Totaled

Disclaimer: This post is SUPER long. Continue reading at your own risk and don't say I didn't warn you! :)

It has taken me a while to post this .... partly because it's been hectic around here, and partly because I wasn't sure what to say. It's nothing crazy, but I still want to share ... especially because this is the closest thing I've got to a scrapbook right now for our family.

Let me start by saying that the Lord is Good and is truly enough for me. His mercies are new every morning. The Lord has provided for my family in ways that I cannot explain, and for that I am grateful.

Without going into too much detail, the past several months have been an emotional roller coaster ride. We have been pressing into the Lord to try to figure out what to do (on many levels) and which way to go. It's been crazy and frustrating and peaceful all at the same time. Again, I can't explain it, but I know that God will provide and is providing for our family. He has reminded us of this through many people and many places lately, and through everything we have gone through.

What I wanted to share is what happened to us last week.

The four of us were supposed to go to J's dad's house. His dad was on vacation, and the rest of the family had decided to deep clean and spruce up his home so that he would be blessed when he returned from his trip. We stopped by and grabbed lunch and when we were a mere 4 minutes away from arriving to his dad's house, it happened.

We had gotten over in the shoulder to turn right at a stop light, and a car pulled out in front of us. Jason said it was like slow motion - he knew we were about to hit, and there was nothing he could do about it.



CRASH.



After prying ourselves away from the other guy's car, we met him at a fast food restaurant's parking lot, since that is what we were closest to. Immediately after hitting, Noah started crying, so you can believe me when I say that I pulled the two kiddos out of the car as soon as our car stopped. We were all fine. Shaken up, but fine. Frustrated... but fine. In fact, we were so fine, that Rebekah's only complaint was that we couldn't eat our lunch yet!

The other guy's car. What the heck? Only minor damage.



Our car...




Now, I know that many people have been in car accidents. This one was certainly minor compared to a lot of accidents I've seen and heard about. But something in me just wanted to cry.

I was so frustrated that this stranger paid no attention to who was coming when he decided to pull out in front of us. I was frustrated that we were not his priority. (He seriously asked the police officer if he could go into the restaurant and order since he was on his lunch break and he didn't want to be late!) I was frustrated that I had no control over the situation. I was frustrated that he had no insurance. I was frustrated that this was so inconvenient. I was frustrated that this was our only car. What now, a rental? And what was it going to cost to get it repaired? And what if we couldn't afford it?


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Let me back up a little. Recently, in an effort to take care of our finances and try to get out of debt, we got rid of our Jetta. It seemed to be the better car of the two we had - after all, it was 8 years newer than the Honda. But, we had put so much money into it getting work done on it, and it was still having some issues. Plus, we had a monthly payment on it. So we got rid of it in an effort to help our bills. And then we poured money into the Honda. It was a good car, really. Never gave us many problems. But, it did need maintenance work done on it that had been overlooked for some time, and we wanted it to be up to speed if it was going to be our only car. So then came new tires, tinted windows, and a slew of other repairs. We had just gotten it up to speed before this accident.

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So let's fast forward back to the accident. The officer found us at fault, although my husband referenced traffic codes which would prove the other guy at fault. The officer did not waiver. Looking back, there were a lot of things that the officer said to make us believe he wasn't really listening to us. After looking at a copy of the accident report, not all of the facts were straight about what happened. And there's not much we can do about it. However, since the other guy didn't have insurance, we have been able to talk it out with our insurance company, and we are pretty sure that we are not going to be considered at fault where our claim is concerned. This is at least one upside. That and the fact that we weren't issued a citation and the other guy did receive one for not having insurance.

We were able to get into a rental car the same day as the accident. Our insurance rocks and there were no problems with that. And we've been spoiled by it, honestly.








This thing is a beast! And I can only imagine what this short mama looks like driving it! haha! But it is so fun!

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Here's the bummer - we just received word that our Honda is indeed totaled. Yep, that's right. Totaled. We had already made up our minds that it was probably going to be, but it's so different when it's actually confirmed! Man!

So our only car is totaled and we only have the gas guzzler that is our rental for a few more days now.

:::Sigh:::::

But God is good. He is our Provider. Let me share with you that Jason and I were discussing what our car would be worth before we had heard anything from our insurance company. We wanted to figure out what would be a good amount for the insurance to offer in case it was, in fact, totaled. We thought that this would help us haggle, for lack of a better word, with them if we needed to.

So, we added together the repairs we've made on the car... we looked at similar cars online, and got an estimate on the Kelley Blue Book website. And do you know that the insurance offered us more than what KBB estimated and almost the exact same dollar amount as what we had recently put into the car? Now, that's God. I am sure of it.


If you have gotten this far, then thank you for reading. I like to be detailed so that I remember things how they happened. And I write how I talk, so I guess I write too much sometimes. Haha! But I digress.

A family member is going to let us borrow their second car. We had it put in the shop to get some minor things repaired and overall just looked at before we take it on as ours. While we were waiting on it to be fixed yesterday we browsed at a local used car lot. We immediately were met by a friendly car salesman, and we figured out fast that this place was out of our price range. Funny thing is, I know that the Lord sent us there. This guy told us that we needed to just trust God and that He would give us favor. Yes, that was the car salesman that said that to us! Haha! He said we were probably wondering why the Lord sent us to a preacher at a used car lot, but that we should just trust the Lord. I teared up upon hearing him speak blessings and encouragement over us. I am truly amazed at how the Lord has been reminding me of these two things: 1 - Trust Him and 2 - He will provide. I mean, don't you think we need that reminder if he is using a car salesman to tell us this? haha.


Okay, so the rest of the story is that this car that we are borrowing is only temporary. With our growing family of almost 5, we need a suitable vehicle that will accomodate us and our soon to be three car seats! We only have what the insurance gave us for the Honda to spend on a "new to us" car. We technically have until the baby comes to make our purchase, however we do not want to borrow this car longer than we need to and we want to feel settled with our car situation.
So, please pray that the right opportunity will come along. We need wisdom and discernment as I know that there are some dishonest people out there! We need to find an SUV or van or something of the like that can hold up for awhile. We cannot afford car payments, and we want to get out of debt, so we'll need this car to be around for a long time! So, if you know someone who is wanting to sell right now, please let me know!

Either way, your prayers are coveted! We know that God is in control and that the end is going to be good.... it's just the middle part that's frustrating sometimes. We don't know how we'll get there, but we know we will. And we pray that we can make the right decisions along the way! We're also VERY thankful that none of us were hurt! So glad that the car and finances where it is concerned is our only problem we're facing right now!

Again, I know this must be the longest post EVER! And thank you to the handful of people that actually read this!

Be blessed!