Mama's New Ride

Before Emily was born in 2007, we knew we'd eventually have to invest in a larger van, but when she died in 2008, we set that thought aside. It just hurt too much to think about the fact that we no longer *needed* a larger van.

Even when I was pregnant with Micah, we avoided the conversation despite the fact our 11 year old was the same size as his mama! A lot of those feelings were due to fear. I feared that if we talked of a larger van, we would NEVER have the need for one.

However, when Micah was born we happened to mention how cramped we were in our current van during our newspaper interview (Micah was the New Year's baby, so he was front page news!) We hadn't expected the reporter to print that little tidbit of info, but she did and we ended up coming home from the hospital to a couple of phone messages from a dearlership wanting to sell us one...one that was out of our price range.

It was then I decided to start praying specifics.

Now, specifics can be scary. You often wonder if you are being too picky or if God really will answer your EXACT prayers. Despite these concerns, I chose to trust that God could deliver.

Here's what I prayed:

15 passenger van
low mileage
low price
Chevy Express or a newer Ford (because of stabilization issues)
NOT WHITE

Let me tell you, that last request is pretty major because for some reason white seems to be the color of EVERY 15 passenger van. But I had a reason for wanting (not necessarily NEEDING) a non-white van.

Every vehicle we have bought since marrying 13 years ago has been WHITE...2 Bonnevilles, a Blazer, an International pickup, and an Oldsmobile van...all WHITE. I seriously needed a change of scenery. And since EVERYONE has a white 15 passenger van, my rebellious unique spirit wanted something different. I figured God could make it happen.

As time wore on and the amount of van selection seemed underwhelming, I wondered if I needed to change my prayer. Maybe my expectations were too high. It seemed like every van we looked at was either the right price with high mileage or white with low mileage and a high price or any other combination except the one I was praying for. Maybe God thought I was asking too much. Even though I continued to pray specifics, I began to look seriously at other options just in case the Lord wasn't wanting us to have exactly what I was praying.

Yet, nothing showed up.

Oh sure, we looked...some. Impulse buyer my husband is not. ;o) But everything we looked at was a royal disappointment. We even bid at an auction on one, but it went way too high.

As I kept squishing children into the van, I kept reminding them (and myself) they would have fond memories of all this togetherness. They kept reminding me that "togetherness" is wasted on the young. But who can blame them? I'm not sure I would last days, let alone years, of sitting wedged between 2 car seats filled with the flailing arms and legs of toddlers. Talk about sensory overload!

And then something happened that only God can do...

After watching three more vans fall through, I was worn out. My friend Sarah came for a visit and after hearing my lament over vans, she did a quick search of GSA auctions in the area. Her husband owns a small used car dealership so she knew the ins and outs of finding good deals on vehicles. In fact, they had been looking for a van for us for years without much luck (since we were kind of picky!)

Well, it just so happened there were one van up for auction in Omaha, Nebraska that fit our needs/wants. Now, Omaha isn't exactly in my backyard, but it just so happened my husband had some business to do up that way so we decided it was worth it to put in a bid. Sarah thought she could log in via internet and bid for us during the sale the next day. That's where we left it.

The day of the auction her daughter had a doctor's appointment at 7:30 am. No problem getting back to her computer by 2pm, right? WRONG. Sarah slid into home at 1:45pm, logged into the auction 5 vehicles before the van (these auctions go quick!), called me to confirm we still wanted to do this, and called back about 2 minutes later to tell me the van was ours! WHOA! (There's more to this story, but suffice it to say, this could only be a God-thing!)

So, without further ado, I introduce you to Mama's New Ride...