Greetings from another Mother

[Guest guest]

wow!

The Chudzik's

DANA, HILDA & MARIA

Re: Greetings from another Mother

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>Hmmm...afford. Well.... We've been wealthy and we've been poor. I figure

>that we will probably be wealthy again someday and wouldn't be surprized if

>poverty happens again from time to time. Neil is a chiropractor. Don't

let

>that fool you. When we married he didn't have a job. He started hanging

>sheet rock (construction work). I got pregnant with Marshall right away.

>The night week he decided to go back to school to be a doctor I got

pregnant

>with Chani. We had Chani, Ben and Chamrie while he was in school. We had

>Chiya while he interned. We had , and Cheyanne while he was

>paying off debt. We had Chalae when we were finally debt free and decided

>to sell out and move to Utah to raise our children. We arrived in Utah

>right in the middle of a legal battle over liscening and it took TWO AND A

>HALF YEARS for Neil to get his Utah liscense. AUGH! Neil finally had to

go

>to the National Board. Every chiropractor in the country MUST take tests

>from the board. They offer 5 different tests and Neil had taken 4 of them,

>Utah wanted him to take the last. Now..the test he didn't have was for new

>doctors just out of college and was the equivent of the one he had already

>taken from them. But...politics is a pain. So...(oh..each test is

>expensive plus time off work plus air fair hotel...everything...costs lots

>and lots of money...one cost us 5,000 of all expenses) anyway, the National

>Board pulled his record and said, " Dr. Logan..you tested ABOVE the 95% on

>every single test...what does that state want from you? " So, the state

>lawyer suggested to the state board that they better get off their duff and

>give him a liscense. So...for the previous 2 1/2 years Neil was remodeling

>houses...first at $5.00 an hour and finally at $15.00 an hour! AUGH!!!!

>This is a long way from when he was in San Diego and was doing $2,000 a day

>in services. Of course, it is relative. In San Diego our overhead

(office)

>was roughly 25,000 a month. So, now he is doing construction by day and

>being a doctor by night.

>

>How do we afford it. I take whatever money comes in. I pay whatever bills

>I can leaving $30 for gasoline, $100 - 200 for food for 2 weeks, $40 for

our

>date nights. Then, once the bills are paid for the month I take whatever

is

>left and purchase more food. I have a running list of things that we need

>to purchase someday and sometimes squeeze a bit here and there. We do a

lot

>of service. In San Diego clearly 40-50% of what we did we did as a

service.

>Here it is much the same. People are appreciative of service, especially

>when they otherwise couldn't afford to be out of pain. So..we get

wonderful

>things sent our way like deserets, clothing, nights out on the town, car

>repair, dental work....you name it. So...we can survive on $400 a month

for

>food. We can build a comfortable, rotating supply on $600-800 a month, we

>can use that rotating supply on $300 a month for a short time.

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>My mother helps out in emergencies but we try hard to not have emergencies.

>There have been times when our church helped out. We give so much service

>in the church that it was an interested turn of the table...and a wonderful

>blessing.

>

>Sometimes I just go crazy and spend the entire money on food. And then I

>scramble to pay bills but we have a full pantry. Two of my teens give

>service with an organization called Helping Hands. They work from 9 am to

2

>pm and in return come home with dairy products and wonderful sweets that we

>would otherwise never get. We shop at the day old bakery and freeze the

>bread. We freeze lots and lots of things. In the summertime I can

produce,

>much of it is given us by others who know I am a stay-at-home mom. We

don't

>go out as a family. We almost never have fast-food.

>

>Neil and I do date each week. A couple of times a month we take our

>'dating' teen (over 16) out with us. We take a helper (rotates each week)

>out with us occasionally and we take each out for their birthday. There

are

>lots of church activities, potlucks, dinners, parties, etc that we

>participate in. Somehow we get by and every need gets met but sometimes it

>has to wait. Oh....there was the time one of my girls

>said....FINALLY.... " Mom, I really need some underware. I only have one

pair

>but it is ok because I just keep turning it inside out! " Needless to

>say...she had underware the very next day!!!!!

>

>Cherie

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