since we are moving in) and will actually pay less than we do for our house now!  Hold your applause, really!  We owe it all to Dave Ramsey and his Financial Freedom program!  Well, and Amy too for kicking into high gear with our debt snowball and knocking so much debt out!  So, we will divert debt snowball money into a down payment savings and should have our amount saved up by the end of this year!  Then we will be able to fully proceed with looking for a house!  

So, until we have that money we are cutting back on all extras, what little ones we have since we have been so strict with our program.  I will forgo my Starbucks and iTunes allowances (let me get a tissue) and we will begin to tighten the purse strings even more.  But we can do it!  The next step is to get our house listed and put up for sale.  We pray that we will be able to just break even, we have no high hopes for making money off of the house.  I also hope we don't have to do too much to get the house ready.  The biggest thing I'm worried about is the boys' bathroom.  But I mean who doesn't want a bright yellow bathroom with orange and blue dots?  All you naysayers grab a brush and head on over!  But if paint we must to I'll roll up my sleeves and do it.  I also know some work will need to be put into the back yard to get it more presentable.  But it is all worth it if we can squeeze every penny we can out of this house!

Since we  are moving before we originally planned we can't afford the neighborhood we really love, but that is ok.  We have been doing quite a bit of research and have found several ones that have great houses, needing minimal updating, in our price range!  It is exciting to begin the process even knowing that we may not be moving anytime in the near future.  Best/worst case scenario is our house sells before we can buy a new one and we have to either rent an apartment or move in with parents.  But that would be a minor inconvenience that would allow us to save more money.  So, time will tell.  For now we are excitedly beginning another adventure here.  Busy busy busy as ever, but that's how we roll!  Buckle up and get ready for the next ride!  Here we go!

All is well, movin' on up, er in, in Drosche Land.

 

Shredded What?

Get it?  Like Shredded Wheat, the cereal!  HA!  Which, coincidentally, is my favorite cereal of all time.  Both the mini, frosted kind and the large, un-frosted kind (I have a thing for old people cereal!).  But I didn't mean to get off on a cereal tangent, although you now know another small interesting fact about me.  Consider it a bonus.  On with the post.


So, obviously financial freedom is the biggest payoff to the Dave Ramsey program.  We are successfully whittling our debt snowball down and soon (by next winter at the most recent estimate) we should have everything but the house and student loans paid off!  Which is good for our adoption/moving timeline as we will then be able to kick those things into high gear!  Woo hoo!  But there are other side affects to the program, namely the paperwork!  As we pay off credit card after credit card we are left with all of the old statements, bills, and whatnot associated with them.  Once we get the letter of confirmation stating that the account is paid off and closed we have no need for any of it!  The bill box's waistline is getting trimmer as we eliminate cumbersome files!


So this morning Amy and I got into an impromptu cleaning/purging spree.  In its path - the bill box.  Amy hadn't been through this in a while so it needed some attention.  Before we knew it we had a good pile of paperwork that needed shredding.  Now, I will admit to the inner nerd in me yet again as I confirm my excitement at that prospect.  I LOVE shredding papers.  I mean, it is fun!  Just ask Julie in our school office.  I get such delight at sitting down to the school's heavy-duty shredder and just going at it.  So, needless to say, I was all to willing to help Amy out with this new found dilemma.  Trash bag in hand I sat about my task.  About half-way, and one container dump, into the process the shredder begins to make a very high-pitched squealing sound.  A cross between brakes in need of some replacement and a pig being tightly squeezed.  Let's just say, it wasn't pleasant.  Amy and I shared a worried glance along with the comment that we hope it made it through the job.  FAIL!  Shortly after acknowledging the fact that we have had this shredder for like 6 years, it squealed its last.  Uh oh!  Upon closer inspections, after a hopeful cool-down period, I found a piece of plastic, somehow hidden in an envelope.  The culprit!  That small plastic something, and the squealing sickness were too much for our old, budget paper shredder.  I briefly, like 2 minutes, tore paper by hand.  That sucked.  I mean, what did people do before paper shredders?  It was boring and tiresome, nothing like the thrill of running a paper shredder.  Plus I have a nonexistent pain threshold so it was best I quit before the inevitable paper cut came! 


