'Our' Plan

I've been sitting here the past couple of days thinking & talking it over with Jonny what our 'plan' for the future is... well, here is the start of it!

1) Budget, save, save, & save!! 2010 came and went way to fast and there were so many unexpected surprises along the way that threw our life off financially! Therefore, this year we are committed to budgeting and sticking to it! Thanks to mint.com (everyone should go check it out and use it. it's FREE) we have created a budget, we are sticking to it, and we are watching our spending habits very closely!
This entire budget thing leads to the next ideas...

2) Do I go back to work or does Jonny go full-time somewhere? ... We were convinced that Jonny was going to go full time at Apple and we were very excited and thrilled about this. Not only for the extra money, but also because of the benefits of health insurance etc. But, another hiccup on the way... we found out that since Jonny does not have full open availability, due to him working at the church on Tues & Sun, he can not go full time! This has caused more talking and more planning... What does he want his career to be (ministry or corporate)? does he choose one or the other? or do we wait?... so here we are waiting! And while we wait, I will start looking for a job to help out financially! Jonny loves both of his jobs and is exceptionally great at both, but he has decided that God has called him to leading worship. So, he will continue to do both and hope & pray that his part-time leading worship will lead to a full time career within the next couple of years!

3) I must admit that the entire job discussion was all based on another idea... the idea of when to have kids! We were hoping to start trying in the next year and we thought this was confirmed with the idea of Jonny going full time (another reason I was not going to go back to work). However, with out a full time job and without insurance we don't know when we will start trying. I must remind myself that God already knows when and that His plan is what is perfect! He knows when we will have jobs & money & insurance, etc... He will provide!

So right now we will do what we can to prepare for the future! Which means we both will work where God places us and we will save $ for the possibility of children in the future! And remind ourselves that God is the ultimate provider (of jobs, money, children, & life), and that HIS plan is what is perfect!