Bill's dad passed away on March 9. Bill got saddled with making all the decisions about the funeral arrangement and then the family complained about everything. His dad was retired from the army so we picked out a casket that was dark blue and had an army emblem in it. It was supposed to be draped with an American flag but Bill's brother didn't want it. He didn't want anything to do with a military funeral. He was the youngest and dad retired from the army when he was just a little kid. But Bill, his sister and older brother all grew up as army brats and the military funeral was important to them. It was also important to Bill's mom. We were more concerned about what she wanted than about what the brother wanted. Unfortunately the brother and the grandkids did a whole lot of complaining and wanting to change things. I was so happy when the funeral was finally over. Bill's mom is doing OK but her income is now less than 1/2 what it was before. So she has to do a great deal of downsizing. She got about $60,000 in life insurance money and we're trying to encourage her to pay off all her debts and don't give ANY to the youngest brother or grandkids. I just hope she listens to us. She needs to get rid of the house even though it is paid for because it is old and run down and she won't be able to pay for maintenance on it. She suffers for depression (has for years, won't take medication for it) and it's very hard to get her to make decisions. Bill and his sister may have to go over there and light a fire under her.
We got a really good raise. Hopefully we can pay down on some of our debt. I would love to be debt free. When you owe money you are a slave to the one you owe and we are definitely slaves. Unfortunately we need a new car and even though we could afford the payments it would make things tight and I was hoped to lower the debt load first. We are in trouble financially because we always run ahead of God. This time (for once) I would like to get in line with Him.
Our pastor is going to retire in October. He's been pastor of this church for over 30 years. Sunday we will vote on calling our associate pastor (who has been with us for 35 years) to be our pastor. I hope he does become our pastor. I think it would be a good thing for our church. Of course we'll have to hire another staff member to do some of the things that he used to do so that he can be free to concentrate on the pastor job.
Sassy needs to go out so I'll have to stop now.
Photo of the day, where we'll be living if we don't behave ourselves financially.
No comments:
Post a Comment