Party Like It's 1999

This weekend is our 10th Wedding Anniversary.

We took a special trip earlier this spring to celebrate (when my folks could watch the kids), but at the last minute we decided to have a party.

We sent out some evites to our friends, and gave invites to our neighbors and started planing.

We were able to do a simple dessert buffet for less than $50. and we have quite a bit of left overs. The hardest part was getting our house ready, or I guess I should say, keeping our house ready. We just called it an open house, and literally opened our house up, to let the cooler evening air in, and let people wander through our house.

This summer also marks 10 years that we have lived in this house, so it was fun to give ours and tell about all of the changes that we have done over the years.

We felt blessed the whole evening. It was fun what a great mix of people came. We had three people who were actually in our wedding come by, plus some that my husband had known in grade school. There were friends that we see all the time, because our kids play together, and friend that we rarely see, and even some neighbors that we met for the first time.

There is a book out there Your Money or Your Life. The first couple chapters encourages you to take inventory of all you have. Their intention was for you to see how much you have worked, and what you have gained in the process. This celebration helped us do that, and take it even further:

We have a great house that is paid for, with a awesome front porch

We live in a great neighborhood with neighbors that we actually like and trust

We have 3 kids and one dog

We have 1 mini van, a motorcycle, and a lawn mower

4 bikes, a bike trailer, and two tricycles

A nice yard, a fence, a sand box, play house, swing, garden and flowers, a paved driveway

A refrigerator, dishwasher, stove, toaster, mixer, washing machine and dryer

We even have two computers, a keyboard and a projector, plus a stereo and all the goodies that go with it.

We have couches and beds and dressers and a great table and chairs.

And that is just the big stuff. We have so much other little stuff that I could go on and on.

Some of the stuff was gifts, and some of it we bought. But all of it is so much more than so many other people have. Compared to families living in the '70's we would be considered upper class to be able to afford so many luxuries. But our society has changed its thinking and now we are near the bottom.

So this is what we want to be teaching our kids about money: We have so many things for which to be thankful, we likely have way more than we need. And I haven't even mentioned the most important part. We have a collection of great friends. These are friends that we couldn't replace, that have been with us during the different parts of our lives: new jobs, newlyweds, church, neighbors, they are all special. And it doesn't matter how much money we make.