New Van

I posted about our accident a few weeks ago and how we had seen God's hand of protection on us throughout the whole ordeal. We were also blessed by people reaching out to us to help and encourage us. What could have been a tragic situation turned into us watching friends and family be God's hands and feet to us and we are so thankful for each one of you.

We continued to see God working as we looked for a new van. His provision has been amazing.

We looked on AutoTrader.com and found about 6 vans we wanted to check out. We spent a whole Friday driving around to three of the vans and had no luck. One of the vans was not at all what we wanted, one had gone to auction the day before (yeah, outta put that kinda info on the website, wouldn't you think?!) and one wasn't at the location that the internet said it was at (in Tyler). It was two hours in the opposite direction (in Pittsburg). We were so frustrated and discouraged.

We were also kicking ourselves for not calling the places first.

So, we decided to take Saturday and go look at the van that was in Pittsburg. We did call first to make sure it was there.

When we got there and looked at it, we were disappointed to see a big dent in the back fender and lots of broken plastic parts inside (cup holders dangling, arm rests missing/hanging, seats that were supposed to be stow and go that wouldn't stow, etc). It was in terrible condition. We still drove it, but had pretty much made up our minds before we drove back into the lot.

But, when we drove in, we noticed a Nissan Quest that was in great condition (from the outside). Our first thought was that it was probably a newer year than we were wanting, since it looked so nice. Turns out, it wasn't!

So, we drove it and were very pleased. It was close to our price range, was in perfect condition (it had only had one owner) and wasn't white. That last one wasn't a deal-breaker, but we had talked about hoping we could get a color other than white. :-)

To make a long story short, we ended up paying a little more than we wanted to, but were very pleased with it and felt it was worth it. It was neat to realize that if the van we originally wanted to see had been in Tyler (like the internet said it was), we would've completely missed seeing the Quest because it wasn't on the internet at all. See, God's timing and direction.

And, the cherry on top is that we got the quote from our insurance company for how much they were going to give us for our old van and it was about $1500 more than we were expecting. And, that was the exact amount that we paid over our original budget plan when we got the new van!

I feel a little guilty being so blessed by God when it was my fault that the accident even happened. But, I am thankful for His grace.

And, without further ado, here is our newest member of our family:


Growing up, we always named our vans, but Slade and I are a bit boring and we just call it "The Van". Yes, I know.


So, if you see a black Nissan Quest driving down the road, it's us. But, you might not want to wave or distract me since I seem to be an accident magnet at this point.