Now we wait, with a pile of to-be-shredded papers, until we can work a new shredder into our budget.  Bummed that I couldn't finish the shredding?  Yes.  Excited about a new, more advanced shredder?  Oddly yes!  So, Dave Ramsey's intensive program may free us financially, but it was a burden too great for our shredder to bear.  Small price to pay in the long run.

All is well, partially shredded but paper cut free, in Drosche Land. 

2012

So I watched the movie 2012 this morning.  1 word - Awesome!  I love me a good disaster flick and this is about as big as it gets.  Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, oh my!  This movie has them all.  Add in some super-cool CGI effects showing the complete destruction of natural and man-made landmarks and you have a great story about the end of the world and utter global catastrophe.  There's even some Biblical references, especially at the end (not giving away details).  I definitely recommend it.  I was worried about the 2 1/2 hour running time, but it flew by.

But I digress again.  So, as is I'm sure the intention of the film makers, it got me thinking about the potential truth to all of these 2010 end of times theories.  Is there something to them?  Who knows?  Obviously I hope not, I have a lot of plans.  Many of which extend into 2013 and far beyond.  By 12-21-2012 we still be in the middle of (although hopefully very near to the end of) moving and the adoption, so you can see my eagerness for the failure of such "prophecies".  But in the end (pun intended) I have no say so over when, where, how, or why the world comes to an end.  I'll leave those things to God, he tends to do a much better job in planning than I do myself!

What it did also remind me of, again another intention of the film makers I'm sure, is that we should be thankful for what we have now.  I have an excellent wife (woo hoo Amy!), 2 wonderful (albeit crazy!) boys, and tons of great family and friends.  So yeah, I'd say I'm pretty blessed!  Yeah, I know, pretty deep thoughts from a visual effects laden, action packed, eye candy movie (Awesome - see it!), but you never know where they're going to pop up from.  See, you can learn something from movies!  :)

So, don't see the movie for any soul-searching reasons.  See it because it is awesome and stuff gets destroyed!  But while your watching it remember to live your life and be thankful.  Ok, I'll step down off of my soap box.  Just some thoughts.  Enjoy the movie.  Oh and another thing the movie may teach us - if the end of the world is in 2012 and it ends like it does in the movie, then we are in for some crazy and spectacular happenings!

All is well, and very blessed, in Drosche Land.  

6

Years that is, today is our 6th Anniversary!  Wow, it is hard to believe that it has been 6 years already.  It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the milestone of 5 years with one of my most romantic actions ever - the re-creating of our wedding cake topper.  Yeah, I did good!  :)  But this year came with less frills, but was special nonetheless.  Due to budget constraints (in order to hit our Debt Snowball hard) we decided to forego cards and presents.  That also meant no eating out or special date this year.  Instead, we just spent the day at home relaxing as a family.  As luck would have it though we were cleaning up and came across two old gift cards, both with remaining balances.  So, we took them to the grocery and bought items to cook a special dinner.  Amy made fondue, and I must say it was the best fondue she has made - EVER!  We also had some delicious rosemary chicken and smashed potatoes.  So, we did end up having something different and special after all.  Other than that though we relaxed and watched the US vs. England World Cup game, which I surprisingly was interested in.  It was a tie game in case you missed it, which threw me for a loop, since when is no winner a good thing?  However a friend explained it all via Facebook (thanks Daniel) and now not only am I all up to date with my knowledge, but am actually looking forward to the next game(s)!  Weird huh?  Maybe soccer is my sport?  Maybe I'm just all caught up with World Cup fever?  I'm leaning toward the latter, but you never know.




