Hannah Morrison

Picking Your List of Counsel

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. Proverbs 15:22

This morning, Paul and I woke up at 5:22 AM to a once again sick doodle. (Poor baby.) We know you shouldn’t change your dog’s food on them without a transition time, but we bought a small bag of food from Whole Foods two nights ago, because we knew we were out of food at home and definitely knew we were beyond exhausted. We just wanted to get home and into bed so we could finally sit down for the day. We grabbed the food and said ‘we will give her this, and then buy her big bag from Costco tomorrow’, all unfolding in aisle 8 at Whole Foods. This was the worst idea ever. My poor Presley has been sick as a d-o-g, and every time she gets sick I have this overwhelming sense of regret and guilt because it’s all my fault. Trust me, I know we did it wrong.

This is nothing to do with today’s post, but that’s what woke me up today at 5:22 AM. So we went ahead and rolled out of bed to our dimly lit living room, cleaned up doodle, and got to our quiet time before what felt like anybody else was awake in the surrounding 10 miles radius. No cars driving by, no dull rush from the highway on the other side of our complex. Complete silence. Then in the middle of our quiet time, a ginormous THUD came from our closet and I legitimately thought someone was hiding in our closet and about to kill us. Alas, it was just our huge tub of probably about 50+ books scattered across our floor. This has been my morning, and it’s fairly irrelevant except to invite you into Paul’s and my life haha. This is to give you a great visual picture of our current setting, that’s all.  BUT, to the point, I read my devotional this morning and it was called PUSH. It gave me the scripture above and challenged me to write out my “wise counsel”. When Paul and I got married, we got marriage counseling from a couple who stand as wise counsel in our life. We read through a book with them, and met for dinner a couple times a month to hash out things we were not seeing eye to eye on and getting over all prepared (as best you can) for life as a unit in just a few months. Part of this counseling was choosing people we trust and feel comfortable with the other going to when we are in turmoil, frustrated with one another, or just need advice that we can’t give one another. This select, special list are people that we can share anything with- our deepest struggles, our frustrations with one another, and our fears. Because, though our spouses are our confidants and best friends, sometimes we need to step outside of our tunneled perspective that exists between just the two of us, and ask for wiser counsel to speak into our situation. We have had moments in our marriage that we are at a complete dead end, and we will not find an exit on our own. Rather, we will continue in the round about we are driving on, and keep missing the turn out because we cannot seem to find a common ground.

This list will shift with life changes, season changes and circumstances. But amongst our list is parents, peers, pastors, and superiors. So this morning I wrote out my list of wise counsel in this season of life, from peers (friends in the same life stage as you) who I know can give me biblical viewpoints and wisdom, to wise women in my church community (superiors), to my pastors, and of course our parents. These are people who I trust to speak into me, who know me well, can encourage me, rebuke and refine me, prune me, and guide me. They are people I respect as wives, as business leaders, as moms, as my spiritual guides. This is the list of people that, if in a situation you are told you are wrong or should look at something from a different angle, you listen and value that especially so because it’s coming from one of your people on “the list”. This doesn’t mean discount completely anyone who gives you advice or says you should work on something that isn’t on the list, but you take it with a grain of salt. You give this list of people access into your life in a special way that others do not get. Not because you are selfish or don’t want to be transparent with everyone, but because life shouldn’t be lived with a million people offering you advice that you take action on. These people are who you have decided to entrust with the nitty gritty details of your life. Everybody in the world, no matter how great their intentions, cannot and should not help you with the nitty gritty. These are the people who, if something terrible happened, would step in and act as your sanity and guide you in decision making.

So I made my list. It consists of 10 people, 9 not including Paul. Paul loves the people on my list, and I love his. They are people I trust, and he trusts mine. If you put someone on your list the other doesn’t take their opinions seriously into account to speak into their lives or situations, then it’s pointless and you actually lose your spouse’s trust a little. The best part was Paul guessing every single one of my list without me prompting him or telling him. That is called being known, y’all. Marry your best friend. It won’t disappoint. Paul then created his list, and I guessed it 90% right… I guess Paul is the better spouse 😉 Or I am just far more predictable, a lady of routine and predictability, and I am a-okay with that.

