My new car!

With number 4 on the way we need a new car.  Our Chevy Cobalt is already filled to capacity when we go anywhere as a family.. and you don't want to picture us on a camping trip with all of the gear too!

With Grant commuting 45 minutes to work and my OB/ hospital 3 miles from home... Well, there's no way I want to be riding my bike 9 months pregnant while hauling 2 kids, riding next to one, in 100+ degree weather.  And then there's the whole newborn pediatrician appointments afterwards...  I'm not going to want to sit on a bike seat then!  So we need a second car, not just a bigger car.

And then we considered finances.  Grants student loans eat away as much of his paycheck as we do for food...  so we couldn't really at all afford a car payment.  Which means our savings had to suffice.  Which meant looking at higher mileage, older cars.

Let me tell you, I don't like cars.  Looking for a car has probably been one of the more stressful things for me this year.  I've chosen and prepared most of our school curriculum for next year already to avoid car hunting, or to de-stress after looking at the options online.  Every time I found something in the price range it had too many miles, or it had some other problem, or the person selling it wouldn't respond to requests for more information because apparently just the mileage and price and a few pictures should be enough to tempt me to go look at it, or it was sold.

There were a few that I had on my "Well, if it's still for sale next time we go to that city we'll look at it" list, but I really wasn't enthused about any of them.

Then Wednesday I thought I'd look at cars from the perspective of having all the money in the world to throw around.  I fell in love with the Buick SUVs.  The first car I bought was a Buick Skylark and I LOVED it.  I never had problems with it.  I told Grant that I'd love to get back into a Buick.. if only.  That evening I prayed the same thing.

That evening someone posted an 03 Buick Rendezvous for sale in Phoenix.  In our price range.  I saw it the next day.  Friday morning Grant took the day off from work and we drove up to Phoenix.  After a test drive and having a mechanic look at it we got them to knock off nearly $1000 to cover the repairs needed since they put on the wrong size of wheels to accommodate fancy rims.  Then engine and transmission and everything else according to the mechanic looked in perfect working order.

Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers.

So we bought it and let the kids ride with Mom in the new car.  We stopped in Globe for some dinner.  And then stayed stopped in Globe to clean up Cerise's vomit christening of the new car...  And then she must have decided she hadn't done a good enough job of it because she managed to do it twice again before we got home.

Regardless, I'm excited for the new car!...  as long as she doesn't throw up every car trip now...