But I digress.  Today was a special day.  A day when I personally give thanks for my wonderful wife and everything she means to me.  I'd be lost without her and am lucky to have her.  So frills or no, Fogo de Chao (our special occasion splurge restaurant) or eating at home, gifts or none; I'm just happy to spend the day with my true love.  That's what today is all about anyway right?  Right!  Below are some of my favorite pictures from our wedding.  Man we look so young, but I guess we were!  Ahhhh the memories!  Enjoy!
 
All is well, entering our 7th year, in Drosche Land.

 This is my favorite picture of Amy ever!

Amy and her bridesmaids

Me and my groomsmen

The Wedding Party

Both of our families all together!

Our first picture together as a married couple!

Leaving the reception - one of my favorites!

Home Sweet Home?

Cypress is beautiful.  The area is wonderful.  It's a little bit country; it's a little bit city.  We love it here.  But the drive has finally gotten to us.  We always knew it would, it was only a matter of time.  Well, that time was the other morning on the way to work when Amy suddenly said "I can't take it anymore!"  Once we cleared up exactly what it was she was done with, I admitted my agreement.  But what to do?  With the recent adjustment of our appraisal, the fact that our neighborhood is not closed out yet, and the fact that the market has not yet fully rebounded means that we are in no position to sell.  However, thanks to Dave Ramsey and his words of wisdom, we soon will be.  18 months and our snowball will have completely melted!  Currently we are thinking, possibly, about listing the house next summer?  Because by then my M.Ed. will be over, Amy's will be almost done, Amy's 30th will be rapidly approaching, we will be finishing up our Home Study for the adoption, and we will be extremely close to officially beginning the adoption process.  So obviously we need something else to add to our plate and keep us busy right?  :)  But really, it seems as though that is just our life: busy.

So the next question to be asked is clearly - where?  We love I10 so we began looking further in along the freeway since it is a straight shot into school/work/church.  However, the homes in the area we would like, that are zoned to the schools we like are out of our price range for what we need.  We don't have lavish needs or wants in a house.  It's quite simple really, we just need a house at least the size we have now, preferably a little larger.  Yes, there are little things we have on our list that we would like, but that's a topic for a different post.  We are pretty flexible and easily pleased when it comes down to it.  Another thing Dave Ramsey has taught us, overlook the current owners and their garish possessions and style to see the house underneath.

So where then?  Well, the other area we like is Jersey Village.  The houses in this area meet many of the items on our wish list.  They are the right size, have the right floor plans, have the right amenities, and most importantly they are the right price.  Sounds too good to be true?  Well, there is a downside to this area and that is just that - the area.  It is off of 290.  However, due to Amy's superb map skills, we have found the perfect area within this area that is nearest to the best ways out of the area.  Does that even make sense?  Sorry, it's getting late.  Basically Amy found the best ways for us to travel to I10 from this area so the commute would not involve 290.  With this little setback taken care of we have begun to look for houses on the Internet.  Yes, the houses we have found that we love will be long gone by the time we are ready to move, but they do serve as a good indication of what the area has to offer to us.

So, we love our house, but sadly it is not our "forever house."  So, we begin the process of mentally/physically/emotionally/financially preparing to move again.  No worries, we have a long time to do so.  For now, we are at the happy & noncommittal stage of looking and dreaming!  There is one thing though that we both agree on and will not back down from - MOVERS!  We will pack and unpack, but we are not going to lift, carry, haul, or pivot anything out or into a house anymore.  Been there, done that!  Never again!
 
All is well, and moving forward with future plans, in Drosche Land.
 
 

Blogger's Block

Well, tonight is one of those times when I struggle to think of something to write about.  Today was pretty uneventful despite being crazy and long.  So I wonder, is posting an entry every day too ambitious?  Do I actually have something worthwhile to write about every day?  You may be asking yourself why you are reading this if there is no topic or reason for me to write.  Good question, then why are you still reading?  Why and I still writing?  But I digress again.  I start these random, topic-less posts in the hopes that a topic or idea will suddenly pop into my head and I will be inspired to write.  Thus is the case now.