I encourage you to make your list today, whether you are single or married! The list is so important. Pick people who are in your day to day in some way or another. This doesn’t mean literally close by, but people that play a role in this season of life. I will say it again, this list will change depending on your season of life and the circumstances which you find yourself in. Happy list making!

Kill your Monday today! Make it so great, love people well, and be kind.

xoxo- Han

Hydrogen Peroxide

I shared about a month ago that life as I know it was changing drastically, and basically at the snap of my doctor’s fingers. I went to a crazy scientist doctor who made sense of my entire life in about an hour, and he also made me cut out everything good in life in exchange for a diet of meat and veggies.

Listen here, my blog is called The Cake, I have a massive sweet tooth. Cutting out sweets cold turkey has been anything but easy. I have cheated twice, all in the first week, and haven’t since. I indulged in Pacuigo gelato and queso. It was bad news bears and I swore to not do that again, because both the guilt and the stomach ache accompanied with these decisions just wasn’t worth it. Cutting out carbs, pastas (even the gluten free I have been on for 4 years!!), not easy. I have been on this “diet” for about a month, and I thought I would share an update mostly because you have asked for one. First off, I want to say  THANk YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, and I wish I could hug and kiss each and every one of you. The emails, comments, support, and questions I have received over the last month have been overwhelming. To the ladies in my church community who have loved on me so closely, asked me how I am so genuinely, and sent me home with bags of vitamins and supplements, you are all such gifts. The best part about sharing my story has been the numerous people I have been able to send to my crazy scientist doctor! I always share my stories and details about Paul’s and my life, because I know it can help SOMEBODY. What I wasn’t expecting was for so many of you to be in a situation, like mine, of not knowing what kind of doctor to see and feeling hopeless. It has been the greatest joy to respond to your emails and comments, helping you find doctors in your own cities with similar practices as my crazy scientist doctor, or sending you to my own.

For an update,

Warning: I think actually when you start a detox, you get sicker before you get better. My first month has been extremely hard on my body. I have experienced more fatigue and more overall pain than before this detox. And, I have experienced fits of insomnia again, which I don’t understand considering the fatigue I have. (I woke up at 4:45 today, wiiiide awake so I got up to take on my day rather than just laying there in bed.) I often feel as though I am on the verge of the flu, you know that overall achey feeling you get when you’re sick? I have also experienced some vertigo. I have told people that it must be like when you put hydrogen peroxide on a wound. Before the wound gets better, the hydrogen peroxide burns and stings, but it’s for your own good. I am waiting for the “hydrogen peroxide” stage to be over. But, mind you, we have 24 years worth of reversing to do, so progress will be slow, things will take a long time. But, like the bubbling of the peroxide on the cut, I know something is changing, something is healing.

You have asked me what I am eating…

and some days I would like to know the answer to this question myself. HA. I think some of you fear I will wither away to nothing before this is all over, but I can assure you I am eating. And a lot of it, just whatever I can get my hands on. The Morrison household has taken to A LOT OF MEAT. As if we didn’t eat meat for each meal already, I mean literally, we cook whole massive steaks, and I am eating large portions of them. I eat a lot of chicken, a lot of broccoli, a lot of cucumbers with avocado oil and onion. I eat coconut butter straight from the jar, and I have allowed myself to eat a little coconut almond butter daily. (I don’t know if I am supposed to technically, but I needed SOMETHING.) The first week was the worst. I was hangry, frustrated, and never full no matter how much I ate. Prepare yourself for week one, drink lots of water, and pray a whole lot. Overall, our meals don’t look a whole lot different than they were before, but the portions are larger because my snacking options have dwindled. Because I can’t eat toast, I can’t eat pasta, I can’t eat any filler foods in my meals, I rely solely on a whooooole lot of veggies and meat to fill me.

