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The One Thing My Marriage Was Missing… And How We Found It

Finances· Marriage

27 Mar

MarriageWasMissingThis

My husband and I have a goal to finish paying off our debt by our 10th wedding anniversary this August.

Do you know what we want to do once we’re out of debt?

We want to move into a tiny home in the country. We wish for tons of space to roam around in our own backyard. We want to get a dog for our energetic animal-loving four year old and a porch swing for our avid-reading eight year old.

We want campfires in the summertime and picturesque snowy nights in the wintertime. We long to see the vibrant stars in a way that is only possible without city lights. We hope to grow old there together.

Do you see what we’re doing? We’re dreaming with each-other about our future.

It hasn’t always been that way.

For years, we made painfully slow progress on debt payments. We didn’t like sacrificing to pay off debt, but we also knew that we don’t want to live in debt forever. Getting on the same page was difficult.

We had a goal to be debt free but no real plan for what we’d do next. Now, we have a plan. We’ve made a chart. We’re selling stuff online. We’re pulling some extra work hours.

We know what our next step is.

I love this dreaming together. To make it even better, while I was simply dreaming, Nathan was busy doing. He looked around online and found a tiny house that’s for sale in the country, complete with a pond, a garage, and lots and lots of land. To top it all off, this home is in our (future) price range and it’s just about our ideal location.

IMG_4406
I had two choices.
I could leave it at that – a house he found online. Or, I could take our dream to the next step – I could help make it real.

I chose the latter. So one Sunday morning, I got up a little early and made a very simple lunch, then wrapped everything up and put it in an insulated lunch tote.

After church, I told everyone I had a surprise and I handed out the food in the car. We drove to the property Nathan had found. It was vacant so we walked around the outside together. We talked. We planned. We dreamed. Grace (4) asked if we could please finish paying off debt this week so we can move into that house the next day. Lily (8) found the perfect reading spot.

It was glorious. While we were exploring the area, I realized that we do so many things together: we work, learn, grow, serve, play, worship, and travel. But this whole time, we’ve been missing something: the dreaming together.

Dreaming is so good. Will we ever move out to the country? I certainly hope so, but I don’t know what tomorrow holds. Will we get that house? Maybe, maybe not. By the time we’re ready to buy, it may be sold. All of us know that.

But now our dream feels more like a future reality, something much more tangible than various different abstract ideas swirling around in our heads. Now when we talk about “the country” we all have the same picture in our minds. We have a similar dream, and a common goal.

Paying off debt is no longer a burden – it’s exciting because we have a plan for what to do next.

IMG_4571
If you don’t have a current dream with your spouse, and your kids if they’re still living at home, go ahead and give it a try. It can be something as small as planning a Saturday just to have fun together or taking a family walk after dinner one evening. It may be getting out of debt so you can afford to take an overseas mission trip.

Maybe you think you and your spouse only have different dreams right now. It’s perfectly okay to dream about different things (trust me, my husband does not dream of having a book in print one day, and I definitely don’t dream about fixing more computers!). Be willing to listen to the heart behind each-others dreams and find something in common. Then work towards that.

Only God knows the future, but in the meantime, dreaming together is so good.

“…I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done…” Isaiah 46:9-10 (NKJV)

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    15 Comments

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    Comments

    1. Sanz @ From The Mrs. says

      March 27, 2014 at 10:58 am

      This is wonderful! Good luck in becoming debt free and I hope you make it to your country house! I would love that as well, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be in the ‘burbs forever. 🙂

      Reply
      • Davonne says

        March 27, 2014 at 8:57 pm

        Thank you, Sanz! Have you read this letter to City Homesteaders? It is SO good: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/462956036666891923/

        Reply
    2. Sanz @ From The Mrs. says

      March 27, 2014 at 10:59 am

      Good luck in becoming debt-free! It is a tremendous feeling! I just wish our house were paid for. 🙂 I love your dream and it sounds like you guys are well on your way!

      Reply
      • Davonne says

        March 27, 2014 at 8:52 pm

        Thank you so much, Sanz! I can’t wait to feel that debt-free feeling! I already feel awesome just by the progress we’ve made! God is good.

        Reply
    3. Paula says

      March 27, 2014 at 12:14 pm

      So beautiful! Thank you!

      Reply
      • Davonne says

        March 27, 2014 at 8:51 pm

        Thank YOU, Paula!

        Reply
    4. Shelley says

      April 28, 2014 at 1:00 am

      Hope you accomplish your dream soon. Then make another;-)

      Reply
      • Davonne says

        April 29, 2014 at 9:58 pm

        Thank you Shelley!

        Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. Meet Davonne - The HSBA Post says:
      July 8, 2014 at 6:01 am

      […] (or “off of debt” as Grace likes to say), we plan to look for a home in the country so we can have the space to roam free on a daily […]

      Reply
    2. How I Decluttered My Entire House in Six Days: Part 14 of Clutter Free in 2014 says:
      August 2, 2014 at 7:37 pm

      […] family kept our main goal in mind. I’ve told you a little about our dream of moving to a tiny house in the country. I was amazed at how this dream propelled all four of us […]

      Reply
    3. We’re Downsizing to a Fixer-Upper {And a $100 Dayspring Giveaway} says:
      October 21, 2016 at 11:47 pm

      […] downsizing our square-footage, I am ridiculously excited and at peace about this purchase. We’ve been looking for over three years and I’ll be unpacking bits of this story in the upcoming months, but for today, some […]

      Reply
    4. Our Fixer-Upper: The “Before” Photos says:
      October 30, 2016 at 7:56 pm

      […] Dreaming About the Country […]

      Reply
    5. Our Fixer-Upper: How We Got Here says:
      November 14, 2016 at 9:07 am

      […] and we are so excited to get to move there in the spring! You can read a little about how much we’ve dreamed about this home here, or go here to see the property (27 […]

      Reply
    6. We’re Downsizing to a Fixer-Upper {And a $100 Dayspring Giveaway} says:
      May 4, 2017 at 2:35 pm

      […] downsizing our square-footage, I am ridiculously excited and at peace about this purchase. We’ve been looking for over three years and I’ll be unpacking bits of this story in the upcoming months, but for today, some […]

      Reply
    7. Our Fixer-Upper: How We Got Here - Davonne Parks says:
      April 8, 2018 at 9:56 pm

      […] and we are so excited to get to move there in the spring! You can read a little about how much we’ve dreamed about this home here, or go here to see the property (27 […]

      Reply

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