I haven't talked much about the adoption in a while.  Not because it is not important, or because we don't talk about it ever.  It is, and we do.  I guess it is just that we are now in that awkward period of waiting to actually officially begin.  We have made the emotional commitment to the adoption and we are very excited.  But now we are bound by our age and limited in what we can do next.  What we can do, and what Amy is working so hard to do, is financially prepare.  As you previously read, we have kicked our debt snowball into high gear and are getting gazelle intense about it again (Dave Ramsey term).  This is exciting because we had gotten into a rut lately where we were just moving along at a steady pace rather than quickly.  But with the escrow overage check, we are finally back into the quick and excited pace.  We also continue to read other blogs and learn about the adoption process through the families who have gone through and/or are currently going through it.  This is fun because we get to imagine ourselves at that place where we are blogging about getting our good news, traveling, and bringing home our daughter.  Lastly we continue to study the shared lists through links from Great Wall.  We enjoy looking at the children and dreaming about our daughter and what she will look like, be like, act like, etc.  So I guess you could say that we are still, and will be for a while, in the dreaming stage.  Am I disappointed at times that we still have so long to wait?  Yes, but then again it is somewhat of a blessing in disguise since we will be able to so greatly prepare for the journey that lies ahead: emotionally, physically, mentally, and financially.  Not that we can ever be totally prepared for something like this, but hey, the time couldn't hurt could it?  Waiting, praying, preparing.  That's where we are, for now.

See, I guess I did have something to post about after all.  Sometimes I guess it just takes a bit of rambling to get started.  If you know me, that shouldn't come as much of a surprise though I bet!  Well, it may not have been huge, super important, funny, or accompanied by pictures.  But I enjoyed it.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!

All is well, and unblocked, in Drosche Land.

Finding Nemo

1 Crowntail Beta - $5.99.  
Fish bowl, rocks, fake plant, & Beta food - $11.46.
Seeing the boys' excitement over their first pet - priceless! 

Yes, we got the boys their own pet - a fish, and as you can guess from the title of this post, they decided to name him Nemo.  Now we join the countless number of families with small children who own a fish named Nemo that looks nothing like its Disney namesake.  We have been mulling the idea over for a few weeks now.  Wal-Mart has become one of the boys' favorite places to go (sad I know) because they love to go and see the fish in the pet section.  So today we finally broke down and got them one.  However, we did not go to Wal-Mart.  Nothing against them, but the only type of fish I would feel comfortable buying there are of the frozen variety.  Instead we went to PetSmart and as it turns out Nemo has a two-week guarantee!  Hopefully we will not need to redeem it, or partake in the awkward conversation about a dead Nemo that would come with it.  So we are now the proud owners of a Beta.  At least the kids have a preference for low-maintenance pets, for now at least.  He is currently living on our dining room table as we tried to find a place that was high up so he wouldn't end up knocked over, but somewhere where the boys could easily see him.  Truth be told, I am a little excited, I have always liked fish but not the work that comes with them.  A Beta is the perfect match.  Plus it reminds me of college when Amy and I had fish as pets.  

This post is a 2-part post and you are about to enter the second part.  So, here is a brief intermission in case you want to get a snack or run to the bathroom.  Go!

Ok, so you're back.  Thanks.  Well, this second part of the post revolves around our debt snowball - which just got a kick to the butt!  So, the other day we got an unexpected check in the mail and I thought it was one of those gimmick checks that credit card companies send you to trick you into signing up.  Luckily, Amy has a bit more patience in reading through the fine print than I do because it was real!  It was the escrow overage from our mortgage!  All was legit!  Well, we could have celebrated this joy by blowing it on TVs or a new couch, or even a down payment for a new car.  But NO, we didn't!  Instead we did the responsible thing and used it to kick our debt snowball into high gear and paid off our Sears credit card!  This card was set to be paid off by the end of this month, but with this newfound blessing we have bumped up our snowball by about a month!  Amy made the payment online this afternoon and boy did it feel good!  Ahhhh, this is one time when being an adult didn't totally blow!  Take that Sears - we're done with you!  Boo-yah!  

