sign in front of our house in the very near future. It's been a really tough decision to make and one we don't take lightly, but so far we are feeling good about this decision after much prayer and thought about what changes we need to make right now.
What triggered the thoughts to sell and get out of the house was word a couple weeks ago that Matt would be getting a paycut at work for a while.....not sure how long at this point.....in order to help the company get back on top of some things. It was a hard decision for the owners of the company to make (Matt has witnessed the difficulty first hand in talking with the owners himself), but one that has already begun to
help the company in the last couple months. We feel very lucky and very blessed that we haven't been more negatively affected by it, since it could have been a lot worse. We are just truly grateful to have the job at this point. Matt is not the only one that this has affected.....it's been company wide.....we've just been lucky enough to be one of the last to be affected by it. The owners have since come to Matt personally and spoken to him about the changes and have assured him that he is a very valuable member of the company, they don't want to lose him, and that this will not be permanent. They've asked Matt to hang in there with them for a bit longer and that if we do, we will not regret it in the end.
Matt has been very honest and up front with the owners and they are aware that there has been some interest in him from other competitor companies and that he has submitted his resume. However, Matt has truly, truly LOVED working for the current company for the last 8 years and he really would prefer to stay with them, if at all possible. There has been a lot of anger, hurt, and frustration from other employees within the company for the last little while and there has actually been quite a bit of turnover as a result of these changes that have come about. The owners of the company really are truly good men who are trying to do what's right for them and their families, their company, and their employees and their families as well. Matt has witnessed first hand the struggle that these men have been going through themselves to make this work as well as possible for everyone. Others within the company have not necessarily had the opportunity or taken the time to get to know the owners as well as Matt has. It's a tough time for everyone right now, but we are continuing to pray about our situation, trying to stay positive about the changes, and are actually looking forward to the future. We have much to be grateful for, in spite of the trials!
In the meantime, this experience has really made Matt and I take a step back and reevaluate the most important things in our lives at this point. While we love our house and the area that we live in......we know that we can be happy no matter where we live, as long as we have each other and we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. With that knowledge, we have decided that it's time for us to make some big changes in 2011.
After much prayer and much thought, we've decided that it's time for us to downsize and reprioritize a bit and get back to the basics. In doing so, we need to move out of our house and into something that is less expensive right now so that we can focus on getting completely, 100% out of debt. By comparison to so many others in society today, Matt and I actually have pretty minimal debt....but we do have some
student loans and a few things that we can't seem to get rid of right now. As a result, we have felt a great urgency that this year we need to downsize and really focus on getting rid of whatever debt we have and on gaining a substantial savings account as well.
The General Authorities of the church have been telling us as members of the church for years now that we need to do everything we can, make whatever sacrifices we have to, to get out of debt. Everytime I hear them say it, I cringe just a little because I know that there are some things that we could do differently in our lives to help do that. So this year is the year that we are going to focus on those things and work hard to get to that point.
Another huge factor in this decision is adoption. We've been waiting for a while now, which has been a bit frustrating for us at times. So instead of just sitting and waiting anymore.....and worrying about how we're going
to afford to pay for an adoption when that time comes......we've decided to take action and do what we can to help this process go as smoothly as possible when the times comes. By selling our house and making these changes right now, it will also allow us to put some substantial money in the bank so that we can hopefully pay cash for an adoption......or be able to only have to minimally finance it.......when the time comes.
As I said previously, the decision to sell our house and move has been a tough decision to make.....but it's one that we are feeling good about and we are actually looking forward to the future and whatever may be in store for us. We are determined to make 2011 a great year for us! :)