The best part about this,

this past month has been one of the most spiritually filling months I have had in a long time. It’s funny how our prayer life and awareness of how much we truly need to rely on the Lord for absolutely everything in our lives comes about when we are in seasons like my “hydrogen peroxide” one. Every morning I pray for the Lord to give me energy and to help me be aware and present in my day. I pray for joy. I pray for my relationships that have been put on the back burner the last few years. I pray for the little things, I pray for the big. Constant dialogue is what my prayer life is like lately, and I don’t hate it one bit. I feel like my faith was refreshed, and like I am in high school again. My prayer life is constant and crisp, like my morning drives to school when I was 17. Talking out loud, windows down, rolling through the back roads of the hill country to dance practice in the pitch black morning chatting with Jesus, telling him the deepest desires of my heart. I feel that sense of need and longing I did when I was a teenager, learning what it meant to be in a relationship with God (don’t hear me say that like the weird “I am dating Jesus” thing), I mean like father daughter. Like leaning on a crutch with a broken foot, I have had to lean on God for absolutely everything when I would usually have a tendency of straying or figuring it out for myself. I am thankful for this season of life, and I am expectant for what I will learn next.

I am so grateful for ALL OF YOU. I love sharing life and walking alongside you in it (as best the internet allows us). I love hearing from you. I love being part of your mornings. I love helping in any way I can. Thanks for following The Cake.

Infinite x’s + o’s- Han

Pray The BIG Prayers

This is certainly one of those impromptu, unplanned, quickly written posts. But, I felt the need to post it. I know someone out there needs this same encouragement. Go move mountains today, command them to jump into the sea because they fear the power you have in the name of Jesus. 

Ever since I can remember, I have prayed very specific, very big prayers. Not that I bank on the Lord responding to every crazy thing I dream up and ask for him to make happen, but that when he DOES respond, my faith is that much more affirmed there is in fact a God because there is no other way such a thing could happen other than by the work of his hand. For example, when I was about 13 years old, I asked for God to make me sick to my stomach with every boy I ever dated until I met my husband. (INSANE, I know.) And, of course, God responded. I literally came home nauseous every single date, with the nicest boys majority of the time, but I just couldn’t get myself to fall in love. I knew deep down, it wasn’t my husband so it wasn’t worth the time. This doesn’t mean I nailed the whole he’s not your husband, stop dating him thing, which came with its own set of complications and heartache. But, none the less, I lived nauseous 90% of the time as I tried to fight the feeling in an effort to be a “normal teen.” 

I believe wholeheartedly that God delights in our prayers and what we come to ask him for. It’s like a Dad hearing their little girl ask for everything they come across, everything that their little minds can comprehend, and he gets a good giggle hearing all of their heart’s dreams and desires. But, often, the dad will hear what the little girl wants and make it happen. And, 9 times out of 10, it will be presented far better and far more logical than we even knew to ask for. I believe in the scripture, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” This is found in Mark 11:24. In Mark 11:22, it says if you believe, then when you command the mountain to jump into the sea, it will comply. I read this verse again this morning and I let it settle in my spirit. I have read this verse over and over before, but it hit me a little differently today. I have always read the part about ask and you shall receive, that’s easy right? But commanding the mountain into the sea- that’s a new part for me to focus on. 

What this verse tells us is that the mountains we face, the things come across that seem impossible to move, if we love God and command that mountain to flee, it will respond because it has to in the name and the power we carry with the name of Jesus Christ.

Too heavy? Too spiritual? I am just getting started. 

