Blessings

There is no doubt about it -- we are blessed!  No matter how rough life can be or how many struggles and trials we have been through, we have always come through (often it is nothing short of a miracle how we made it either).  God has provided for our family through financial struggles, family troubles, moving, and just an innumerable list of other minor difficulties.  We have always been blessed with a comfortable home with all the necessities; two sweet, beautiful, and healthy children; and just a whole even more numerable list of happy memories.  I never like to miss an opportunity for counting my blessings so just bear with me a minute.   I do count this particular one as a huge blessing from above.  Cars and driving have been the source of several of our headaches and struggles.  When we were first married, we were lucky to each have paid off vehicles from our parents.  Eddie had his mother's old 1995 Suzuki Sidekick, and I had my 1997 Dodge Stratus which we actually still possess at this time.  It was my first car given to me by my parents when I graduated from high school so it has seen me through a lot of history.  It got me to college and home again and to my first real jobs.  While my parents made all the payments, I took care of most of the upkeep and maintenance and the gas needed.  Something about that first car that is just special!  To a teenager/young adult, it means a new level of freedom and independence.  It means responsibility too.  I actually never had an accident in this little car so I definitely count that as a blessing.  I had previously wrecked my dad's truck driving back and forth to school.  I actually had a long commute because of my parents relocating at the beginning of my senior year and my not wanting to change schools again.  The funny thing is I couldn't find a picture on my computer of this car although we still possess it.  We actually slowed down on the amount of mileage we put on it by making it just our second spare car.  Since Eddie is blessed to have a work truck to drive to work, he only needs to use it occasionally while I am at work or school.  Our nanny also drove it to take the kids to and from school.  However, the car has become increasingly less reliable.  We have maintained it well over the years, but it has developed a power steering leak that is just unmanageable.  Eddie actually wouldn't let me drive it because he felt it would be too difficult for me to manage if the power steering gave out.

Anyway, our first new car purchase was in 2004.  We decided on a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee because it was an affordable SUV and very reliable vehicles.  I planned and shopped until I found just the vehicle we wanted in Virginia Beach, VA.  It was a special package that offered the upgrades we wanted (leather seats, sunroof, etc.) without the costs.  Seriously, we were so proud of the deal we got on this vehicle as when all was said and done we got it for $26,000 when the sticker price was like $31,000.  Talk about some bargainers!  We did trade in Eddie's old Sidekick so part of the discount was from that.  I know you can't actually get $5,000 off a brand new car for nothing.  We did get a few little odd charges knocked off because we felt they were just ridiculous (I mean who pays for floor mats?).  I do actually have a picture of this car:

Yep, we were pretty proud!

We would have held onto this car until it was paid off, but alas, this happened in 2006 (probably our first big catastrophe):

Yes, it was my fault.  Yes, I was alone and no other cars were involved.   No, I was not hurt at all!  And no, I have not had any more accidents since.  And that is all I'm going to say about that.  ;-) 

So we were back to needing another car.  Our need was dire this time as we only had one car now.  I was driving an hour to and from work every day in Portsmouth, Virginia.  We immediately headed back to the same Jeep dealership where we had gotten such a great deal.  We found a Jeep we liked, but several red flags should have stopped us from purchasing.  The vehicle had a few more options and was priced a little higher.  Also, they would cram so many cars onto their car lot that they would literally be parked so tight you could barely walk between them.  Needless to say, we found a couple of small scratches on it.  Nevertheless, we proceeded with the purchase because of our need.  Because of the accident, we chose to add some additional coverage through the dealership (big mistake we'll never make again, I promise) which increased the total cost of the vehicle and our monthly payment.  We walked away from that deal feeling less satisfied.  The real slap in the face though was when we left the vehicle there for a detailing and went back to pick it up and found the back bumper had been damaged.  Ugh!  They fixed it, but I wish we had just walked away then.  Anyway, it was still a good vehicle, and we kept it and finally paid it off this year.

Well, this was the best picture I could find of our 2006 Jeep.  Evan was helping Daddy wash the car in 2009.  I guess we never took the proud new car purchase pictures in 2006.  That just shows you how we felt about the whole deal.

Fast forward to 2012, and we finally became the proud owners of a paid off 2006 Jeep.  Ha!  We have enjoyed no car payment for several months, but we knew we needed to get another more reliable car and get rid of the old Dodge once and for all.  We actually didn't trade the Dodge in and are just giving it to Eddie's mom to drive around town.  Their family friend, James, is a very good mechanic or knows some and should be able to maintain it for her.  We have been looking for just the right car for our family for about a year now.  We never thought we would go the minivan route so we were mostly looking for SUV's with third row seats.  We knew we wanted a cheaper car payment than last time and decided we would look for something that was used (no more than 2 years old though with low mileage).  We found that most SUV's fitting that description are just overpriced, especially when you want certain "luxury" items (leather interior is a must for us).  We also knew that with minivans you could get lots of family friendly options like power sliding doors, lots of cargo space as well as seating, entertainment systems, etc., but we weren't sold until we happened upon a particular minivan that just so happens to be made by Volkswagen.  We have heard so many owners of Volkswagens say how much they love their VW and how reliable they are.  We also thought that although minivans in general aren't "cool" people vehicles, the VW still had some "cool" factor points going for it.  We thought they also came with a nice price tag too.  We had seen very few VW minivans on the road.  We first went to the dealership to check one out.  We liked the look and feel of them, but the new car price of mid-$30K was still a little high for us (although pretty reasonable when compared to other new minivans).  We then started checking Carmax for used VW Routans and found several that we liked but all were missing a little something we wanted.  First off, I hate white cars!  I absolutely positively will never own a white or beige car!  They are just plain and boring.  Sorry if you have a white car, but they just aren't for me.  Many of the minivans we found fit this description.  Then, we found several 2011's recently with decently low mileage in the mid-$20K range.  We were pretty happy with this result.  The winner turned up a couple of weeks ago in Georgia....a navy blue 2012 VW Routan with only 9,000 miles on it.  And the kicker, it was only $1,000 more than the 2011's.  It was priced over $10,000 less than the MSRP new price of $35,000.  We started the process of getting the vehicle transferred here while we were on vacation.  When we returned, we applied for financing first through Carmax.  Yikes, their rate stunk like a very nasty Brody diaper!  We were a little discouraged, but we then decided to try financing through our bank where we had gotten good financing with our first new car purchase.  Hey, you stick with what you know.  Our bank is a special credit union that caters to state employees so they usually treat us right.  We got approved and found out they would give us the lower new car financing rate for this car since it was a 2012.  Yep, we were ecstatic since this would put our car payment over a $100 less than our old one was.  Since I had to work all week and go to school at night, my sweet husband decided to tackle the new car purchase on his own.  He went to the dealership, test drove the vehicle, and started the process.  Turned out, I had to sign the purchase documents in person before a notary which was not possible.  Our nice sales lady was so adamant to complete the sale that she followed my husband to my work to get the papers signed.  Desperate, maybe?  Luckily, I work for a law firm where notaries are abundant so the process was completed successfully.  When Evan first saw his new car, his words sealed the deal as he said "Cool!" over and over and over!  Ha!  But seriously, this is my favorite car yet!

Our "new" 2012 Volkswagen Routan

Yep, quite possibly the "coolest" minivan on the market!

Just look at that happy face!  Truly kid-tested and mother approved!

Yep, I am definitely a real soccer mom now.  We actually broke it in yesterday.

Brody approves of his comfy quarters.

Big brother likes his seat all the way in the back. 

And yes, Brody approves of the smooth ride.