Early tomorrow morning our family is flying to California to visit some special friends of ours.
We're very excited about this trip for many reasons: we're looking forward to a vacation as a family; we can't wait to hang out with some incredible people; and we're anxious to get to introduce our children to what a real beach is.
But this trip is about much more than family, friends, and fun; we're taking this trip in celebration of reaching a huge financial milestone in our family.
If you've been reading my blog for more than a few months, you know that we got this weird idea to pay cash for a house and we set a big goal at the beginning of 2009 to have fully-funded our house fund by the end of the year. We started the year at 33% and it seemed very far-fetched to think we'd actually make our goal.
But God had other plans. He worked some miracles, moved some modern-day "mountains", and by His grace and enabling, I am thrilled to tell you that we are ending 2009 at our 100% goal! We're already seriously pursuing house-hunting and hope to have purchased a home debt-free by the end of April 2010, if not sooner.
Truly, "with God, all things are possible!"
This huge financial milestone did not happen instantaneously. It was not something we just up and decided to we'd aim for a few weeks or months ago. In actuality, our journey towards saving to pay 100% down for our first home began before we were even married!
On Thursday, I'm going to be sharing the nuts and bolts of our story and the struggles, lessons, difficulties, and victories we've encountered along the way. No matter where you are in your financial journey, I hope and pray our story is an inspiration to you to dream big dreams, set audacious goals, work hard, and not give up when the going gets tough. You just never know where it might lead!
Have you written down financial goals for 2010? If not, be sure to check out Simple Mom's post on the subject to nudge you in the right direction.
Subscribe for free email updates and be entered to win $100!
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Congratulations on being faithful to the Lord and His calling for your family and finances! I pray that the Lord blesses you with a house that surpasses your desires and costs less than you could’ve imagined!
Can’t wait to hear more of the nuts and bolts of your story!
Just a side note…did I miss the last parts of the working from home series?
Congratulations on your much deserved achievement. God has given your family many blessings and in turn, you have given those blessings to others by teaching and allowing us to save money. Thank you!
I am so excited for you and your family to have reached your goal! It is such an inspiration to our family. I can’t wait to hear more details. Good luck with the house hunting!
CONGRATS! Your such an inspiration to a young couple like me and my husband. After my son was born with medical issues we went into debt…but now after reading your blog you have inspired us and our debt is going down sooooo quickly. Gods blessing is definitely there when you do things his way. GOD BLESS and good luck in the new year!
Congratulations Crystal, that is wonderful news!!!!
Wonderful news! Praise God!!! Congratulations!!!!
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Congratulations!!! Can’t wait to see you guys in your own house!!!
You are such an inspiration for me and my husband. We have big goals to pay for 50% of our first home – prices in Colorado are pretty high. We even moved downgrated from our bigger but still small apartment to help out. God is so good to those who do. Congrats! Please keep us updated, pictures and sorts- you have no idea how many people you are touchging. me included.
Congratulations! What a great example you are. I can hardly wait to see your new house!!!
Congratulations -and I thought we were doing good when we only financed for 15 years several years ago. A big WOW to you.
Long time reader, first time commenter here. CONGRATULATIONS! WOW! How inspiring! I feel really stuck and unable to figure out how to further our savings right now, so I would absolutely love some tips and help. Looking forward to tomorrow!
Congratulations Crystal! Very, very impressive. Can’t wait to see photos of the NEW HOUSE when you’ve picked one out!
I have goosebumps! God is so good!! Thank you for inspiring others to “live like noone else” and for giving the glory where its due!
Wow, this made my eyes well up when I read this. I don’t even know you and I’m super happy for you! God is so good, ALL PRAISE TO HIM!
Oh, Crystal!! Wonderful news, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Praising God along with you!!
congratulations!
Congratulations on your achievement! I can’t wait to hear the rest of your story!
This is such wonderful news, and I’m so happy for you! Your discipline has really paid off! I love your blog and check it almost daily for tips, deals, and ideas and I appreciate all the time you take to share with us!
Congratulations! What a wonderful blessing to end the year with! Anxious to hear your story! It is great to see that it is actually possible. What an inspiration!
Super super congratulations! That is so great! Happy househunting! Being a home owner is really fun! We just bought our first home in June. It wasn’t debt free but it was definitely a modest home and someday we’ll be debt free!
