Happy Birthday, Bertha!

Well, we haven't actually named her yet (our minivan.) I think she's got to die and be pushed to start the engine at least three times before naming becomes necessary. BUT, it has been one year since we bought our first ever, beloved minivan. Here's the post from a year ago if you care to celebrate her blessed day with us:

~~~

I feel like I should start this post with an acceptance speech!
First I'd like to thank God for being merciful and gracious. Second, I'd like to thank Dave Ramsey for writing The Total Money Makeover, my husband for jumping on board with me from day one and being excited about a book I only told him about, and finally to my sister HB for turning me on the book in the first place.

Now, this is why this book is such a big deal:

We just bought a minivan. Like, we bought it. Drove it off the lot with the title in my purse!

In March of 2007 our little family started the Total Money Makeover. By October that year God had freed us of all our debt--$22,700 to be exact. We know it's all Him, and not only because every good and perfect gift comes from Him. We made lots of mistakes along the way--I made lots of mistakes. Yes, we fought hard and made sacrifices and we've learned a ton about being smarter with the money He gives us. But He freed us. With this freedom has come a life-or-death commitment to never get ourselves into debt again--period.

As soon as we found out we were pregnant with #3 we started saving for a minivan. Three carseats don't fit in the back of an Accord. We tried. We knew we needed a van, and we knew we shouldn't finance a single cent. The plan was to buy one in March. Well, tax season hit us hard. (One of those mistakes I was telling you about.) But, again, God is endlessly merciful with us.

We've been intensly researching and shopping the market for the last month. (Casually for the last seven months.) We decided to get a Toyota Sienna because for what we could afford, it was the best van on the market. We could afford most vans between 2000's and 2003's. As we were zeroing in on buying time, we saw that the vans we could buy were 2000 Sienna's with about 80,000 miles. Not great, but still reliable and smart. This weekend we found a van online that looked really good, but just barely out of our range. It was listed on the lot at $11,000, and as an internet special for $10,000. It's a 2002 Toyota Sienna Symphony Edition with 64,000 miles. Really nice. It was so close to our range and by far the best van we were seeing.

Remember how I said tax season hit us hard? Well, our first tax forecast told us that we'd have about three thousand dollars left along w/ our car to put toward a new van. This morning we had $7500 in my purse and a 2002 Kia Spectra to trade in. As soon as B.daddy got home KC came to watch the kids and we headed to the lot. All day we'd just been praying that if this wasn't the van it just wouldn't work out.

We checked it out, played with all the gadgets, and drove it around. It was niiiiice! We sat down in the office and started talking to the owner. He said we needed to put a few hundred more into the pot to make the deal a go. B.daddy (thankfully) was firm in our resolve and said, "This is all we've got. We brought everything we have, laid it out, and if it works, it works. If not, we just can't get it." I was thinking--Whatever! We'll take it. It'll be tight, I don't know if we really should or could, but we'll take it!! I'm so glad I didn't butt in, because I was so tempted. The owner finally realized we couldn't budge. There was a $200 fee he couldn't wave but that was all he was asking above our offer. We deliberated. Since our sales tax was going to be less than we thought, we went for it. So he filled out all the paper work, we left the LamborKia in the lot, and drove off in a brand-new-to-us van that belonged completely to us! Umm, praise the Lord? I think so.

To make a long story longer...

As I was nervously driving us home, (I have a nasty habit of having fender benders) B.daddy was saying, "Man, that was kind of anti-climactic." I was like, Heck yes! Our lives shouldn't flash before our eyes when we're buying stuff--especially big stuff. Well, the climax was coming...

We parked it in the driveway and headed into the house. I handed B.daddy the keychain and he noticed a blue button with a key symbol on it.
What does this do?
I don't know, I pressed it and nothing happened.
Well, let me try.
He pushed it and held it down. It's a freakin' remote starter!! This is a HUGE deal here! Everytime I leave the house in the winter I have to lock the kids in their room, run downstairs and back to the garage, start the car and lock the keys in the car (extras in my pocket), then run back upstairs to get the kids bundled up.

So, basically we're very excited. This van is exactly what we need, and even exactly what we want! How amazing is that? Sorry this has been so wordy, but it's one of those stories in our lives that is very important to us and the whole story of how God is freeing us from the bondage of our sin.

Our new van!!!

Power sliding door :)

Symphony Edition means it has a really nice stereo system. Mommy likes.

It's clean, roomy, and comfy.