I have to blog about a comment my mother in law said this weekend while visiting at her house. It started with a gorgeous clock hanging on her wall.  Every hour, on the hour, the face place breaks apart and spins around in a circle revealing the "innards" of the clock and playing a song.  It really was the neatest clock I have ever seen.  She told me she had been drooling over it for some time.  She finally walked in the store one day and said I don't need to know the price, I just need to know if you take credit cards.  LOL  So she walked out with it that day.  When Matthew's sister and her hubby left, I felt comfortable to quietly ask how much it costs if she felt comfortable enough to tell me.  She said it was $300!!  Can you imagine????  I said never mind.  Matthew laughed.  My bday is coming up in April and our anniversary in May and he knew I was about to ask him to buy me the clock, UNTIL I found out the price.  NO WAY!  

 But it was a gorgeous clock and I emjoyed watching it come apart, dance around and play its song every hour and admired its beauty while there.  His mother in law said, well it took me 57 years (that is how old she is) to get a clock like this.  You will have to most likely wait a while for yours!!!  I just smiled and nodded.  She said maybe after we are married for 50 years my husband will buy me one.  She said her and her mother in law have talked about how "Kids these days want everything as soon as they are married instead of waiting until they can earn it, appreciate it, and pay cash for it.  Young people these days want to buy or build a house as soon as they are married and think they are too good to suffer through till the time is right like their parents and grandparents did."

I didn't say anything else in her presence, but I am in disagreement with this!!  First of all, I would not put the clock on credit card.  She didn't pay cash for it, althought that was one of her comments about young people not wanting to pay cash for something!!!   We aren't exactly youngsters.....Matthew is turning 30 this year, and I will turn 35 in April.  We are more mature than she was when she married at 19.  We were able to afford many things she was not able to because Matthew went to college and has a decent job, where her husband did not.  We decided to start making provisions for our family by buying a house in our second year of marriage and we can afford it.  We have no debt now except for the mortgage and it will be paid off in about 10 years instead of the 28 left on our loan due o our refinancing the loan and paying the same amount of payment on it.  We are responsible with our money and finances and have never borrowed money from his parents. 

Yes we are newly married, have a house and all the things (new furniture and decent cars) that they had to wait many years for.  But wouldn't you want your children to learn from the mistakes of your ancestors and not have to suffer through those years like you did??? This is how my parents viewed us.  They were happy when we told them we were looking at houses.  My parents discussed with us the responsibilities of owning a home and the bills, taxes, insurance, etc. to see if we had thought it all out and of course we had.  His parents on the other hand told us flat out that we were doing too much by getting pregnant so soon and buying a house so soon and we couldn't handle all this. 

We are pleased with our new house and having fun redecorating it and hopefully redoing the whole kitchen this year.  We have less debt and more money in the bank than his parents and an emergency fund is growing.  We make provisions for end of the year Christmas presents, and taxes and insurance on the house, etc. and they don't.  We use our money wisely and they borrow against this credit card to buy something on the other one.  They have tens of thousands on credit cards and I am sure with purchases like the clock it isn't going down too fast. 

Now you tell me who is smarter with finances???  Why wouldn't I want to succeed in life and in my finances and own my own house??? No I don't want to wait to enjoy my life when I am older.  I want to enjoy life and all that it has in store NOW!  My God provides for all our needs and he blesses us with suprises of our wants often as well.  We don't make a purchase such as this house without praying about it and we know we were right in God's will when we signed the papers on this house. 

I think our heavenly father, would want us to be just as happy and secure in our lives as my parents wanted us to be.  Honestly I wasn't that suprised to hear this kind of talk coming from his paresnts.  They honestly act as if they are jealous that we have it all together.  I can understand to some point, because neither of Matthew's sisters are finacially secure and when his oldest bought their first house, it kinda blew up in their face adn they havev ended up in divorce.  I suppose they think the same will happen to us.  But what his family doesn't have, that we do......is God!!!   They don't understand the concept of asking God for guidance and actually getting a word on something.  This is foreign to them. 

Anyway.......what do you guys think????