WOW… Congratulations Crystal, that is incredible! I ope you and your family have a fantastic vacation. You are TRULY an inspiration!
Congrads! Nothing feels as good as being debt free and owning your house outright. We set a goal 7 years ago to pay off our $196K mortgage and stay free of other debts. In January 2010 we will have our house paid off and be completely debt free. The 7 years passed pretty quickly. My DH has had 2 jobs in that time and I stopped working and had 2 baby boys. But we still got there!
Congratulations, you guys are truly an inspiration. Living in So. California I don’t think I could ever pay cash for a house but I am aiming to only have our mortgage. Have fun in sunny San Diego, I live about 1hr north and it has been beautiful, maybe our paths will cross while visiting the beach.
God Bless
That’s great news! Congratulations!
WOW! WOW! WOW! Congratulations! What an incredible acomplishment. We truly are blessed when we let the Lord in to our lives.
Congratulations, I’m so thrilled for you! You are definitely an inspiration to all your blog readers. Thanks in part to your numerous posts about Dave Ramsey, I signed up for FPU last January and am now working his plan. I’m set to pay off my last consumer debt in about three weeks and then I’ll just have my student loan to tackle. Last year at this point I had no idea where to even start to get out of debt. You and your family are so inspiring to me…. you give me hope that living debt free is doable and joyful!
Congratulations, it’s truly an inspiration to know that “normal” people can actually reach that goal. You don’t need huge paying jobs, or to win the lottery. With a little creativity and a budget that you actually stick to, anybody can do it. Thanks so much for allowing us to read your story, and I personally can’t wait to read what you have in store for Thursday. I honestly mean it when I say you are an inspiration! It gives me hope that someday I may be debt free.
Your family is amazing!! I was really hoping and praying that you and your family would be able to meet your goals-for all of the inspiration and money saving ideas you share with us-thank you!
Oh wow! You said like 2 months ago that you didn’t think that it would happen until the beginning of 2010! Congrats that is awesome!!!
Congratulations! What an inspiration!
Congratulations!!! What an accomplishment! Thank you for setting such a strong example in financial discipline! I am looking forward to those nuts and bolts you mentioned.
You make me want to make sure to stick to our goal for this coming year!
Congratulations! Reading your story and success has been an inspiration to me. I am truely excited for you and your family. What a blessing to have financial peace!
I remember reading about these goals and feeling so impressed and inspired by them, and it’s so exciting to hear that you have acheived them! Congratulations to you and your family! You have worked so hard, Crystal. It’s a great lesson to all of us.
Congrats, Crystal! So excited for you and your family.
Praise the Lord! It’s amazing what a wonderful God we serve! God bless you and your family.
Congratulations! So excited for you — happy house hunting!
Now THAT makes for a happy day! Or year, as the case is!
So very ,very thrilled for you! Congrats!
CONGRATS!! and enjoy your trip. That is sooo wonderful! I have never been one to budget and save, but I am starting NOW. Seriously I am starting in 2010 and am hoping to get some emergency funds, pay off mortgages, etc. Thanks for the inspiration!
Congratulations. What a great testament to how hard work truly does pay off! You’ve been such an inspiration to many!
Congrats!!! You guys are truly an inspiration.
Way to go! Congratulations!
Congrats you guys!! That is awesome news. Thanks for your example-you have inspired me and many others to live simply and debt free. Keep up the good work.
I have been following this post for a few months now! I am so excited for you guys. I am really tearing up just thinking about what you have accomplished! Congratulations!!
That is awesome news! Congratulations!
I have followed your progress, and I’m looking forward to your post on the whole process.
Have a wonderful trip to/from California.
Peace.
Congratulations!!! That is wonderful news and I look forward to hearing about your house-hunting! What a great way to start out your 2010.
Congratulations! Your family’s story is truly inspiring!!
Hooray, Crystal and family! You have so much to celebrate! Looking forward to hearing about your adventures in househunting and where you finally land. Godspeed on your trip!
Congratulations!!! My husband and I have lived in our house for 10 years and a couple of months ago we paid off our house. That allowed us to pay cash for Christmas this year. We are now completely debt free. It’s such a great feeling to start the new year fresh with no money worries.
