Filed our taxes!!!

The printer is whirring right now as I type because Mike just finished efiling our taxes and is printing out about 1000 pages of stuff. All I know is we are getting some money back – yeah! Only time of year that I love the IRS. But since Joe Sangl was here this weekend teaching us how to get our finances straightened out we are planning to plan. I added Joe’s blog to my blog roll because he has some awesome tools on there for getting a handle on your money. Gotta go get ready for some sleep. Big day ahead. We are headed to Charleston to visit my sister and her family so lots of packing and cleaning to do tomorrow. Can’t wait for some South Carolina sunshine and the feeling of sand between my toes! And we have all that tax money to spend – just kidding!

Financial Freedom is on it’s way to the Morris house

Joe Sangl came to Galax this weekend and brought his Financial Freedom Experience with him.  We had the assignment of making a monthly budget last night as homework.  I won’t say it was fun – but not as bad as I had expected.  Following it may be a little harder.  Joe did a great job of giving practical, biblical reasons to make your money behave.  If you ever have the chance to go hear Joe – you should go.  He is passionate about seeing people freed from financial prison.  I am actually excited about getting some discipline into our finances.  It has been about 9 months since Mike started full time ministry and left his engineering job and we have had some financial changes that we really haven’t spent time evaluating.  This crusade, as Joe called it, came at just the right time.  Another thing I am excited about is teaching these principles to our kids.  We are planning to order Financial Peace Jr. from Dave Ramsy to get us started on helping our kids be good stewards of their money.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Hold on to your britches!


My middle child Luke is a skinny guy.  I have always had trouble finding pants that didn’t fall off of his waist.  Saw this over on Goody Blog.  I can remember searching all over the mall one Easter, when Luke was 3, looking for a belt to fit him.  End of search – here are some belts that will hold the pants on those skinny bodies.  And, they are easy for potty training – velcro.  

Cute too.  As usual – the girl ones are cuter.

Thanks to Old Navy and Gap slim sizes and adjustable waist pants I haven’t had to search for a belt in a while but these were worth sharing.

7 Random Things about me

Holly did this over on her blog and thought it looked fun.  If you blog – do the same – it’s fun reading about each other.  I think I might do one for everyone if my family.  

1.  My favorite place in the whole world is the beach!  I love the warm temperatures, the breeze off the ocean, the sand, the salt water, everything about it.  I have only visited the North Carolina and South Carolina beaches.  Been to Virginia Beach a couple of times to visit family and friends but didn’t go to the beach while I was there.  My favorite is probably Isle of Palms, SC.  I think God lives there – it’s beautiful.
2.  I taught Home Economics (food service and nutrition) at Grayson County High School for about 2 months.  Liked the students – hated the class.  I came into the job without any resources and very little experience in the food service part.  My degree from VT was very broad and I didn’t even know how to operate the equipment in the industrial kitchen.  Guess my heart just wasn’t in it.  I was only 23 and didn’t have a clue what I was doing.  Turning in that resignation was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  
3.  We lived in Winston Salem, NC for a year after we got married.  Wonderful city – still go about 2 or 3 times a month to shop.  We were members at Calvary Baptist Church – amazing church – we learned so much while we were there.  It is an example of how a church that is 50 years old can keep growing, keep being relevant and keep reaching people for Jesus.
4.  Our kids are home educated.  I don’t blog about it a lot.  Not sure why – I love my kids and am passionate about them but not really about home education.  It works for us right now and I wouldn’t trade the time I spend with my kids for anything.  You won’t find any militant home schooling opinions here.
5.  We live in a small town but I have always thought I would like to move to a bigger place.  Everytime we visit somewhere I am forever saying  – ” I would like to live here”.  I guess I think the grass is greener on the other side.  There are some wonderful things about living in a small town.  It is an awesome place to raise a family and close enough to Winston or Charlotte to visit often.  Could we just get a Starbucks? 
6.  My favorite food is Mexican.  Pretty much anything Mexican.  Chipotle has the best guacamole in the world.  Wish we had one here but we do have a great local mexican resteraunt in Galax, El Parian,  that is almost as good.  They have great food and great service and it’s always super fast.
7.  I am married to the most wonderful man in the world.   We are going on 13 years of wedded bliss and it has been a great ride.  I can honestly say I have never regretted marrying my high school boyfriend for a minute.    He’s not perfect and neither is our marriage but God has blessed us beyond what we deserve.  Can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him!