All is well, a bit fishy and less of a slave to the lender, in Drosche Land. 

The boys putting rocks into Nemo's bowl

Nemo gets a decorative plant

Observing their new pet

 Meet Nemo

 Braeden feeding Nemo

Jackson feeding Nemo

Easter 2010

Well, the last holiday of the school year has officially come and gone.  As busy as we were, I have to say we did well today - doing absolutely nothing.  We needed it too, all of us.  Easter yesterday was great.  The Easter Bunny did an awesome job and the boys loved it!  I'm only going to post a few pictures below.  For the rest I'm going to use Snapfish to place a link on the side like I did for the Campout pictures.  I hope this works and everyone can view them.  Anyway, moving on.  Easter at 931 was wonderful, we truly enjoyed it.  Especially Braeden.  Easter must be his favorite time of the year because he has been talking about it for the past two weeks.  He can tell you the whole story too!  This makes Amy and I so proud and just is another great example of the wonderful education he is getting at Trinity - and I promise I have no biases! :)  After church we surprised my grandmother for her birthday, Amy's idea, and that went very well.  Then we spent the remainder of the day hanging out at Amy's Mom's house eating delicious food!

Like I said earlier, today we truly just stayed at home and relaxed.  Sure there was cleaning and laundry to be done, but we only left the house late in the afternoon to do a little quick grocery shopping.  Amy, riding high on the thought that the money we could have put toward a new car can do wonders for the adoption and our debt snowball, spent a lot of time doing financial planning today.  First of all she did her usual 2nd pass for our taxes and found a few more breaks we can take.  We will only owe the government $3.90!  HA!  Take that Uncle Sam!  We haven't owed that litter EVER!  Needless to say this is fantastic news.  Next, she did a lot of work looking at our debt snowball, and our lives once everything is paid off.  We truly will be following the Dave Ramsey plan.  It will be awesome and will truly allow us to go through the adoption much more easily.  She is wonderful!  Not only does she do a great job at our family finances, but she loves it!  I couldn't be luckier.  So, all in all, it was a great break.  I can't believe that the school year is almost over though.  I'm both excited and nervous about staying home with the boys over the summer.  I haven't had a summer, ever, so I'm not sure what to do with one.  Luckily the boys will still be enrolled on Tuesday/Thursday so that'll give me a good schedule of home/away.  But that's a post for another time.  Time now to relax with Amy, watch Dancing with the Stars, and vote for Kate Gosselin.

All is well, after an egg-cellent break, in Drosche Land.

 

Jack and his eggs after the hunt

 

 Braeden with his egg hunt treasures!

Seriously, Not Right Now!

