Stupid finances...

So we're really trying to figure out what's best for us especially in regard to our pocketbooks. Quite frankly, we would LOVE to build and have a house that's new. BUT, we don't have the time or the manpower to do a lot of work ourselves, so we would have to completely pay a builder. Even a new small house is probably realistically out of our price range if we don't want to be married to our mortgage. We would also be fine with another foreclosure, IF we had the time, money, and energy to put the work into it to make the house livable. Besides $$$, another problem we are running into with buying an existing home is that we don't have the time to look at a bunch of different houses. John and I will be the only ones able to take care of Malachi except for a nurse and we're technically not allowed to run errands while the nurse is here. We, obviously, would like to stop renting again--as quickly as possible. Our lease technically isn't up until January, but we're trying to keep these things on the radar and be on the lookout for a good deal. Or maybe we just stay in an apartment.

On the bright side, some guys from church tweaked and tinkered with Bonnie and we're super thankful that she's going to last us for a while longer. We definitely won't be able to get any money out of her by selling now, so we'll drive her 'til she just won't drive anymore.

Kind of makes us think we shouldn't have necessarily paid off 1/2 of John's school loans with our tax return. Thankfully, we don't have any credit card debt and the only debt that we have is a small loan from my dad and the rest of John's school loan.

When Malachi comes home, I really won't be able to continue working much with my MT stuff from home. And now that insurance benefits and things like that are being taken out of John's checks, we're definitely cutting it close. We are thankful for what we had built up in our savings and that we had a bit of a cushion. And we are even more grateful for the generosity of people who have given gifts of money or gift cards for food and gas to help us in our current situation.

All that to say, pray for a raise... soon.