Congratulations!!!! It’s been truly an inspiration reading about this journey. Such blessings. God is good! Best wishes in the New Year for you and yours.
Yeah! I am praying the LORD now provides you with an awesome deal on a house, so that “100%” will be way above and beyond what you even needed.
YAY!!!! Congrats!
Congratulations! With the help of God and your perserverance your goal has come true. Your family is an inspiration to us as all.
Crystal,
WhoooooHooooo! Awesome!! What a great way to end the year. Praise God!!
I, too, just had to add my congratulations. That is truly remarkable! You have been a huge inspiration to me, and following your lead, my husband and I have set some tough financial goals for ourselves for the coming year. May God continue to bless you in your efforts!
Congratulations Crystal and family!!! I am so incredibly impressed and inspired!! I hope and pray that your family finds the perfect house!! To God be the glory!!
Congratulations!
You are such an inspiration and encouragement to me. I can’t even believe buying a house debt free is POSSIBLE??!!!!
Really does remind us that God can do Anything! congratualtions, what an amazing feeling that must be!!
Praising God for this! You are an inspiration to many people.
Congrats! When you do start looking at houses, the look on people’s faces when you let them know you are paying cash will be priceless.
Congratuations to youall for reaching such a huge goal!! I am so happy for you guys.. that is so awesome everything youall have been able to accomplish.. and the lessons and goals that are being taught to yourall’s kids at such a young age is so amazing! You are such an inspiration to myself and all of the other readers here. I have learned so much since I started reading your blog.. we are still trying to get out of debt.. but hope to one day accomplish our goals of becoming debt-free and eventually owning our own home someday.
Thanks, Crystal, for everything you do!!
Way to go! That is a huuuge goal! Now that you have your house fund saved, you’ll really be able to increase your savings and givings for other things!
We are saving up to pay cash for a second vehicle in about a year’s time, as we’re hoping to move closer to family. There’s no public transit, so that second car will be important.
I think we’ll rent a house when we move to get to know the area better and to keep on saving for a house. We’ll probably go for 20% down on a 15-year mortgage, but maybe we’ll shoot for more!
I’m so happy for you and impressed with how diligent you guys have been at such a young age. I have a few years on you and didn’t have any training growing up or understanding of finances until about the past 5 years. We’ve been married 16 years and are on baby step #2. It’s going to be a longer road for us because of poor choices we’ve made in the past, but for our children I hope they have a journey similar to yours. Thanks for being such a blessing and encouragement to all of us trying to do the best with the resources the Lord has entrusted us with. Congratulations!
Wow I can’t believe you did it already!
Congrats, Crystal! On Monday we initiated the wire transfer to pay off our house (4 yrs into the loan). It’s a fabulous way to live!!
wow amazing!!!!! good for you.
UNREAL!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for the blessing of taking us on this journey. It inspires me to “keep on keepin on!”
Blessings in 2010!
congratulations! what a testimony to both God’s provision and your dedication!
God is so good isn’t He? Congratulations! I am glad you are taking time to celebrate and to give thanks! This trip will serve as a memory of God’s goodness and blessing to your family! Your goal setting is an inspiration as is your incredible faith! Blessings to your family!
I’ve been wondering if you were getting close! CONGRATULATIONS! And thank you for sharing your journey with others so that we can be inspired to strive for our own goals and financial goals!
Congratulations! That is a HUGE accomplishment. Now, get saving for property taxes and repairs!
Congratulations on meeting that milestone! My husband and I have this same goal. We are now about half way to our goal. It is so easy to want to go buy a house now with our big downpayment, especially during these winter months as our house is 120+ years old and the cold seems to go straight through it. Thanks for the encouragement to keep pushing on!
Congratulations, what an amazing accomplishment!
Congratulations on achieving your dream! You inspire me to set goals and reach them – thank you for the inspiration.
That’s awesome, congrats! I’m wrapping up my annual goals by tomorrow. You’re proof that if you set your goals high, but reasonable, you can achieve them. Great story.
Congratulations. What an inspiration you are.
Congratulations. What an inspiration you are.
CONGRATULATIONS! WOW, that is awesome. Good for you guys! Best of luck finding a house you LOVE.
