OUR 1/2 NEW CAR

Strange title I know ~~~~  Here's the whole story.  

Ever get the "bug" for a new car?  Suddenly every time you are on the road driving you begin to notice cars and think "It sure would be nice to have a new car!"  You try and shake it, but everywhere you look you see a car that is "catching your eye".

This has been happening to Mickey and I over the past few weeks and suddenly we found ourselves looking at cars ---- our criteria something under 2 years old and under 30,000 miles.  Guess what????  Didn't take long at all to find something we really liked.  I had told Mickey, at the beginning if we got a newer car I wanted leather seats.

We left the dealership pretty much convenienced we had found what we wanted and were going to buy it but wanted to "sleep on it".  All the way home, and I mean ALL the way, The Holy Spirit keep speaking to me "Owe no man anything but to love the Lord."  Mickey and I have been debt free for a number of years now and we had said, "We will NEVER go in debt again."   Unbeknown to me, Mickey was thinking the same thing as we drove home.  Then we both voiced what God was saying to us to each other.  STILL that tug for that new car lingered!!!  

This was on Wednesday and of course we went to Wednesday night services.  Pastor Steve is currently preaching a series on Emotions.  His topic that night was on anxiety and one of the points was A Divided Mind.  He began using the example of going into debt and suddenly ended up using the example of buying a car and ended by saying, "I don't know why I've spent so much time on this.  It isn't even in my notes."  Mickey and I squeezed each others hands -- we knew why.......God was speaking to us.  After the service I shared and confirmed to Pastor Steve how he had truly heard God speaking to share that and told him about the car. 

The truth of the matter was --- our HHR was still a very good car and one that fit our needs so well, the only problem was that it had very light tan upholstered seats that had gotten badly soiled and we also had some bad stains on the back carpet where some King's Kitchen meals had spilled. SO I began to check out getting some new leather seats put in.

Yesterday we did just that!!!!  And had the entire car detailed down to the 9's.  

Here is our BEAUTIFUL 1/2 new car.  It truly looks brand new and we could not be more delighted.  The picture looks lighter, but the seats we selected are the exact dark brown of the partial dark brown dash and the accent trim on the doors.  The young man who did the full detail did an excellent job and every inch of the car, inside and out looks brand new -- except for a few dents, dings and ouchies on the exterior.

SO - We have our hearts wish and WE OWE NO MAN ANYTHING EXCEPT TO LOVE GOD.   Thank You blessed Holy Spirit for speaking to not only us but The Pastor over us.  HIS SHEEP TRULY HEAR HIS VOICE.  I am so thankful we are HIS.

CARING BRIDGES - Suzette's websight

Our son Marc set up a Caring Bridges page for Suzette and our son-in-love, Dave, Suzette's wonderful husband, is posting on it each day to keep everyone informed.

Here is the link to it http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/suzettestevens/

Please feel free to keep up with her. I know she would appreciate your comments and encouragement.

The latest picture of her, right after she got her hair cut and began wearing it with it's natural curl.

An earlier picture of Dave & Suzette with her 2008 Saturn Vue with XR leather package.

Suzette is selling this car - It is in excellent condition and has 26,200 miles. The blue book value on it is $18,415 and she is asking $17,000. V6 - 3.6 liter - automatic transmission - 6SFD w/overdrive - Front wheel drive. It is all beige leather interior.

It was 6 weeks ago yesterday that this "journey" began for all of us.

It is HORRIBLE!!!

This family has been through some very difficult circumstances before but this has to rank as the very worst. BUT, just as we have not only weathered the previous ones, but been made better people because of the work God does in you, at such times of testing, that is our prayer as we walk this one out, holding firmly to HIS hand and HIS word that sustains us on a daily, and sometimes hourly basis.

I guess the worst part is the roller-coaster ride of good news/bad news & good days/bad days. After the Chemo going so well on Friday and her feeling really good on Saturday Suzette spent very bad days on Sunday, Monday & Tuesday. Tuesday Dave took her for her scheduled CT scan and that scan showed that fluid needed to be drained from the lung.