We have the power to command what tries to stop us, what hurts us, what seems immovable to not only move but run and jump into the sea. Satan flees at the name of Jesus, right? Yes. So how beautiful that in that same name we can move mountains by verbalizing our desires, hopes, and desperate pleas. This is a new perspective of the context of this verse entirely. Yes, I throw crazy prayers up on the daily. This past week, I literally almost passed out, fell to my knees in shock, at some of the prayers that were answered and responded to by my blind faith and taking seemingly insane leaps, trusting that God could do it despite how crazy. But, I think I am fearful and hesitant when it comes to commanding the mountains of brokenness, anxiety, and generational sin to jump into the sea. Surely I can’t say “leave” to those. That’s work only God can do. True, it is work only God can do. But if we believe, it is by his power we can tell it to end. We hear it said that a relationship is a two way street. This is applicable too in your relationship with God, and some things take action on our part. It means not only believing on the inside, but verbalizing and speaking the power of Jesus into all areas of your life. 

I pray you command the mountains in your life to jump into the sea today. They jump into the sea and crumble because the name and power of Jesus is that strong. Be encouraged, be bold, and feel the strength you have available to you today. 

You are loved so so deeply. Happy Friday.

xoxo- Han

 

Worth It

After years of searching for answers, a crazy mad scientist looking doctor was finally able to help me. Today I am sharing my story of diagnosis and the beginning of a journey to recovery.

This past Monday, I got an unexpected phone call from a doctor’s office I have been on the “waitlist” to get into for months. We called in May to finally make me an appointment after months of talking about doing it, and it turns out they didn’t have a spot for me until November. So we said to please put me down for November, but if by any chance you can get me in before then, keep me in mind. And for some reason, they called me and said they had an opening that evening and wanted me to come in. I was referred to this doctor by a family at our church, and they swore that he was this crazy scientist with all kinds of off the beaten path methods, and he would surely be able to help me with all my crazy symptoms and unknowns I have lived with for years now with no real answers. 

I have spoken about my health lightly on here in the past, but to fill you in, I have been sick for almost ten years with really no answers. I am always tired, always a little groggy, I have had swollen lymph nodes all over my head, purple fingers, and I have had increasingly bad anxiety and a list of other things that just didn’t make sense for me. I don’t tell you this as a sob story, honestly, it’s just reality and what I have come to consider normal over the years. I knew at 14 years old that something was not right, but every doctor my parents took me to told us there was nothing the matter. I had every kind of test and saw every kind of doctor you can think of. Eventually, I got scared to talk about any of the weird things I experienced anymore and felt ashamed. The doctors basically led us to believe I was a hypochondriac, a child who believed they were sick when they weren’t and often because they wanted attention. Though I knew deep down this wasn’t true, I gave up fighting. I gave up the fight for my health, the fight to be heard, and the fight to be better. By my senior year of high school, I couldn’t keep my eyes open at school and I would come home to sleep about 3 more hours on the couch until my parents came home from work. I finally saw a doctor that got me on the right track in college when my health was so bad that I began forgetting where I was when I was driving. I was convinced I was a 20 year old with Alzheimer’s disease. Finally a friend tipped me off to seeing a doctor about gluten, because my symptoms sounded strangely similar to her own. Turned out I am in fact allergic to gluten and my Adrenal Glands were burnt out. I had never even heard of Adrenal Glands before, and gluten was something I had eaten my whole life. I was shocked, angry, and a little selfishly skeptical. You’re telling me I have to give up my favorite foods?

I battled the diagnosis for another year, slowly changing my diet to gluten free. I would cheat here and there, and pay the consequences for how it made me feel. I would say “it’s worth it, I swear.” That cheesecake, so worth it. The cupcake, I will be fine. But, nine times out of ten, it wasn’t actually worth it. I convinced myself that eating something I am not able to was just an innocent cheat, and it wasn’t doing longterm damage or dishonoring my body. I realized foods with gluten weren’t just something I liked, but I was refusing to do what my body needed because I was stubborn and unwilling to let it go. After I learned my brain was swelling from eating food I cannot process, I ate fully gluten free for about a year and a half and changed up a lot of what I did, but even still, my body felt it was only getting worse. Random spots on my body hurt, my skull felt swollen, I bruise easily, and my eye sight in recent months has began to take a shot. I literally have kept an ongoing massive list of weird, random symptoms I have that have no explanation, but must somehow be connected to all the others. They are kind of funny, honestly. And it is crazy to me that I was told for so long with this list I was just dehydrated or tired. I am serious- I was told that! 

