Is Education the best financial choice?

I know most of us have felt at some point or another that we do not have enough money. Some of us have even seriously wondered how to put food on the table, but are we really that poor?

Of course not, we feel that we do not have enough money because everyone owns more than one TV and more and more people own a HDTV big screen. We have to have nice furniture, nice clothes, everything. In fact food is one of the last things we think about when it comes to our expenses. We will buy a dollar menu item to eat and spend 100s on clothes out shopping.

Other countries standard of living is down to the basics they feel proud to simply have some nice food and newer clothes. Being able to afford seed to grow their own crops or a few head of cattle are the things they judge themselves by.

But how do we escape the cultural standards we face everyday? I do not pretend to know the answer. You hear the term poor college student (who has plenty of money to party and go to lots of events) and even the poor newlywed starting out. You see on TV a 20 something year old buying over 200,000 dollar homes and expecting granite and this and that. When I know that most of us cannot afford it.

It is also a cultural no-no to be living with family or working for low income, but why?

I have to say that I often envy those living comfortably on very little. They are blue collar workers who earn what they have.

I am disgusted by the fact that these people are portrayed so poorly by media and not respected by our culture. It is these depictions that made us (my husband and I) think we needed more.

We are both college graduates, he even has a JD (law degree). We thought this would mean a life of easy living with plenty of money for the simple expenses like housing, food etc. Boy were we wrong. Instead it has put us behind by years and we find ourselves struggling to dig our selves out of a student loan avalanche. Now we do not even have the money to afford even the simplest of things due to large loan payments and wonder if it wouldn't have been better to save that money and find low but sustainable paying jobs.

Everyone tells us that its only short term but how do you cope even in the short term.

Are we expected to just keep accumulating debt to stay afloat while we wait for those degrees to pay off.

Prayer seems our only option these days. Praise to God for the people around us who support us emotionally and financially these days. He provides through love and kindness of family and friends. We also Pray that we can somehow find a way out of this financial dilemma and guidance to cope in the meantime.

Personal Space, Whats That?

So Ben and I have been considering purchasing our own home and escaping the chaos that is "Gale" living. I call it Gale living because we currently live with my parents and bless there heart they have an open door policy to just about anyone out there especially family (the rest of the Gale's). Living with the constant bombardment of friends, family, and neighbors has really been getting to me lately and I grew up with it this way. What is Peace? You mean there isn't someone coming to your house every single day? Lucky!! My family is so comfortable dropping in on us that they show up unannounced and we usually end up feeding them. My cousins even planned a family reunion at our house and gave us about a week and a half notice.

I am so amazed that we have lasted the past 3 years here. By now I bet you are too. Anyway, so we have been desperate to be our own family but have not been able to do it financially and unfortunately after crunching the numbers we are still stuck.

I will continue to cook and clean for not only the 6 members of this household but for all the visitors I can't kick out because it is not my house.

We are hoping that Ben's business will pick up and that we will be able to find our own space in the next year. I often wonder if praying for my own space is greedy. God is already providing us with all we Need through the generosity of my parents but oh the stress on every aspect of our life.

I pray instead that God help me to be happy in any situation I find myself in. I pray that God uses me where I am since I know that my family and our many visitors could use His guidance. This has proven difficult as I get very angry with them and find it hard to be an example of Gods love, but I will keep trying.

Yesterday my cousins came over to "hang out" while they flea bombed their home and while I was not real thrilled with their presence I remembered that I needed to act out of Love and so I offered to feed them (cousin, wife and three girls) dinner. I know it was a small gesture but it was a large step for me and I am hoping that God can use it to weigh on their hearts.

With Gods help I can get through anything even the chaos of "Gale" living.