(photo at bottom of post)
We have been talking about trading our old van (a 2001 GMC Safari) in for a while. We went back and forth, as we recently paid it off (and it’s nice only having one car payment), and it was running well until several weeks ago. We had some issues with it not starting all the time. It always started once jumped (a couple of times it had to be jumped by a jump box as another vehicle wouldn’t work, but it always started), and then it would run fine for a little while until it happened again.
Over the past few weeks, Andy has been doing some work on the vehicles. His Jeep got new tires and wheels, he replaced the brake pads on both vehicles, changed the oil, worked on the van – making sure the battery was clean and all the wires were connected properly. And it was running better. It seemed to have stopped having the “I don’t want to start sometimes” symptom. But Andy had informed me that we really did need to trade in the van before our cross-country trip this summer. After examining it, there were just too many things that were getting ready to go wrong. And it had nearly 95,000 miles on it.
We found out how much of a loan we could get from our bank (which, if you are in any way related to the military – we highly recommend using USAA for all your banking needs – we love them. And we have never used the term “love” in the same sentence as the term “bank” before. lol), and had decided we would probably trade the van in around mid-March or so… definitely before Andy leaves at the end of April/beginning of May.
Meanwhile, I was praying that God would give us just the right vehicle for us, and I was doing research online. I really wanted to get an SUV, something a little more compact but that still would seat 8. I didn’t want a giant suburban. I wanted something smaller than what I had. The extra room is nice when we travel, but it’s just so huge and bulky, and I was really ready for something that was a little easier to maneuver.
I checked to see what vehicles were in our price range. I found out what vehicles even had the ability to seat 8 (not a lot). I started looking at Honda Pilots and Nissan Armadas. Until I realized I’d have to get one that had as many miles as my current van and was about the same age. We finally concurred that I’d have to go with a van again. I could get something newer and nicer with fewer miles for much less money. I was looking at Honda Odysseys, but really didn’t think I could get one in our price range. I was hoping we could find something else that at least was smaller than the cargo van I’ve been driving.
I was tired of researching. I figured I’d just wait until the baby came, and then Andrew and I could go hike the car lots and see what was there – it’s hard to tell just by looking at online photos anyway. I was resigned to the fact that it would be at least a few years (after a couple of kids had left the home) before I’d be driving anything remotely “cool”. lol But I did continue to pray that God would provide a vehicle for us when we needed it. And if it had to be another cargo van, so be it.
Which brings us to the story of this week’s trade-in…
On Monday, I actually had a little bit of energy (something that has been eluding me more and more lately). Andy had been wanting to take me to see a movie (Taken – which was really good, by the way), so we left the kids at home and went to see a movie and planned on hitting the grocery store on the way home. The movie wasn’t showing at the right time at the movie theater near our house, so we figured – what the heck – let’s go to the one a little further away. So we drove an extra 25 minutes or so to another theater in a small town. Normally, we take Andy’s Jeep if it’s just the two of us, but for some reason we decided to take the van this time. The theater was actually fairly new and very nice, and we enjoyed our movie. We came out around 6:30 in the evening, and went to drive back to our town and go grocery shopping. Andy put the key in, and nothing. It wouldn’t start. Great…
I silently prayed that God would help us to get the van started and get home while Andy asked the lady that appeared to be just sitting and waiting in the van next to us if she wouldn’t mind jumping our van. She happily obliged and was very friendly – her husband was in the military too. We sat there for a while, but the van just was not starting. We were starting to wonder if the starter had been going out earlier and had finally decided to just kick the bucket. Finally, the lady had to go to work, so we gave up. I looked up local auto parts places on my phone – thinking maybe one of them had a jump box that they could run out to us… but they were ALL closed (at 6:45 on a Monday!). We called a towing company, and they said they would charge us $54.50 to bring their jump box out there and charge the van. After calling some friends – all of whom either had their phone off, their phone was out of order, or they simply weren’t answering, we decided to just go ahead and pay the towing company to come jump us.
Andy was absolutely starving by this point (I had been snacking), so I offered to walk to the KFC/A&W across the parking lot while he waited on the tow truck. He was so hungry that when I asked what he wanted, he just said he didn’t care – anything. I just went on instinct and got him a big juicy burger with everything on it and a big hot dog dripping with tons of cheese and onions. I didn’t think about the fact that he had been eating healthy lately. Yeah – he paid for that one all night (and posted on facebook the next day that he had been poisoned by his wife – lol). When you eliminate corn syrup, MSG, and other chemicals from your diet – your body doesn’t like it when you fill it with a bunch of fast food disgustingness. Just fyi. I felt bad about poisoning him; I was just going by what he would have always ordered prior to the past 6 months or so. Oops.
Anyway, I came back with the food and the tow truck was there. He stayed for a while – another super nice guy – but the van wasn’t going to budge. We were stuck there. The tow guy suggested we take a cab home and come back in the morning as there was a local auto store that would come to the parking lot and test everything for us. He was so nice, and when Andy went to pay him, he said “no” – he couldn’t take our money after our van didn’t even start. So that was a huge blessing!
We called the closest cab company (there was only one nearby) and they said they did not take credit/debit cards – only cash, and to drive us all the way to our house would cost us at least $50, probably more. We finally realized that was our only course of action at that point since we had no one to come pick us up (no one was answering their phones, remember?). Andy went on a hunt for an ATM so we would have some cash to pay for the cab. He came back a little while later – the movie theater (the brand new, big one) didn’t have an ATM. The local Fred Meyer’s (like a Walmart, only nicer and more expensive) had NO ATM. Bizarre. He figured he’d have to jog down the highway to the nearest bank to get the cash. But for good measure – or who knows why, he figured he’d turn the key one more time.