So, I find myself in this crazy Einstein looking doctor’s office that looked straight out of Bill Nye The Science Guy Monday. He had hundreds of viles lined up along the wall with different ingredients inside of them, and electric balls and magnets hanging from old filing cabinets, and on the wall an outdated poster of an ear with different markings and body parts on top of different parts of the ear. Paul and I sat in the chairs below the big ear posters, one the American version the other the Chinese, and stared at this doctor as he smirked at me and said, ‘alright, how can I help you?’ I stared at him for a few seconds, because I didn’t know what to say. I have been in this seat multiple times, tested and pat on the head to be told I was okay. Everything in me would scream, “No I am not! I wouldn’t be here if my body was telling me I am fine.” So, I began spitting out in a really informal manner and illformed sentences what all I have experienced the last ten years. I explained what different doctors have told me, what I had studied myself and felt it might be, and that my most recent trip to the doctor was a couple years ago where they told me I am allergic to gluten and my adrenals are shot. The man literally stared at me and giggled a very delayed giggle, and I awkwardly shifted in my seat, slumping over a little with defeat. I was convinced I would find no answer yet again, and this was a waste of my time. 

Then, Doctor Von Bergen grabbed me by the hand and stood me up to stare at the odd ear poster above me. He explained to me that our ears tell us what our body is trying to. He began touching my ear digging inside of it, around it, pulling on my left arm all the while. He found a weak spot, and my arm dropped. And he giggled. He said, know what that spot tells us? It tells us your gut is in trouble. He proceeded to have me hold my arm up as he pushed down on it, and then if he covered my right ear, my arm would drop. But, if he covered my left ear, my arm remained strong. This had something to do with the sides of the brain, and my right arm was my weaker arm because it is commanded by the left side of my brain, and my left side of the brain is the side that is affected by all these other things. (Laymen’s terms, clearly, but you follow me, right?) This would also explain why it’s my left eye ball that has dropped in vision significantly the last month. 

FASCINATING, y’all! My jaw was on the ground half my appointment. 

The next thirty minutes I held a magnet in my right hand while he put vile after vile of ingredients up to my left side with a magnet. Anything my body is sensitive to, my arm would drop. It was truly fascinating. He is the first doctor who ever made me feel like, wow, I am not crazy. So then the diagnosis. Basically, right now, I am allergic to everything. My body is so shot from so many years of going undiagnosed that my body is literally unable to process just about everything. He literally looked at me and said, “I could cry for you, because this will not be easy.” That’s encouraging… but actually, in a weird way, it sort of was. It was the first time I felt fully acknowledged for all that I had experienced for so many years. What he came to the conclusion of is that I have been allergic to yeast my entire life. Allergy to yeast causes your immune system to take a shot, and then, because I was sick as a kid so much, I was put on antibiotics that only knocked my immune system out more and made my yeast allergy more intense. I would spend the next 15+ years of my life battling tonsillitis, strep, mono, and all kinds of other sicknesses for which I was put on antibiotics, and it was a downward spiral for my body. I literally had strep 9 times in the 4th grade, and my doctor just told my parents I was a “carrier of strep.” What the heck does that even mean?! Month after month I was on amoxicillin or penicillin, and my body was becoming more and more weak. This is why I became allergic to gluten later in life. And over the last couple years, even though I have been gluten free, I have been piling yeast into my body still, thus no recovery. Yes, all my gluten free items- packed full with yeast. We did some serious pantry cleaning Monday night. 

So, why am I telling you this?

