Some Sadness with Hope and a Promise

Today, Stephen decided to buy a car. This is not something he does lightly. Anytime he decides to make a major purchase there is much number crunching, analyzing, and weighing of pros and cons. I guess you could say he's been doing that for almost 2 years now, but after looking at 2 cars this weekend, and playing one dealrship against 3 others, he made up his mind. We bought the 2009 Jetta TDI Deisel. We are way excited. Now to get to the heart of the story.


It is with sadness to that I buy this car. It means that I turn in my first car that I paid for all by myself--a 1997 black Saturn SL1. I loved my little car. It saw trips to Auburn, New Orleans, and Dallas from Shreveport. From Houston it made countless trips to Shreveport and Grand Saline, not to mention back and forth to Huntsville while I got my masters. To top it off, this car withstood Hurricane Allison. I had 1 more year to pay it off and she was flooded up to the door handles that early June morning. To hear car alarms go off still sends shutters up my back. (That's what happens when a car is flooded. The car alarm continually goes off.) With a new set of electrical wiring, she worked great for 7 more years. Yes, the headliner had rotted and was falling down and it smelled of mold and the transmission grinded, but she still ran. She was never in a wreck, ok, except that brother Jonny backed into her when he was parked in front of me in the driveway. Just a little "dent"--ha, ha, no pun intended! So, we parted ways tonight. (P.S.--Not my car pictured. Now that I look through my pictures, I can't find a picture her! She was pre-digital when brand new. I wish I would have taken one tonight. )


As we were driving home from the dealership, there was the most magnificent rainbow in the sky. (This picture doesn't do it justice.) It looked as if it were right over our house from where we were on the interstate. It was so vivid, not one of those pale ones. After pointing it out to Cavett and talking about God's promise, it was as if God was speaking to me. "I won't flood the earth again." Jennifer answers, "How bout this car, God?" I didn't get an answer, but I felt as if he was reassuring me that we had bought the right car. Even if it wasn't THE best deal to be had on just any car, we made a promise to God by buying this car that we are taking better care of his world and using the resourses he gave us more wisely. Maybe I'm stretching it, maybe not. Anyway, the rainbow was breath-taking.

You'll see pictures tomorrow, as Stephen is back at the dealership trading in the Saturn, since we didn't drive it there. On a side note, as we were cleaning out the car, I let Cavett look for coins. Any that he found were his to keep in his piggy bank. He found about 75 cents in random assortments. We took them upstairs and put them in his piggy bank which sings "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" when money is dropped in. The only problem tonight was that it hasn't quit singing yet! It's been an hour and I've stuffed it in the cushions in the couch with a pillow and blanket over it until Stephen gets home.


Update on the cake: Last night I put the crumb layer of frosting on to keep it from drying out and this afternoon I put on the final coat and smoothed it. Decorating starts tomorrow.