Well, if you have been following our many adventures, you can correctly assume that this post is about our current car adventure.  Well, this time, Amy and I didn't wait for the answer to be given to us.  Instead we came to the realization ourselves.  After sharing our good news with everyone we got to thinking.  Was this the best choice for us?  Clearly it is what we wanted, and things seemed to be working out, but was it really best?  So, we got home yesterday (Easter post to come later) and decided to crunch the numbers.  Not just to see if we could afford the new car, but what about if we didn't get the new car?  Well, once doing so, the answer was clear before us.  After adding in the cost that our car payment would go up, in addition to the rise in insurance we found that it would be about an extra $300 a month we would need, at the least.  Well, not that we couldn't and didn't have that money, it's just that the money would have to come from our debt snowball funds.  This would mean that instead of September 2011 being the payoff for our credit card debts, it would be much later.  That in turn would affect the way we save up and fund the adoption.  Plus, we finally looked at how much longer we actually have left on the van, and we realized that we could pay it off by December 2011.  That means that just 3 months after Amy's 30th birthday (and our official submittal of all adoption paperwork) we would have over $1500 extra month to put toward the adoption.  If you add these numbers up over the estimated 15 or so months it might take us to find our child and finalize everything we suddenly realized that we would be very close to paying the entire adoption off with cash!  This sealed our decision.  Could we seriously put a new car higher in priority than our daughter?  NO!  So, we made the adult decision to keep the van, pay it off, and continue to attack our debt.  We are sure, though, that we will be going through this Costco program once we are ready to buy a car.  No fuss, no haggling, big savings - that has us written all over it!  Being an adult blows!  But, we knew that it was the right decision.  Are we bummed about not getting a new car?  Yeah, of course.  But the excitement about not only being so close to getting our daughter, but being able to pay cash for nearly all of it totally eclipses any disappointment over a silly new car that we will have to wait a bit longer on.

All is well, and content with decisions made, in Drosche Land.

Not Right Now - 2

Well, we had yet another instance of "Not Right Now" yesterday.  With the weather beginning to heat up the van is acting up again with its sluggish response when you press on the gas.  It hasn't done it all winter, but is occasionally doing it now.  We had it looked at several times last summer and no one could ever find out what was wrong.  Well, we thought that maybe we should look into a new car before it gets bad again.  Plus, it wouldn't hurt to downsize a bit either.  So we packed up the boys and headed to CarMax.  We had done some research before so we knew what we could afford and what we were looking for.  We also knew we were upside down in the van, so any loan we took out would have to include the negative equity in it.  Finally, we knew how much we had to spend in order to keep our monthly payments about the same.  At CarMax we checked out the three cars we had in mind - the Toyota Rav4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue.  The CR-V was not quite right, we didn't like the inside or general layout.  We loved the storage space on the Rav4 but when Amy test-drove it she said it was cramped feeling and bouncy.  So, we decided on the Rogue.  It was spacious, comfortable, and had some nice upgrades and amenities.  We decided to take the plunge; keeping in mind we had the walk-away power to leave if it wasn't going to be a fit.  We knew buying a new car wasn't really according to Dave Ramsey's plan, but we needed a reliable car that wouldn't fall apart on us.  So after much waiting we got our results back.  It was a no go.  Not because of our credit or anything, we were just too far upside down in the van.  The banks only will allow you to have negative equity up to a certain percentage of the price of the new car.  We were able to get a good interest rate and a monthly payment similar to our current one; we just didn't have the cash the loans were requiring to offset the negative equity.  So, once again we get our answer of "Not Right Now" from God.

But again, it's ok.  We will survive.  The good news is that we were able to get a good interest rate and monthly payment on 0% down!  If we were less upside down in the van or owned it outright, we would be fine.  That is good news in and of itself.  The only bit of bad news we got was the fact that CarMax will not buy a car with more than 100,000 miles on it, the van is at 90,000.  So, we are stuck with the van.  No worries though, the plan now is to just pay off the van and get a new car later.  More good news is that since we got the good interest rate and 0% down we wanted, we might be able to buy an actual new car when we do decide to get one.  So, once again we are given this answer and we accept it.  It'll give us time to pay off our credit cards and get everything squared away for the adoption and a new car later.  We have grown up quite a bit in the past year or so since we began the Dave Ramsey plan and became involved in 931.  We are more accepting of God's plan for us and more willing to follow along rather than try to lead.  It is comforting to know that all will be ok.  Thus is the inspiration from a verse Amy found - Jeremiah 29:11.  This has become somewhat of our mantra as we enter the adoption process, but really is something we try to keep in mind in all areas of our lives.  It's on the main page of this blog because it has become so important to us.  "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Amy is great at finding applicable verses for situations and feelings.  Another one of her many talents.

All is well, even with the answer of "Not Right Now", in Drosche Land.