The van started right up like it had never had a problem.
We were like “um… okaaaay…” LOL! We thanked God for starting the vehicle (since it was obviously Him and not any of the things that we had tried on our own!!!) and we drove home. Andy and the boys took the Jeep and got the groceries we needed, and we decided that we’d be trading in the van sooner rather than later.
That brings us to Tuesday.
Andy got home early from work on Tuesday and we were going to take the van to Auto Zone, where they would test the battery and starter for free. I wanted to just take it and trade it in immediately. lol. Circumstances of the day made it so we weren’t able to leave the house until around 2:00 in the afternoon. We had kids coming home and things we needed to do. The older kids get home first, so having young children unsupervised wasn’t an issue, but it was also pouring down rain – not the usual drizzle we normally get, but like actually really pouring out there. All of you know how car hunts can be – they can take hours or days. But I had energy. And walking around wasn’t bothering me for the first time in weeks. Andy thought it might be wise if he just took the van to Auto Zone and then if it wouldn’t start I could bring the Jeep and pick him up. But something was telling me otherwise. I said I didn’t want to sink more money into a vehicle we were just going to trade in, but if that is what he wanted to do, then by all means, that was fine. I was really itching to get out of the house though – and had actually already gotten me and Jacob all ready to go. He was like “you know what? Let’s just do it your way.” Which was kind of out of character for him. Because “my way” was just to pray God would let the vehicle start and drive straight to a car lot and see what was there. In the pouring rain. lol.
We brought both vehicles (just in case) and we headed out. I prayed on the way that God would not let the van die, that it would start at the car dealership as well, and that God would bring us to the right car lot with the right sales person (there is a strip with about ten car lots all in a row), and that God would give us the vehicle He wanted us to have and that it would all go quickly and smoothly.
I followed Andy and let him choose which car lot we’d drive into. Since it was raining so hard, there were no other customers. The salesman was very nice, and we loaded up in a van (that only seated 7) to drive the car lots (the owner of this one, owned 3 more next to it) and look at all the 8-seaters. The salesman was skeptical when we gave him our price range and was pretty sure we’d be ending up in another cargo van. He wanted to sell us a 12 passenger one (uh… that doesn’t really sound smaller than the 8 passenger cargo van I was trading in!). He kept getting calls from the other sales guys, and it wasn’t looking like they had anything. We didn’t drive around very long, and he got a call that a Honda Pilot had just been pulled up to the lot. It was obviously out of our price range and they said it was a 2006. I said I’d like to look at it anyway, just to see what they looked like, but I knew we couldn’t afford one newer than a 2003, if even that. We pulled back to the original car lot and the Honda was parked under the awning still running from where they had pulled it up. It was so pretty. It was shiny and looked brand new. We got out to look at it. It had more space in the back than we had thought – and it was so compact compared to what I had been driving. We looked inside, and when we opened the doors the radio was blaring – much louder than they usually leave the radios on in cars on car lots. It was set to the Christian station and “Blessed be the Name of the Lord” was playing! Wow. That’s a rare thing in this part of the country, let me tell you! We were like “yes this is nice, but we can’t afford it”. The salesman said, “why don’t we test drive it anyway – maybe we can work something out on the price.” We were like “okay, why not?” I was in love with it. We got back to the dealership and they figured they would look at how much they’d give us for the van (after looking up kelly blue book, we calculated it at between 2500 and 3000 – not much).
Well, one thing led to another, and they ended up taking down the price of the Honda AND giving us 7000 for our van (even though they also knew it was not worth that). They appreciated Andy being in the military and wanted to work with us. I realize car lots are trying to get rid of cars nowadays, but the amount of money that they came down in order to get us driving off in this car that we can clearly not afford is ridiculous.
And it was all finalized and I was driving away in my new 2005 Honda Pilot less than three hours after we had left the house! God made the events of the night before happen so that we would want to trade in our vehicle the next day (when we hadn’t planned on it for at least another month), and made the events of the day happen so we would show up at the car lot at the perfect time – because He knew that the right circumstances and the right car were waiting for us at JUST that right time. And the praise music that was playing in my new car when I first opened the door was just the icing on the cake!!!
God is amazing, and He was just so evident in working this all out for us. He is so loving and kind that He decided that even though I don’t *need* a “cool” car or one that is more compact or even one that is this nice, that He said “here you go, here is a gift” and just blessed us above and beyond what we need or deserve. I am very thankful. And here is a photo (it’s been raining and snowing since we got it, so it’s not dry or real clean, but you get the idea)… oh, and it handles SO much nicer than the cargo van! It’s the difference between night and day. I’m ecstatic about it!! 
Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
edited to add: I forgot to mention that there are less than 34,000 miles on this car (much lower mileage than anything we have seen in our price range – 55,000 or above is what we were seeing as a recurring theme in our price range), AND – pretty much every Pilot I have looked at online has leather seats, well, I am not a leather seat fan (you stick to them in the summer and they are cold in the winter, even though they do come heated in most cars now – I still prefer cloth seats)… and this Pilot, the one that God had waiting for ME, has cloth seats!!!
), but he joined in on the fun game at the end. 
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