Pay thy debt, and live

When we were first married, my husband was working in the mortgage department of a bank. He saw firsthand the problems people ran into with debt. It was so easy for people to take out a mortgage larger than they could really afford, or with terms they didn't understand. Others took on debt with payments that were manageable until something in their life circumstances changed, and they found themselves unable to keep up. I credit that job experience with turning my already frugal husband into the most debt-averse person I know.

Within a few months of our marriage, we moved to Texas. Real estate was inexpensive, and after some consideration and prayer we decided to buy a home. It was nothing fancy--a small but pleasant home in a cookie-cutter subdivision. We signed our names to the 30 year mortgage note, but committed immediately to paying down our debt as quickly as possible. The intervening years have brought their share of challenges. We faced periods of unemployment, and other times when the money coming in could barely stretch to cover living costs. A job opportunity brought us to California, and knowing the (truly outrageous) state of the real estate market when we moved here, we chose to rent out the house in Texas and move into an apartment here. But over the years we have also been greatly blessed, and our means have mostly been more than sufficient to cover our needs. We live frugally, and we have continued to make additional principal payments on our home loan as resources have allowed.

This week, we celebrated my husband's birthday and the children and I were able to present him with this:



Yep, that's the original promissory note from our mortgage. It's been worth every small sacrifice. I don't know what life may throw at us in the future, but I know that if we need it, we have a home to go to.