Tuesday, July 20, 2010

story of the car: a mini diary

July 8: William called me to tell me he was on his way home from work. 10 minutes later he called me to come get him because his car had broken down in the outside turn lane on Maitland Blvd and Maitland Ave. After a few minutes of getting screamed and cursed at (because, you know, he broke down on purpose to inconvenience people) a nice man stopped and helped him push the car through the rest of the turn and into a parking lot. Edward and I rescued William and drove home, leaving the car overnight. We returned in the morning, hoping that it would miraculously turn on. It did not. The sad old Honda was towed to our trusty mechanic.

July 12: Diagnosis day. The timing belt went and took some things with it. Cost of repairs? $1800. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. The car wasn't worth that. It stressed us both out. It would have been doable to go to being a one car family, but we would have been filling up my tank every 2 days with all the places we need to go separately. The search for a new car begins, leading to a cheap Volvo that the owner planned on charging US to repair... yeah no.

July 13: First day of having to be different places, but fortunately they were on the same side of town. The car hunt continues...

July 14: More Volvos. Craigslist. Ugh. William sells the Honda to one of those "we buy your junk car!!!" places, and our mechanic is surprised how much we got for it.

July 15: An unexpected financial gift, for which we are immensely grateful. The car search is widened from "clunker" to "functioning, with ac!"

July 16: More Volvos. Craigslist. Yay!

July 17-18: More Volvos. Decisions. Ugh/Yay!

July 19: We own a Volvo! It's in super-great condition, mechanically and aesthetically, and is quite literally the nicest car William has ever owned.


I am humbled by how quickly God provided in unexpected ways, and how much had to happen at just the right time for us to have found our new car. I am too quick to pray that God will provide and then act like I don't think He will. Next time I'm stressing out, maybe I will peek out the window at our pretty red Volvo and remember that God is bigger than me.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Thankss so much for posting this! I cant wait to make the taco filling! You did such a great job for your mom's and isaac's parties! It's like a bonus to discover your blog, this is really wonderful!

Jessica said...

You're welcome, and thanks for the compliment :) I really enjoyed putting the parties together.

Mrs. T. said...

I was just going to refer you to someone I know who is selling a car near you. I live in Maitland, too. I read the entire post and am thrilled that God provided for you in this way. We had about $1000 worth of unexpected expenses this week which always makes my heart beat faster, but God is faithful and has provided by storing up a little at a time over time...

Jessica said...

Thanks Tonya. I have yet to have a challenge come up that God didn't provide for at just the right time, but I still am learning not to panic. God is indeed faithful :)