Money, Money, Money...

Well it is the last day of 2009... What a year it has been too! Recovered and rebuilt from the Ike flood, put our Illinois house on the market (didn't sell), rented our house (for way less than it is costing us), moved to Nevada, lived in the RV during July in Vegas with 4 teens a dog and 2 cats, bought a new house without seeing it, said goodbye to Jon for 3 months, moved into new house, registered kids for high school, cleaned, painted, tore out and redid carpet, doorknobs and fixtures, welcomed Jon home to a new house, visited with lots of family, traveled to California many times (we all LOVE being so close!!), said good-bye to Alec, and almost had to say good-bye to Tosca. All of it demanding MORE MONEY! Through it all we have made lots of friends, gotten to know our extended family better, strengthened our own family (and our testimonies) and gained a missionary! It has been hard to not focus on the financial aspect of this past year. We have had so much "forced" spending and the debt piling higher. But, when I sit and really think about the past year, I don't feel the financial burden, I think about how grateful I am to have all the blessings in my life that I do! I have my faith, my amazing husband, my incredible kids, my crazy and entertaining pets, a GREAT house (make that 2 GREAT houses... anyone want to buy the one in Illinois???), so many wonderful friends that I have come to love dearly, and enough food to keep me from losing weight (I do love food...). What more could I want? OK, maybe a family vacation to Hawaii to see Grandpa Cliff (we miss him soooooo much!!)... alas...that would take MONEY, MONEY, MONEY... oh well...