Category Archives: blessings

Blessed Car Troubles

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The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we packed up our little blue Ford Explorer and headed out to Denver, Colorado to spend the holiday with Jake’s oldest sister and her family. About two hours into the trip, the car jolted, the o/d light started flashing, and the check engine light went on. It was clear that the transmission was going out. 🙁 Fortunately we had 10 hours of driving ahead of us, so we talked cars. New cars, used cars, car repairs. And we prayed. A lot.

We made it safely to Denver and had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family. We ate lots of good food and the kids had a blast playing nonstop with their cousins.

And then came Friday, and I just remember being so cold going from car to car and place to place looking for a vehicle to take us home. And hopefully one that would last us a long time, had plenty of space, could tow a boat…(this list was quite long.) I hate car shopping and being frugal. And practical. And except for the free hot chocolate, I really didn’t enjoy the experience at all.

After many hours of shopping, nothing felt right. We were tired and grumpy.

On the way home, we talked about our Explorer and what we were going to do with it. We got a few trade in offers, but nothing that substantiated the worth of the car. It would be worth far more to Jake’s nephew in Denver. He had just returned from his mission and he was looking for a car to take to school in a few months. Jake mentioned giving it to him, and we decided that was probably the best thing to do since we have felt quite blessed lately. And it seems that when we give, we are well taken care of in the end. And we were!

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We came home from our shopping and researched more. And prayed more.

Around 11pm when I had mostly exhausted my online search, Jake handed me his phone and said, “This is the car I want.” I looked at it briefly and said with a bit of surprise, “This is the one I want too!” I felt excitement and relief and gratitude all at the same time.

And that’s the crazy thing about it, it was exactly what I wanted. And exactly what we needed.

So we went to the dealer first thing in the morning, spent a few hours with the car getting a few concerns addressed, paid right under our budget, and drove away in our 2005 Yukon.

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And now as we drive through this snowstorm on our way home, we are humbled by the series of events and how well everything worked out. We know that God’s hand is in the details of our lives. Our car started having issues at just the right time because we wouldn’t have taken it to Denver if the issues were apparent before we left. Not that we wanted car issues, but it was great timing because it put us in Denver where we would have more options for buying a car than in our little area of N Dakota, and it enabled us to get our car to Jake’s nephew just when he needed it.

I have no doubt that when we do our best to follow God’s commandments and ask for His help when we need it, we will never be on our own. He will help us, and things will work out.  We didn’t come away with a brand new car, but we got just what we needed.

I see His hand in my life every day and every day my faith grows stronger. I know that He is there and that He wants to help us. And that is so comforting.

Pay it Forward

halloweenbeach-74I was looking forward to yesterday for a while.
For Jake’s birthday, we ordered a paddle board from REI and we couldn’t wait to pick it up and take it to the beach! The first time we went to the gulf coast, we saw a guy out in the ocean on his stand up paddle board. Jake was smitten. He kept talking about how cool it would be to have a paddle board, and he just seemed so excited about it. Well, the price tag proved this item elusive for a while. It’s been over two years, and I figured it was a good time to look into getting ourselves a stand up paddle board. And we did!!
We picked it up yesterday morning, strapped it to the top of our explorer, and headed out for the beach! We had SUCH a good time.  The weather was a perfect 78 degrees, with a slight breeze and plenty of sunshine. And, the beach was empty! Other than a few people walking by or in their beach houses, we had the beach to ourselves. Jake wasted no time getting that board into the water, and ended up taking it out a number of times while we were there. The waves were pretty choppy, but he kept his balance pretty well.  He even rode a few waves in. Ava and I also took a ride sitting down on it while Jake pushed us around.  Ava was a little uneasy at first, and didn’t even want to go out on it, but she still laughed and seemed to have a good time on it.  She also loved running up and down the beach, chasing the birds and the waves.  She ended up falling asleep, wrapped in a towel on my lap as the sun set. I loved it. It was a perfect day relaxing and playing together.  We were all so happy.
When we got home around 8:30, the neighborhood kids were jumping in a bounce house in the Hanson’s yard across the street.  Ava had a blast playing with them (as always) and ate lots of Halloween candy. Did I mention it was Halloween? I wouldn’t have spent the day any other way.
One more thing. Before heading out to the beach, we stopped at an nice Indian buffet to get some lunch. The food was great, although Ava didn’t seem to want to try much (which is typical.)  The waiters were so kind and even brought out ice cream for her. We sat nearby a nice middle aged man, and Jake engaged in some conversation with him throughout our meal. He left before we were done.  While we were finishing up our rice pudding, one of the waiters came over to us, thanked us for coming, and with a smile said, “You don’t need to worry about paying, your meal has been covered. That man already paid for you.”
I was so touched. Maybe it’s my pregnancy emotions, but I just wanted to cry; I was so grateful and so touched by his kindness. Most of all, I was impressed by the feeling it left me with–it made me want to do likewise.  To pay it forward. I thought about how powerful little acts of kindness like that can be, especially if it inspires others to continue to pay it forward with other acts of kindness.
Overall, it just left me with such a great feeling, and I don’t doubt that the giver felt similarly. We would all do better with more kindness like that.
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30 weeks! (And really loving this bump of mine.)

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5 Years Time

I choose you.

And I’ll choose you, over and over and over.

Without a pause, without a doubt, in a heartbeat.

 I’ll keep choosing you.

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Happy Anniversary !  Life is so much sweeter with him in it. Plus, I’m head over heels for him, and that’s just fun. So grateful that I have him for forever.

Flashback to our engagement video 5 years ago…