We bought a new-to-us minivan!
I am so thankful to my husband for our ("my") new van! Yesterday, we bought a 2004 model van to replace our older 1998 van.
Some of our friends know that we've gotten on board with Dave Ramsey and we like the idea of buying cars in cash (well, we like the idea of not acquiring debt for an asset that depreciates quickly), which means buying only so much as one can afford. When we got married, we were upside down on two car loans, so we got rid of those and borrowed an old car that had a little bit of life left in it (thanks Grandmom and Pop-Pop!) till we could save up a little bit of cash for an old car. (That first old car we bought ourselves was so rickety that once when I was out shopping at seven months pregnant, the driver's door got stuck shut and the only way for me to get back in was to climb through the passenger side door, a procedure that took me about 15 minutes. I think Chris was out of town, which is why he couldn't help me.)
Then we kept saving, sold our old car, and bought a slightly less old car. We did that a few more times till we bought our '98 model van right before John was born. Three more years of saving and now we were able to buy an '04 model (and now we can sell our old van).
Praise God for this blessing and thanks to my husband for my new ride!
On another note: John will remember yesterday as The Day He Discovered that Ants Bite. In California where I grew up, kids knocked over ant piles for fun because I don't recall that any ants bit, but here in the South children are taught never to go near ant piles. Yesterday I was occupying the children while Chris worked out the purchase of the van and we went to look at a parked cherry picker. I looked down at John, holding my hand, and saw that he was standing in an ant pile and now the angry ants were swarming up to his knees. I began screaming, causing him to begin screaming, and I dragged him away and began swatting at his legs. Ultimately, he got only three bites (which show up as angry red welts for my blissfully naive West Coast friends), but it could have been much worse. Then we went and found Daddy so John could say, "We found scary ants!"
Brooklyn ants didn't bite either. The ants here give me bites that keep me up at night for days!! It's awful.
ReplyDeleteBless his heart---he's lucky he only got 3. They itch miserably for daaaayys. Since we moved to GA I've learned that children have a certain scream when they've gotten into the fire ants. You know it when you hear it. :-(
ReplyDeletebtw YAY on the van!!
ReplyDeleteI'm scared to get pg again b/c I know all our extra cash will be going to save up for a used 12 passenger. :-)
Sarah: It's so true. You're one step away from a 12-seater! Fun.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new van!
ReplyDeleteHusband recommended I warn you guys about the "trunk light" problem with the Honda Odessey. We bought one new 8 years ago, and last year bought a used 6 year old one- now we have two of them. We just killed the third battery in our original van this past weekend! And have already had to replace the battery in our used van. We now own a very good battery charger, and keep a pair of jumper cables in the van at all times.
The interior lights are on a master switch in the drivers console- however, the trunk light- which kids can (and DO) switch on from the backseat- is not controlled by the master on/off switch! That's one way to drain the battery. The other thing that happens is that the windows are tinted so dark, that the lights can be left on and you can't see that from the outside.
So, of course, we removed the light bulb from the aggravating trunk light. And keep the master switch in the front on "off", but husband went back to van at night this weekend to find something, left the interior lights on overnight, and in the morning- dead van! Aggravating, because we should now better by now!
Just thought I would share that experience. Enjoy your new ride!
Alicia :)