So encouraging, thanks for posting. You should call ‘ol Dave…he’d be proud! Praise the Lord for his abundant blessings.
Crystal,
Congrats! So happy for you!
First off WOW congratulations! I have been rooting for you! Second I want to thank you so much for being an inspiration to me and tons of other people! You do an excellent job and I know I really appreciate it! Again, congrats!!!!!!
God is awesome!
Congrats!!!
That is INCREDIBLE!! God is good!
Congratulations on making your goal. I am so impressed with your persistance. Everything is possible~~~ You have inspired me to save even more!!!
Congrats, congrats, congrats! Your family’s stewardship has not always been easy. Spending is easy. Living for the moment is easy. Instant gratification is easy. Your discipline and faithfulness have enabled your family to achieve major goals – completing law school debt free and the ability to pay cash for your future home. Great job! So, what goals are next?
Sweeeeet! I am so happy for you & your family. You are such an inspiration to me. I can’t wait to read your Thur. post to hear more about how you did it. We are currently due to pay our mortgage off on 6/1/17, but we’re paying a little extra each month & hope to see that date decrease.
Congratulations!
That is AWESOME! Very inspiring. God is good!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! What a great thing to celebrate as the year comes to a close.
Crystal,
I am so happy for you and your family! You’re such an inspiration. We’ve only just begun our journey with Dave Ramsey and it still feels so very overwhelming but your posts are so encouraging and they give us hope that these things are possible. I feel like we have a huge mountain to climb–of debt accumulated simply from living expenses when my husband had little to no work in the past couple of years. Thanks for inspiring us and so many others!
Congratulations! Best of luck on the house hunting!
~ Jennifer
Yay!!!!! I’m so happy for you! I can only imagine how good that feels! Thank you for sharing your goals with us…gives me inspiration and hope for our little goals.
Happy New Year and enjoy your trip!
wow!! awesome!!!
I love how you give God the glory!
Crystal,
Congratulations! You all deserve a beautiful home after all of your hard work. Thank you for being such an inspiration to all of us. Thank you and your husband for being willing to share your story. We have been much encouraged by following your blog. God Bless and have a Happy New Year!
Congratulations! God is good all the time!
What a wonderful thing thanks for sharing it and inspiring us to do big things with Gods help and blessings.
That is SO AWESOME!!! Congratulations to you both!!! What an awesome feeling that is. I am so happy for you! To God be the glory. Thank you for being willing to be used by Him!
Congratulations and I cannot wait to read all about it.
That is awesome! Congratulations on your hard work! God truly blesses all of us, and those who work hard are able to truly see those blessings most clearly.
Congratulations!!! That is so amazing! You are such an inspiration to me!
Wow! Praise God for working this out for you! What a huge blessing!
Wow! I literally felt shivers as I read this post. I bought a house last year myself (with debt, pre DR), and yet I found myself being so inspired, and I’m almost more excited about your family’s accomplishment. Congratulations, and I really appreciate you proving that this ‘impossible’ goal could be met, especailly as my family keeps pushing grad school, and me not wanting to take on any more debt to do so. Thanks so much
WOWZA!!! you guys did it!!
this is all very inspiring to myself and SO many other people! Congrats to you and your family! God is good!! 
Congratulations! We have owned our own home for about 8 years. We we bought our last one, it was so great to tell the Realtor that we were paying CASH! We were in our early 30′s when we paid one house off. I can’t tell you what a blessing it has been to be able to do that.
My husband was able to go back to school three years ago and he finished in two years and we are STILL debt free. Our Lord has blessed us so much. I know that it is a process and it was a process that my husband started with we were married almost 11 years ago.
I’ve been pouty sometimes about the decisions of what we couldn’t spend. But I wouldn’t go back for those “things” or restaurant meals any longer.
Happy New Year!
Congrats! So how long does it take you to save all that cash to buy a house? And how much a price range are you looking at?
congratulations!! You get what you deserve:)
You are an inspiration!
What an amazing blessing!! We’ve enjoyed your updates on the percent of your home you owned and are ecstatic that the number is now 100%! You know truly the blessing and joy of “not being a slave to your creditors” and I hope we can all work toward that goal in the future months and years!! Soli Deo Gloria!!
