The past few days, I have been doing some math and making some phone calls to determine if we should try to refinance our mortgage. Our main financial goal right now is to pay off this house and if we keep up our current pace we should do so in 2-4 years. I have been trying to see if there is a low enough rate available out there to make it even faster after factoring in closing costs. This afternoon, I spoke to John Lavender at Churchill Mortgage—the company that Dave Ramsey recommends so highly. After determining that rates aren't really low enough to help us right now (i.e. we already have a pretty good mortgage), John encouraged me to not get so focused on the mortgage that we skip family vacation. I laughed and told him that family vacation this summer was the addition of baby number 4 to our family!

After hanging up as I thought more about what he was saying, I dismissed it at first as merely a mortgage “salesman” trying to not make me be so down on mortgages because they pay his salary. (Which I do believe is partly true.) But then I considered if Joe and I are somehow missing something by being so frugal and doing things like skipping vacations (and cable TV, call waiting, caller ID, dinners out, new cars, nice furniture, nice clothes...and in general having more disposable income.) Are we silly for living very simply and piling money onto our mortgage to get rid of it? It all came down to this: Is our family missing out because we aren't going on a vacation this year or really any year in the near future except for visiting family?

I remembered something that my sister Laura says, “Vacation with small children is not vacation, it is simply relocation.” So true! I have greatly altered my expectations for our 4 days at the beach with Joe's mom as we've added more children to the trip each year. It is a lot of work to pack for a family of 5, drive 8 hours to the beach, and try to live under one small roof with extended family—even if it is “vacation!” The boys still need a mama and a daddy and the added audience and drama of extended family make it...well...let's just say...not very relaxing! :)

This same “relocation” issue would apply if it was just our little family too. We'd still have the packing, traveling, and work of daily life—even if we were somewhere else. So, after all of these ponderings, I've decided that we aren't missing out. Vacations are hard work and the Holland family is not deprived by foregoing them. We'd enjoy being together, but the boys are just as happy (if not more so) to camp in the back woods with their Daddy as they would be at a cottage by a lake. And with backyard camping, the pregnant mama can enjoy the comfort of her own bed, AND avoid packing!

And as for the other things that we are “missing,” perhaps there will be a season later in life when God will provide some of them. In the meantime, we are learning frugality and paying off the mortgage! Sorry John!