It's A New Car!

So, QUITE unexpectedly this past weekend, Daniel and I BOUGHT A CAR. Yes, that's right. We passed a new marriage milestone! Scary and exciting all at the same time...

Background Story:

I've had a white 2003 Saturn L300 (basically like their Camry or Accord) since my senior year in high school. Basically about 6 1/2 years. It's been a fantastic car. Our goal was for it to make it through our time at seminary--mostly because it was paid for, which = NO car payment! Woo hoo! We have been blessed to make it 2 1/2 years of marriage without one. Well, wouldn't ya know, the Saturn just had to start acting up. And when I mean acting up, I mean transmission issues. YIKES! Just the word alone sounds expensive! We made it into town for the Holidays and decided once all the festivities were over we would take it in to a transmission specialist. Daniel and my dad took it to Trans Tech in Conway (cannot say enough good things about these guys! ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! If you ever have transmission problems, take your car to them!). Not even 2 hours later, he called Daniel and said we needed to completely replace the transmission. $1500-$2000!! Well, the Saturn is only worth $3000 in top condition, so we were faced with a huge decision. Do we spend that much money to fix it and then something else go wrong soon after? Do we just try to trade it--even $1000 is better than nothing? Can we afford a car payment on a seminary budget? The list goes on and on. What made it more stressful is we HAD to make a decision that day because it would take 3 full days to fix the transmission and we are leaving for Louisville soon! Oy!

My parents have some connections at Smith Ford in Conway, so we decided just to go over and talk to them, explain our situation, and see if they had anything pre-owned that could work for us. Mr. Kenny Ketcheside told us he just had a 2011 Ford Fusion traded in last week and he thought he could give us a good deal for it. We test drove it, and LOVED it! We were fearful that it was out of our price range though--just because it was newer and only had 43,000 miles on it. Needless to say, we were VERY pleasantly surprised! Not only did he give us a great price for the Fusion, he looked at the Saturn and gave us $2000 trade-in!! We could not believe it! With the trade-in credit, we were able to finance it and negotiate affordable monthly payments. WE COULD NOT BELIEVE IT! Saturday morning, we cleaned out the Saturn, drove it down to Ford, signed the papers, and drove away in our new car! It still seems kind of surreal but I'm sure that will all change once we start having to make payments on it. Lol.

Here it is!

Smith Ford took SUCH great care of us, we will do what we can to always do business with them! I absolutely adore this car---it drives so well and is SO roomy! It's weird to think about, but we had to consider if it could fit car seats in the back and baby stuff in the trunk! (NOT that we are pregnant! Or close to it! lol). Thankful the Lord worked out all the details and we now have a dependable car to drive back and forth to Louisville.

30 Days of Thankfulness

I love Thanksgiving. It's a shame that I start to realize around this time every year how much I truly have to be thankful and grateful for--I really should remember that all year long.

Now that November is here (CRAZY), I have jumped on the whole Facebook bandwagon of "30 Days of Thankfulness." The Lord has really put on my heart this last week that even though I get frustrated or depressed with life circumstances and situations, I really do have a lot to be thankful for! I have a nice apartment that has air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter, I have nice clothes, I have enough food to eat so I don't go hungry, I have good health, I have an amazing church and church family, my husband is able to learn more about Jesus every day of the week, I have a great job that is full-time and in my field, I have a car to get me places around town and traveling home...I mean the list could just go on and on!! 

Aside from all these material things, most importantly, I am thankful that Jesus chose to save my sinful, selfish self and make me a child of God. How humbling is that?? What a blessing to say that Jesus loved me so much, despite my sin, that He died on a cross so that I might be saved and live with Him eternally one day in the Presence of God. Whoa! Y'all, the Gospel is so powerful!

Not only did He save me, but He blessed me with an amazing family here on Earth whom I love SO dearly! I totally took them all for granted when I lived 30 minutes away, but now that we are states apart, I cherish each moment I spend with them (and thank you FaceTime for allowing me to actually see their face 500 miles away!!!). They are all so precious and I miss them OH SO MUCH! 

Last, but not least, the Lord blessed me with my soul mate. Like it says in Song of Solomon, "I have found the one that my soul loves." This man is so perfect for me---funny how my weaknesses are his strengths and vice versa. We balance each other so well and I will love him til the day I die. Four years ago this month, he asked me out on our first date--thank goodness I said yes! 

What do you have to be thankful for?

No Place Like Home

There truly is no place like home! This past weekend, my hubby traveled to Washington D.C. (he is an intern this year at our church, so our associate pastor and one of our elders took them to the 9Marks conference at Mark Dever's church on Capitol Hill). Once we found out when he was going, my parents felt sorry for me to be home by myself for 5 days and decided to fly me home! :) Sweet of them right?! Equally sweet, my boss let me off work Friday so I could fly out Thursday night.

Friday morning, Mom and I headed to Mimi's house where she got up early to cook me my favorite pancakes (blueberry w/ granola sprinkled in) and bacon. Then we headed to Gran's house to spend time with her and my aunt Virgie before we played Bunko with the rest of my mom's Bunko group. I have the sweetest grandmother's ever! Friday night, Hannah came over and us girls had a sleepover---watching girl shows like "I Found the Gown" and eating brownies. :) I love Girl Time!!

Saturday morning, mom and dad and I headed up to Fayetteville to support our Razorbacks as they took on Alabama. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good game, but it was fun to be back up there and enjoy the atmosphere and time with my family.

Sunday came way too fast, and all too soon I found myself back at the airport headed to Louisville. I'm back in my apartment safe and sound, but I'm ready for my husband to be back home, and I'm even more ready for it to be time for holidays so we can go back home together. Even after being in Louisville for 15 months, in my heart, Arkansas is still home.

Thanks mom and dad! It was a great weekend!