Congrats! It’s wonderful to see the fruits of your labor. I think everyone’s New Year’s Resolution is to save more money! Creating a budget and cutting back on the little things is a great start. I love blogging about this too!
You are truly my hero. I am a single mother of one and have always wanted to buy my home outright with cash. I have already saved up 25% and am hoping to be able to save another 10% by the time my girl starts kindegarten. You are truly an inspiration.
I am so thrilled for you and your family! I think you ought to call Dave Ramsey as well! He would love your story!
I am so thrilled for you! What a testimony to how God can bless our efforts when we strive to do His will. Wishing you a WONDERFUL vacation and beginning to 2010 – sure to filled with more blessings!
Congratulations! That’s awesome.
That’s absolutely amazing! Congratulations! I’m so excited for you and your family. I just started reading your blog two months ago. I can’t wait to hear the nuts and bolts of how you did this. Thanks for sharing all of this with your readers.
Wow! That is Awesome! Congratulations!
Congratulations! Your sacrifice is an inspiration to me.
Praise God for that awesome blessing. I know it took alot of hard work and sacrfice to. Great job to you and your family.
WOW, your post brought me to tears. We are on an accelerated path to pay off a house in 6 years before my child support ends. I finally got “gazelle intense” (as Dave Ramsey would say) and started posting every extra payment on my refrigerator so I had a constant reminder. I was getting discouraged as this year the Lord blessed us more than abundantly and I tripled my salary. When I began to get discouraged I pulled up your update posts and read them to my husband. They were such a wonderful encouragement and now we are pushing forward with no forms of regret of what we might be missing out with for living frugally. Thank you again for your inspiration and thank you God for providing so abundantly!!!
To say that I’m impressed and inspired would be an understatement. Congratulations and may be the blessings continue to flow!
Wow! Congratulations! What a wonderful feeling, I’m sure! I hope you find the perfect home for your family! Thanks for your discipline and hard work. It’s inspiring!
I am so thrilled for you. Congratulations! Yes God is Good. You are an inspiration to us all. Enjoy your trip. Be safe.
Wow! Congratulations! You are such an inspiration!!
Crystal, Your perservance and faith to accomplish what many will not is truly remarkable. Congratulations on achieving your goal. That’s going to make househunting even more sweet – knowing you have the CASH to pay for it.
I forwarded a couple of your posts on this goal to my 18 year old brother as inspiration that this can be done. What a great example!
looking forward to reading more on Thursday.
…Shannon
way to go!
You must call Dave Ramsey! I have never heard anyone call in saying they are debt-free and THEN buy a house for cash! He will be so impressed, as are all of us! Congratulations!
CONGRATULATIONS!! My husband and I live in base housing and give up nearly $1500 a month of pay to do so but our goal, too, is to buy our first (and hopefully only) home debt free. We have a little over 2 years for saving and know that God will be more than gracious in His provision for us!!
Happy home hunting!!
CONGRATS! I’m so happy for you and Jesse!
Congratulations!!! I cannot wait to hear more about the specific story and how you guys achieved such an amazing goal.
That is awesome! Praise God for His providence!
I have just realized that you are the same person who use to own the blog biblicalwomanhood.org. I love this blog and enjoy it very much. Blessings!
That is super! Congratulations and enjoy your house hunting.
Congratulations!!!!! What an awesome accomplishment. Happy house hunting!!!!
This is really exciting and I am very happy for you. I am, however, a bit baffled at how this was accomplished. I’m not sure what the cost of living is/how much a home costs where you live. Where we live, the cost of living/cost of a home is low compared to many places in the country. You could get a small starter home for $120,000 or so (like our tiny townhome). That would mean saving $10,000 a month in order to be able to save for the home in one year. Even if you are planning on buying a home for half of that, you’d have to save $5,000/mo! My husband and I don’t even make that much combined in one month! I get the concept that you pay less for the house if you pay for it outright and don’t mortage it and we are patiently saving for a car for that same reason. We have saved lots of money through your blog in order to free up money for other things. Right now the only debt we have is student loan debt from my husband and mortgage and we are very proud of that little accomplishment! We are bursting out of our tiny townhome, even though I constantly get rid of clutter/stuff (dogs and child just need space–i.e. yard, esp. if another child is added to the mix) and are ready for a larger house. I just don’t see how we could do it without a mortgage! I am not trying to be negative, I am very happy for you and amazed at what you have accomplished. I am just a bit baffled at how to go about doing something like this. I get spend less, save more. But there is no way we can save thousands every month–that is more than we make and you have to subtract living expenses even if you cut them down!
