Why Debt Free?

We are one of "those" families. The ones who know what they are supposed to be doing but haven't quite gotten it done yet. We know we are supposed to get out of debt and live debt free. God has been asking this of us for years.

Years ago when we first bought the house we are living in now we finally made a real effort to pay off debt. We focused on our car loan. Making the final payment several months later felt so incredibly good. A little piece of the big picture started to come into focus. We realized what we were capable of and what life would look like debt free.

We read a handful of books about financial freedom and living debt free like Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover". And, for a while, we made good progress.

But then life happened. The 'grey area' got a little more wide and a little more fuzzy. We started talking about a business loan being an 'investment'. Revolving credit (credit cards) became 'good for our credit score' as long as we paid them off each month. A car payment suddenly became necessary again because "we have to have a car" for Brad to get to work and customers don't want to see a hunk of junk. We 'invested' in a vacation club with full intent to pay the loan off quickly saying that we were investing in 'life experiences' for our children.

All of our justifications made sense in the moment. And all the while I am sure our Father in Heaven had his head in his hands wondering why we could not see. He knew what was coming. He tried to help us understand. But He also allowed us to make our own choices. He knew our son was coming. He knew we would need to go to Russia. And because we were able to wake up just in time He still chose to bless us despite our deviation from His plan. I am so grateful for a compassionate and merciful God.

Our first adoption was the wake-up call we needed. We have sprinted at full speed back to the path God has asked us to walk. During and after our adoption we eliminated debt by selling the items we had borrowed to buy and focused our energy on paying off loans.

Brad's car: sold
Disney Vacation Club: sold (there were tears over this one)
Adoption Loan (personal line of credit): paid in full

Just 16 months after committing to God's will to adopt and eliminate debt we not only had our precious son home from Russia, we had somehow managed to pull off a $50,000 adoption and simultaneously eliminate over $40,000 in debt. Now try to tell me that God cannot lead us through another international adoption without debt...

Does this mean we expect others to 'pay for' our adoption for us? Not in the least! We will be working our tushies off raising funds for this adoption. And we will be doing everything in our power to contribute in anyway possible to reach our goal. But we are trusting God to lead us and bless us in our efforts. And we have committed to completing another international adoption without debt.

Couldn't we just wait until our debts are paid to begin the adoption? Well sure, but that would not change the fact that we will need to compile around $32,000 to complete our adoption from China. The funds need to be raised whether we begin now or not. Our child is waiting for us. Why put off until tomorrow what we can do today? When God says 'move', we move.