WELL, first off, because I hope that if any of you are going through similar experiences, you can know you’re not alone and perhaps you are allergic to yeast or a random ingredient like me. Second, because I am now on a journey to recovery and am actually excited about it. I am on a diet that consists of meat and vegetables. I cannot even eat fruit, because I have leaky gut and cannot eat sugar of any kind. My Adrenal Glands are so swollen, that when he was testing them, even water made them react negatively, so I have to prioritize sleep and dwindle down the coffee intake. Say WHAT? Yes, so I am on a journey that will be tough. But, I am so hopeful and so ready. I am all in for this one. The Lord responded to prayers by way of a mad scientist, and I am so grateful. Now, it is time to heal and honor my body in a way that it hasn’t been for majority of my life. I am ready to take on this journey, grabbing the bull by the horns, if you will. 😉

I am excited to share with you along the way what all I learn, what I find, and how I am feeling. And, truly, I know that I am meant to write about this to help others. If you are my age, you are the product of a generation that was on meds left and right. It wasn’t our parent’s faults, it was just where medicine was at the time. I know I cannot be the only one who suffers now because of what was put in my body then. Chances are, there might be quite a few of you who struggle with similar things in a more mild form that you just have counted off as normal. Don’t call it normal! I promise, you don’t want to, or you’ll find yourself where I am. 

I hope this encourages you, and I hope that it spurs you on to take care of your body. We get only one, and it truly is a temple. To put anything in it that we know is bad for us is to poison our temple. It’s so funny that a couple years ago, had I been told this, I would have wept and been so angry. But, I left smiling and affirmed Monday night. I felt like I actually had all the answers I have wanted for so long. I didn’t even care that it was drastic and life changing for Paul and me. I am just thankful to be heard. I feel like I just took off from the start line, and I feel equipped for the race. God cares, y’all. He really does.

Happy Wednesday, friends! I love you so much. Thanks for being part of my life. 

xoxo- Han

Carley, The CRV

Yesterday- after six months of sharing one car, borrowing other people’s cars to get us to work on opposite ends of the metroplex, leaving an hour early so that we can drop each other off where we needed to be before being where the other needed to be to then swing back around and pick up later, and saving every single dollar we possibly could- we paid cash for a 1999 black CRV in impeccable condition that I have fondly already named ‘Carley, The CRV’. She has a window that sticks, a door that can only be locked manually, and a questionable stain on the back left passenger’s seat, but I freaking love her. Some of you are probably thinking to yourself, “You must be kidding. You have saved up for six months to put all your cash into a 17 year old vehicle?” Sure, it’s totally not what most would do. It doesn’t follow the social norm of getting your first “adult job” followed by your first adult car purchase, with which will come that first big adult car payment, right? It’s different than most expected for us to do. Understandably, I get that you might be thinking, “what the heck?”

But, listen to me and hear me out, and perhaps I can even talk you out of your car payment, too.

At least for now.

We have all fallen into this social norm of being in debt, and if you ask me, it’s pretty silly. Now hear me out, having a car payment isn’t a bad thing. Having a mortgage is a wonderful thing. If you have the surplus and are in a position that you feel comfy taking on the next big step, that’s awesome. I am not speaking to that. I am speaking to this lifestyle of trying to be in a spot we just aren’t at yet all for the sake of feeling good about what we have. This is especially so in Dallas- the city of “$30,000 Millionaires”. (<<< That’s a thing, y’all. A show was even going to be made about it, which is just so embarrassing.)

The best thing Paul and I have ever been told is to live simply now so that we can live lavishly and more comfortably sooner than the rest.

I have needed some serious heart surgery to get to the point I am at as I write this out, but I can assure you that it feels awesome. To be debt free is extremely important to me and Paul. Being debt free for us is separated into two categories: School Debt and Stupid Debt. School Debt is inevitable, unfortunately. I am in way more school debt than I ever thought I could possibly be, but it gave me a degree and at the end of the day, school was an investment. That is something I am paying as much as I possibly can toward every month, but even still, I will have that on my back for a long time. Debt is debt. But, Stupid Debt is spending money you do not have on things that ultimately do not matter. Paul and I got into Stupid Debt right after we got married. It took just one credit card for just a couple of months to ruin our credit and get into a rut. In our defense, we were so broke that buying things on a credit card was kind of our only option. Comparatively speaking, our stupid debt also isn’t even that crazy, but it’s still debt and we have been crippled by it while trying to pay it off, pay rent, and pay off school in the midst of a million transitions. Oh, and eat. That’s important, too.