Congratulations!!! I am so happy for you!!!
Congratulations! I’ve enjoyed reading your progress updates and learning lots of ways of saving money. It’s wonderful you reached your goal and I can’t wait to see what your next goals are!
Congratulations on reaching your goal!
I made my five year goal and paid off one of my two student loans at the end of August. It was a variable rate loan for $30,000. I was hoping to pay off my other low, fixed rate loan in another year, but had to buy a, new to me car, unexpectedly. I didn’t have a down payment because I was putting all of my extra money towards the loan, so my next financial goal will be to build our savings. My car died a little sooner than I had hoped, but I plan to get my other school loan and the car paid off quickly too. I am so excited to not have the burden of the larger loan anymore. We celebrated with a small trip to Myrtle Beach. Your blog and couponing gave me the push to make sure I made my five year goal!
C.O.N.G.R.A.T.S.!!
Hard work pays off….I can’t wait to see your beautiful new home!!
Wow! Congratulations on reaching your goal!!!!
Congrats also on being listed as Number 2 in the 50 How to Save Money Blogs! http://www.personalloans.org/50-how-to-save-money-blogs/
Congrats! That is amazing! Now when we teach our next FPU I can use you as an example! Awesome.
Awesome! You give me lots of hope as we teach our children. I am curious to know how your financial decisions will change and remain the same now that you’ve accomplished this goal. Will you start splurging in some areas? Or do you have another financial goal on the horizon that you will be working towards? When we became debt-free, we immediately boosted our entertainment fund and started going out for fabulous date nights every week! It was fun to have some extravagance after living so frugally for 2.5 years. My biggest way of celebrating was putting in my two weeks notice though.
A debt-free SAHM is a happy mom indeed.
Congratulations to your family, Crystal! What an amazing accomplishment! God is so good!
Congratulations! And way to go! And I am so excited that you will quailfy for the tax credit too, right!?!
That’s what I call A MONEY MAKER!
Congratulations! What a testimony to God’s faithfulness!
Congratulations on this accomplishment!
Enjoy every minute of your trip and savor this special time!
Congratulations!!! It goes to show that with hard work, dedication, and God on your side that all things are possible. 2010 is already shaping up to be a wonderful year for you..so exciting. May God continue to bless you and your family…
Congratulations! Enjoy the beach!
Praise God!!! Congratulations and I wish you FUN in house hunting!!!
It has truly been a privilege to watch this journey. Congratulations!
Congrats to you and your family. What an inspirational story!! Thanks for sharing. God Bless.
That is some really awesome stuff right there. I can’t wait to hear some of the details and insight you guys have to share. From being an avid HouseHunters watcher for years now all I can say is: Don’t settle! Keep looking till you find that right house or the right house finds you… Congrats! Enjoy CA.
My best, Lynn
*swing on over to my spot, I’m hosting a giveaway extravaganza this week!
You are an inspiration! And most importantly what an amazing gift you have given your children- a realized dream, living a life without debt, living within your means, using only what you truly need..congratulations!
Congratulations that is amazing news. I have been following your blog for over a year so have read about the sacrifices you have made in the short term to reach this goal. It has taken much determination, tenacity and hard-work – but wow what an achievement. Have a wonderful holiday.
You are an inspiration to all of us. You have certainly made me up my goals!
Congratulations that is amazing news. I have been following your blog for over a year so have read about the sacrifices you have made in the short term to reach this goal. It has taken much determination, tenacity and hard-work – but wow what an achievement. Have a wonderful holiday.
You are an inspiration to all of us. You have certainly made me up my goals!
What a great blog, I just stumbled upon here!
I just blogged about my own personal financial goals for 2010 and mine include saving to pay cash for a home. We strive to live debt free (except for the mortgage) and I am so excited to hear your story for how you did this!
Carrie
http://www.organicthrifty.com
Congratulations!! What an awesome milestone to meet and what a great witness about being a good stewart of all the things God has given you. You are an inspiration!
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