Okay, last night was insane! When I originally started writing this post yesterday it was chocked full of moaning and complaining about the situation with our van, the short version being that, after five trips to the mechanic and about $2500 it was deemed not worth/safe to repair due to a combo of cracked head gasket and worn piston bearing. However, the simultaneous occurrence of two very unrelated circumstances have completely changed my tone.
First, the happy news: My parents, in their infinite love and generosity, saw fit to bless us with a new(er), and most importantly working, mini-van! On the way out of church last night, halfway across the parking lot, my dad stops, holds out a key, and points at a van parked a few spaces from our Venture. I was dumbstruck, to say the least; anyone reading this knows I am not often speechless, but all I could manage at the moment was "thank you." Our vehicle situation has been a point of concern for me for quite some time, increasingly so over the last several weeks. When I got the news that there was essentially nothing that could be done to fix the Venture and I had to resign myself to letting my pregnant wife drive around with an infant under the imminent threat of total engine failure, I was completely at a loss for what to do. This was particularly frustrating given the fact that, had we not poured substantial money into keeping the Venture running, we might have had enough to buy a replacement, but the situation being what it is, we don't. Our whole family went through Financial Peace University together and have committed not to no longer incur debt, so buying a car on payments was out of the question. In the end, that's essentially why Mom said they decided to buy us a new van, because they've watched us work hard to get out of debt (including already cash flowing one baby and working to cash flow another) and didn't want to see us set back. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for your love and support!
First, the happy news: My parents, in their infinite love and generosity, saw fit to bless us with a new(er), and most importantly working, mini-van! On the way out of church last night, halfway across the parking lot, my dad stops, holds out a key, and points at a van parked a few spaces from our Venture. I was dumbstruck, to say the least; anyone reading this knows I am not often speechless, but all I could manage at the moment was "thank you." Our vehicle situation has been a point of concern for me for quite some time, increasingly so over the last several weeks. When I got the news that there was essentially nothing that could be done to fix the Venture and I had to resign myself to letting my pregnant wife drive around with an infant under the imminent threat of total engine failure, I was completely at a loss for what to do. This was particularly frustrating given the fact that, had we not poured substantial money into keeping the Venture running, we might have had enough to buy a replacement, but the situation being what it is, we don't. Our whole family went through Financial Peace University together and have committed not to no longer incur debt, so buying a car on payments was out of the question. In the end, that's essentially why Mom said they decided to buy us a new van, because they've watched us work hard to get out of debt (including already cash flowing one baby and working to cash flow another) and didn't want to see us set back. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for your love and support!
Taa-Daa!
And now the sad news: Before we left church last night, my sis-in-law received a call from her mother saying that her uncle Jeff (who also happens, for those unaware, to be my aunt's brother) had been found at home unconscious and was being rushed to the hospital. There was no further information at time, and we all headed out to the parking lot to head to our respective homes (see above). While my parents, Denine, and I were checking out the van, Dad received a phone call from my sis-in-law that Jeff had been called home to the Lord. We all felt like we had been punch in the stomach; as far as anyone knows Jeff was in perfectly good health and this has come as a complete surprise, as I understand it the doctors still are not sure exactly what happened. Being a loss on two side of my family, since he is both my sis-in-law's and my cousins' uncle, combined with how influential he was in the church were I grew up, the weight of his loss is being heavily felt. It's a testament to how great a man he was, a truly gifted teacher and scholar, and a outstanding example of what a Christian man should be. While our world is a little darker for the loss of such a brightly shining light, we rejoice that he is resting with our Lord.
Okay, if anyone can still read after that - I got to cheat and take a break after writing it - general housekeeping issues:
Despite the overlying pall of crappy vehicular conditions the past few weeks, we have had a series of enjoyable family weekends. First was our youngest nephew's third birthday party, which are always fun, particularly since he's old enough now to really grasp the concept of getting presents now. Then we had our family outing to the Renaissance Festival. Our kids had been saving up their money for several weeks in anticipation; Ren came away with a floral wreath headdress (that she wore maybe twenty minutes total) and a bendy rubber dragon like her cousins have, and Jamie came away with a katana and two daggers, which now adorn the wall in their bedroom. Lastly, of course, was Thanksgiving, which was just my family, parents, and grandmother, as this was my brother's family's year to spend Thanksgiving with his in-laws. The day was filled with not but food and television, and Mom sorting through Christmas lists, as Thanksgiving should be.
We have our first baby bump pic for this pregnancy. We kept procrastinating, and so ended up missing the opportunity for a 13-week pic, which is where I started the last time. I'm going to try and get at least some on comparable dates to the last pregnancy for comparison. We're still at the "every four weeks" stage for prenatal check ups, so there's no news on that front, and there really hasn't been as much going on in relation to the pregnancy this time around; there's not really a lot of shopping and preparation to do when the last time around was only fourteen months ago...
Eh, I got nothin'...
Needless to say, my emotions are all over the place right now. Hopefully things will calm down a little from here out. Or at least only be as crazy as is normal during the holidays. We should have a couple of quiet weekends before Celebrate Jesus at our church, and then Christmas the following weekend.
P.S. Sorry if there are any typos or nonsense sentences in here, but I'm way too drained to proofread right now. Maybe I'll edit later.
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