I talk a lot about all the things Brad and I did wrong prior to reading Dave Ramsey and Crystal Paine in 2010, but I don’t talk a lot about all of the things we were doing right during those first four years of our marriage. Despite the fact that we entered our first year […]
Archive for the ‘Unemployment’ Category
What We Did Right When We Went $238,000 In Debt
April 11th, 2014 
Jessica Why Is It So Important That I Be Debt-Free?
March 14th, 2014 Jessica When I first learned about debt-freedom from Dave Ramsey and Crystal Paine, I immediately became passionate about becoming debt-free. Why? Because we serve a big God, who has given Brad and I big dreams. In September 2009, after 17 years of dreaming, Brad had finally accepted his dream job doing full-time youth ministry. I had […]
Book Review: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America
March 31st, 2012 Jessica A year and a half ago, my husband Brad was laid off from his job in Minnesota. We had only lived in Minnesota for a year, so we had no other job prospects in the area or history of family, friends, and church to support us. So we reluctantly packed up our apartment and storage […]
Posted in Reading, Unemployment 
Comments Off on Book Review: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In AmericaTithing Through the Hard Times
January 14th, 2012 Jessica “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first-fruits of all your produce.” Proverbs 3:9 When I was a child, my parents decided to give us a weekly allowance. Five dollars seemed like a lot back then! But my parents had some stipulations. A dollar must be placed in a “Savings” envelope, a dollar […]
How to Survive Moving In With Your Parents
January 11th, 2012 Jessica You’ve got to admit it: No one dreams of moving back in with their parents after they have reach adulthood. Especially not with a spouse and/or children as part of the arrangement. But with the current economy, more and more grown children are moving back in with their parents to make ends meet. How are […]
How To Survive A Lay-Off
December 6th, 2011 Jessica It’s been 15 months since Brad was laid off from his last job, and 3 months since he began his new position here in sunny California. We haven’t figured it all out, but here are a few things we learned along the way: Pray. A lot. Be Specific. Be a Team. This is not the […]
California Dreaming
September 24th, 2011 Jessica Have you missed reading my posts lately? It’s hard to believe that 4 weeks have already passed since my last post! Our family has been incredibly busy during this time. I sold my car on September 1, taking a crash course in Craigslist, inspections, and car sales. Brad was invited to California for another week, […]
The Abundant Husband: We’re Moving to California!
August 24th, 2011 Jessica “‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” Matthew 14: 29 Here we go again! Like Peter jumping out of the boat to walk on the water with Jesus, we too are about to take another leap of faith. As this summer […]
Don’t look back
July 8th, 2011 Jessica In my daily Bible reading, I’ve been working my way through a list in my Bible entitled “5 Minutes Reading About Women of the Bible.” It’s been interesting as I’ve moved through the scriptures from Eve to Ruth, studying all the women in between. This morning I read about Deborah (Judges 4:1-5:31). Deborah told Barack […]
June 24, 2011: Gratitude
June 24th, 2011 Jessica Yesterday, I sat on the front porch swing reading a book, with Oliver sitting beside me. I twiddled a pencil in my fingers while he gnawed on the fingers of my other hand. It was warm, but there was a light breeze. The neighbor across the street mowed his lawn, and white clouds drifted lazily […]
