FPU

So in November 2007 we did IT. We paid off our mortgage!! Making that last electronic payment caused great excitement.

A couple weeks later we received a letter from Wells Fargo. Honestly, I was a little disappointed. I felt like it should have been accompanied by a gold-leafed certificate or have made a kazoo noise and showered confetti on me when I opened the envelope. Just a letter on Wells Fargo letterhead.

Oh well. I still stuck it up on our refrigerator for a couple weeks.

Suddenly there was this influx of “extra” cash. Woohoo!! Mark and I went on a cruise to celebrate.

Alone.

Without the kids.

(Mark wanted me to be sure to tell you that we hadn’t completely lost our minds. We got a heck of a deal on a 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise that cost us about $1,000 total include flight to LA, shuttle, etc.)

Guess what I brought on the cruise?

Stacks of adoption agency brochures 🙂

So we had all this extra cash that we could use to finance the adoption. Right?

Well behind the scenes, and for some time before even, Mark had been wrestling with his ministry job. Was it really where God wanted him? Was this the best use of his spiritual gifts? etc. etc. He prayed, and waited, and prayed and waited. Kind of a “Okay God, I will go but WHAT do you want me to do.”

But he just kept hearing “Go”.

Um, who voluntarily quits their job without a new one lined up? Or at least a general direction? Crazy people right?

Or….people who have options.

People who have no house payment, no car payments, no credit card bill.

Of course I like to assume that we would have been obedient even IF we still had that house payment. But it was sure a lot easier this way.

Yet one question remained.

How would we pay for the adoption?

To be continued…