Category Archives: Marriage

Day 1398 – Bret’s Birthday Celebration!!

Posted on by
Reply

Today is my dear husband’s birthday! Last night at 12:01, I told him happy birthday and said, welcome to the last year of your 20’s! His face was priceless. 😉

I didn’t share this yet…but on Tuesday, I gave a short photography presentation to a girl scout troop! I will say that it gave me a HUGE amount of respect for Bret and teaching AND planning! Wow! I probably spend 5+ hours for twenty minute presentation. But it went awesome! They were very sweet and gave me a card AND a gift card as a thank you! TOTALLY unexpected but SO appreciated! It was to Padonia Station! Which, you know is one of our fav places to go! I was just so blessed at the timing! I wasn’t sure where I’d take Bret for his birthday…but this was my answer!

Here’s what we ended up getting!!!

20130509-152904.jpg

Day 1396 – Honoring My Husband

Posted on by
Reply

I had a great time at the beach this weekend, but I did miss my dear Bret! I’ve been thinking over the last few days just how much I love him (oh yea, it’s going to be one of THOSE posts!) I guess that’s normal when you’re away from someone for a few days and you see them again. It gave me time to think about things I wouldn’t normally think about.

So, here we go!

I am SO proud of my husband and all that he does for us.

I am just in awe of the fact that he can go to school full time, teach a class at a group gym, substitute teach, run a personal training business, do odd jobs AND work for me on the weekends.

He shoots with me, but he also does some behind the scenes work too. I’ll edit a wedding, then he’ll go through and review what I’ve done too. It’s invaluable to have another set of eyes look at the pictures.

I still cannot believe he can get up at 4:45, train a client, go to school, do some homework, train another client in the evening and get up and do it all again the next day.

What blows me away is that he makes all these sacrifices so that I can follow my dream of photography. Wow. Talk about love that humbles you!

I am so proud of the ways he has grown since we got married. He has become an even more humble man (and if you know Bret personally, you know he is VERY humble). He has become more understanding of me (I’m not exactly the easiest person to love and understand!) He has grown exponentially in his trust in God.

I didn’t think it was possible, but I do love him a little more every day.

So, Bret, I love ya man.

day_01396

Day 1395 – How We Paid Off 30K In 3.5 Years OR I Can’t Believe Bret Tweeted How Much Debt We Had!

Posted on by
13

On May 1, my dear husband tweeted this in response to another tweeter:

I’m not going to lie, I was a little “upset” that he posted the actual amount of debt we had. I was all for saying, “yay! We’re out of debt!” But didn’t think we really needed to share HOW MUCH. But, then I thought about it some more…especially after having a few friends make comments about it…saying things like, “you want advice on getting out of debt? Ask Jen and Bret!” I realized, we do have valuable information on the topic.

Here are some of the ways we did this:

  • Trusting in God. I know it sounds like a “warm and fuzzy” thing, but it is THE ultimate reason why we are now out of debt.
  • “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.” – Anonymous i.e. Making big sacrifices.
  • We didn’t buy birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. gifts. This was SUPER awkward at first!
  • We didn’t buy new clothes, unless it was absolutely necessary. I went about 5 years in between jeans. The line was when EVERY pair of jeans had a hole.
  • We moved back in with my parents.
  • We didn’t go out to eat as much as we would have liked. One of the hardest things is having to say no again and again….AND AGAIN to hanging out with friends.
  • Eating generic food.
  • Cancelling gym memberships.
  • Downgrading our insurance.
  • Checking books out of the library instead of buying them.
  • Selling things we didn’t use.
  • Saying no, even when it’s painful. i.e. Not visiting Bret’s family for Christmas last year. This was such a big deal because it’s the only time of the year we can see them.
  • Extra money went towards paying down the debt, no questions asked.

It’s painful, it’s sacrifice, but it can be done!

I thought this was an appropriate post today, because we actually had a shopping spree! It was probably the first time we went out, bought things we needed and didn’t say things like “oh, man, we can’t afford that.” A bonus for this shopping trip is that we can write off pretty much all of it! The clothes we bought can and will be worn at weddings/personal training sessions/networking/etc.

The highlight of my purchases? Oh these sparkly heels of course! I’m all about the sparkly!

day_01395

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 1391 – Evening Date Night

Posted on by
Reply

Since I’m going away this weekend (to the beach!) I figured I’d squeeze in a date night with my hubby. I bought some peach beer and when Bret got home from his personal training client, we kicked back on a swing outside and caught up with each other. I’ve found one of the most important things in our marriage is to just sit back, drink a beer together and share everything and anything.

Here’s the beer!!

day_01391