a new way of thinking

TJ and I needed another car. Last night we found one. It was nearly exactly what we were looking for. A cute 86' Honda civic, only 161,000 miles, 5-speed, hatchback. Not to mention the seller of the car was a young married guy who just found out his wife was pregnant with their 3rd child (the first two were twins). We were pumped to find a car we liked and help out some people who really needed the money. It was almost perfect. ... except the loose clutch, squeaky brakes, broken rear defrost, no maintenance history ...

But. It wasn't over.


After we got home last night we received a phone call from somebody we had emailed earlier that had an 89' volvo wagon for sale. We agreed to look at it today, but in the back of our minds we figured after we looked at the volvo we would head over to buy the civic. Then, we sat in the volvo, we drove the volvo, we loved the volvo. The only thing wrong with the volvo was that there was thumping noise in the engine and the owner was positive it was a water pump which he would fix before selling to us. It was clean, well maintained, they had records for the last 10 years ... Exactly the same price as the civic ... except these people obviously didn't need the money

We sat in our car for over a half-hour trying to decide what to do. We even drew names out of a hat (3 out of 4 times TJ picked civic...), made a list of pros and cons for each, and thought about all the worst -and best- case scenarios.

TJ made the phone call. We chose the volvo. It made sense. It was well cared for, low mileage, great condition, super comfy, great for hauling things, it had less cons and more pros.

The hard part was letting down our civic friend. Oh my goodness was it hard. We wanted to badly to help somebody financially who needed it. There was something inside of us that really struggled with the decision we had made. I won't go into detail seeing as this blog is already way too long, but there was something in us that felt like the people are more important than the product. We felt selfish for choosing a car that we like over helping someone in need. Grace. Mercy. God has chosen us even though we definitely aren't the volvo.

We have prayed that if we should buy the civic, then the fixed water pump wouldn't stop the thumping noise in the engine. We will find out tomorrow. We also pray for our Civic family.

It's amazing how God changes things.

(here's a picture of our potential 'new' addition to our family)

uggghhhhh

No more T.V. Seriously. No more. One of the many great things about my husband is his lack of enthusiasm about T.V. That is something we definitely share. For the past year we've lived without satellite, without cable, and without bunny ears. Our T.V. had two purposes - movies and sega - and we rarely played sega. Unfortunately TJ's parents don't share the same view we do. Not only do they have a new uber nice T.V. , they have cable and shelves full of movies I've never seen. And I mean this with no disrespect to them. I just have no self control. Because the thing is, I can live without T.V., I'd prefer to live without T.V., but when given the opportunity to watch it, I will. Especially today. I applied several places, got an interview set up for tomorrow, and felt like I deserved a little R&R. 3 hours later, here I am, not only staring at a computer screen, but behind the computer screen is deal or no deal. I'm cutting myself off at 5.

hello

We left for Washington bright and early on Friday. The trip overall went fairly smooth. There were a few bumps in our trip but nothing serious. We left all of my make-up and toiletries at my mom's house. TJ left a bag of chocolates on top of our car at a rest stop and needless to say, we lost those. TJ also accidentally threw Ella's favorite water dish out the window...he had kind of a rough day. =) Ella, on the other hand, did not appreciate the car ride. She wouldn't eat, drink, or use her litter box while in the car, or even at rest stops. She looked pretty mangy by the end of the trip. She seems to be enjoying her new house! Overall we are very thankful that we didn't hit any animals or have any car trouble. God really sustained both of us during the trip. TJ's parents have been very accommodating as we try and find jobs and a place of our own. We definitely still have some adjusting to do though! Since we are two hours earlier here and it was daylight savings times, we woke up at 5:45. That's all for now. Will post pictures later.