Dave Ramsey Fan!

I love Dave Ramsey!

For those of you who've never heard of this guy, he's a finacial advisor and he's fabulous!!! Aaron introduced me to his radio program (570 am M-F 7-10 pm) last September. After listening to his program for just one night, I was hooked and had to buy his book. His program always begins by him saying, "This is where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off mortgage has taken place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice." One of my favorite parts of his program is when he has people call in after they've become completely debt free. Although, we aren't to this place yet, we are agressively pursuing and winning! I get so emotional when I hear some of the callers tell their story and hear their sacrifice to overcome this bondage. It's sooooo inspiring! Dave preaches "7 baby steps" to get out of debt. They include:

1. Get $1000 emergency fund fast.

2. Pay off all debt except house (including: credit cards, cars, student loans, etc.)

3. Increase emergency fund to 3 - 6 months expenses.

4. Put 15% of your income into retirement.

5. Fund your kids college education.

6. Pay off your home mortgage.

7. GIVE, GIVE, GIVE!

It feels so good to be living on a budget and to be working on this together. We've never been so excited about anything. The work that goes into is motivating and humbling. Honestly, we are so grateful to Dave for sharing his wisdom and teaching us how to become debt free once and for all!

Any other Dave fans out there?

Mother's Day

This is a week late, but that is because I got my Mother's day surprise last Saturday. First and foremost, I don't mean to boast about my husband, but this was way too sweet to not write about. On Mother's day Aaron wrote me a letter telling me that he was sending me and my sister Susan on an all day pampering this last Saturday. The details were minimal. I was told that it would start at 8:30 am and end at 10:00 that night. Wow!
So, Saturday morning I woke to a most yummy breakfast, one of my favorite after which I got ready for my "escort" to pick me up at 10:00 where he would take me to Susan's house. I have to say here that I was PARANOID that Aaron may have gotten a limo, so I was literally sick to my stomach at the thought that a limo would be picking me up. Luckily at 10:00 I looked outside to see our Explorer and Aaron was my escort. He really had me believe that he'd gotten a limo and I would have been soooooo emberrassed! He knew better. Anyway, off to Susan's we went where she and I went to our scheduled appointment for a massage. Heavenly! When that was over we met up with Aaron and the kids at Cafe Rio for lunch. One of my favorite places to eat. After lunch he handed me an envelope with some money and sent us on a shopping spree! Yahoo!!! I rarely shop for myself, so this was so exciting to me. We were told to be back at our house by 5:00 for dinner that Aaron prepared for us. After dinner, Susan stayed with our kids while Aaron and I went to a movie together. Honestly, it was the best day ever! He put so much thought into this and had it all planned out perfectly. What a sweet and wonderful man I have! (Okay, now I'm boasting!) I don't feel deserving of that wonderful day, but I'm sure grateful to be married to a man that feels I deserved it! So, happy belated mother's day to all you women. Around here we like to call it "Women's Day"!





Oatmeal with raisins, raisin bread, orange juice, and a grapefruit. Some of my favorites!



Don't mind my little farmer tan arm there. I think it accentuates my arm nicely!

Nathan & Aaron

So, Aaron is about the funnest guy I've ever known and our kids would agree ten fold!

So, yesterday we told Aaron's family that baby #3 is coming to the Aaron Lombardo family. Amazingly, they already knew, so it wasn't nearly as much fun as we'd hope it would be. The shock came to us nearly 3 months ago that we would be having another baby this November. We knew we wanted to continue expanding our family, but hadn't planned on another baby until Nathan was 2 years old and as of now, these two will be 17 months apart. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous to have 3 children all 3 years old and younger. This is such a busy time of year for us as well. Aaron and I are building a house and plan to move into it sometime in September. We feel amazingly blessed and can't understand why we've been given so much. I like what one of my friends said "prayers go up......and blessings come down". That is how we feel and are excited now to welcome another child into our home. This will make 3 grandchildren on Aaron's side of the family and the 21st on my side. It is fun for our children to have so many cousins. In fact whenever we get together, we rarely even see Hannah because she is off playing with her cousins for hours at a time. We look forward to meeting him/her this November and plan on waiting to find out what this one will be when she arrives. (My hunch is a girl).