So when we found ourselves without a car unexpectedly at the end of January, we had no margin to work with to take on a car payment. We were still trying to catch up on mistakes we had made previously. Our only option was to change up life drastically and start saving every penny. Our savings for a house turned into savings for a car, which was already our leftovers from a very small margin, and then, if there was anymore leftovers, that could spill into our “home fund”. Luckily, moving to McKinney meant way cheaper rent simply because of location. The rest, we’ve had to work hard for. We had to start taking the long way home to cut our toll bill back $100 every month. We had to start sitting down and say “do we love it?” Almost every conversation ended with, “do you want a car and a house, or do you want this?” Eating out became “let’s just go get drinks” or “let’s drive around and look at houses”. Life changed, but I am so glad it did. We are well on our way to being home owners and “Stupid Debt” free. We didn’t get to buy an awesome new car yesterday, yet we feel on top of the world. (Believe me, I really wanted a decked out 2017 Jeep.) Paying for our bills and paying off school loans on time every month is working our credit back up, though, and a home isn’t a complete fantasy anymore.

It’s actually realistic, and I can kiss goodbye to apartment living soon (fingers crossed).

Working hard, saving up, and having no car payment is the best feeling ever. Being able to pay for Carley without a co-signer or taking out any loans of any kind that would, ultimately, hurt our chances of buying a home in the next year felt so liberating. Sure, Carley isn’t my Jeep I desperately want nor is she a Range Rover, but I am proud as I’ll get out of her. We poured blood, sweat, and tears into that thing.

Being intentional

I have thought a whole lot this past week about intentionality. I want to be intentional in my marriage, my finances, my health, my friendships- this is really hard to master. Time is hard to get a hold of. I honestly feel like time is out of control and somehow every week I find myself on the sofa Sunday night in a haze thinking,”My gosh, how is tomorrow already Monday again?” I have failed at being intentional in all of these things- even in just the last six months. Buying this CRV is, and will be, a constant reminder of what it means to be intentional, though. We had to be intentional with our money to be able to buy this, we have had to choose to be intentional in our patience to have a second car again in a way that would keep us on track to have a home. We want a home to have a better space to host family, friends, and our Young Adults group from church. We want a home to be our first wise investment. Having a home ultimately points back to our desire to be intentional with our relationships and our finances. This means being intentional with my money today, getting out of debt and having no car payment gets me one step closer to my dream farm I want to buy for my whole family to live on.

Yes, my dream is to live on a massive piece of land in a dolled up farmhouse with goats, cows, doodles, and chickens. And, I want to be able to buy land big enough for my parents and in laws to build on, too. And my parents have a crazy awesome dream of owning an event venue up here. (Trust- we have talked through it all haha.) This is what keeps me going, though! Investment real estate in Mckinney as a side gig sounds pretty awesome, too. Just call us the Chip and Joanna Gaines of McKinney. 😉

All this to say, everything Paul and I have chosen to do in the last six months circles around intentionality in all things. To be intentional is to think beyond what is right in front of our faces.

Being intentional in all things, not just our finances, is wise, but it’s certainly not easy. It’s not the norm. It’s not “sexy”. It’s not always immediately satisfying. But, I encourage you to write out what things you want to be intentional with in your life. Then, write out your dreams and goals, and align what you can be intentional in to make those dreams and goals come to fruition.

Keep your eye at the end goal, and that will affect what decisions you make right now. Again, I can tell you that getting to my point of view on intentionality in our finances hasn’t been easy. If you have questions about living debt free or getting out of debt, I would love to hear from you! Not gonna lie, I will share this because the timing is impeccable, but as I am writing this, Paul just ran our credit scores and they have both gone up hundreds in the last three months. We just almost died from shock and excitement. I promise, be intentional now and you won’t regret it.

Love y’all and happy Tuesday!!

xo- Han

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