Yesterday was a very bad day so I am feeling very raw today. Mickey & I left the house at 8:30 a.m. to pick her up and take her to a 10:20 appointment at the hospital at Radiology.

Mickey drove and let Suzette and I off at the main entrance. Thankfully they had wheelchairs and a very nice volunteer who wheeled us to Radiology, which was quite a ways. Radiology is where they viewed her lung and marked an "x" on her back where they were to draw out the fluid. From there we were sent to Endocopy. So thankful for the wheelchair for the long way to where we at first waited in the waiting room and then were put in a private holding room where they took vitals and did blood work. Then we waited and waited and WAITED until 2:55 for her to finally be taken to the room where the Dr. withdraw 1.3 liter of fluid off her lung. This is the 3rd time, in these 6 weeks, that fluid has been drained from her lung.

Suzette was in terrible pain and discomfort and it was just horrible watching her sitting there, hour after hour, just waiting. To top it off she had nothing to eat. She was in a comfortable recliner and they kept bringing in the nice warm blankets for her, which helped but it was a LONG wait. We finally left the hospital just before 5 because even after the draining was completed we had to wait for x-rays to be developed to be sure no damage had been done to her lung.

Then the 3 of us hurried to Pan*era Br*ead where we got Suzette a large bowl of chicken-noodle soup and Mickey & I had the 1/2 sandwich - cup of soup meal. Boy did it taste good to us all!!!

Dave came in just as we arrived at their house. Suzette was totally exhausted. She had not sleep since awaking at 1 a.m. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for her now that that pressure is removed and she can breath better. Dave is taking her to her 3:30 appointment today with her oncologist for the results of the CT scan and what other information he might have.

We arrived home after 7 p.m. and even missed church services. We were both just exhausted. It didn't help that I had worked from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. the day before, Tuesday, at the Election and Mickey & Sherry had done The King's Kitchen with me missing.


I'm so thankful-----HIS MERCIES ARE NEW EVERY MORNING!!!!!

AND THE WINNING OPTION IS...............????

Here are the four of us Monday morning, July 9th all set to leave Tulsa and head for Kansas City, MO and a fun few days at Worlds of Fun & Oceans of Fun amusement & water parks. The sun was in Aric's eyes and he was not cooperating :o) Mickey is holding our map instructions so we don't get lost. (click on pictures to enlarge)

We are by our beautiful 1993 Cadillac Eldorado with only 81,102 miles on it. Little did we know when this picture was taken that 2 days and 300 miles later this car would have to be towed from the Oceans of Fun parking lot to a Cadillac dealership. The unfortunate diagnose the transmission is out. I posted here about our 5 options. Car troubles are never pleasant....but they are certainly compounded when you are on vacation, in a city 300 miles from home, with an 8 year old grandson and 12 year old granddaughter you are hoping to show a good time.

Well, I think I've held you all in suspense long enough as to which option we chose. And the winner is Option 3 - Buy a new car!

This picture was taken at 12:30 p.m. July 12, 2007 as we were preparing to drive off with this.

She is a 2007 Chevy HHR. The color is "Sunburst Orange Metallic" and the enterior is called "Cashmere" (a very light tan). To me she is Cooper colored. We got to the dealership about 6:30 Wednesday after Mickey had rented a car, picked me and the grands up, (sunburned, sore, very tired and full of junk food only since breakfast) and a good dinner.

The minute we walked on the lot to begin looking, and after meeting the sales person Mickey had talked to earlier, I spotted this car. We had bought a new Lincoln in 1976 that was almost this exact same color and I had loved that car. We looked at most of the Chevy line, drove this one and a dark blue Malibu and liked this one the best.

The dealership closed at 8 and we left about 8:35. We were not going to make a decision until we had prayed about it, slept over it, and of course I was even able to enlist prayer warriors via my blog and the handy-dandy computer in the motel lobby at 4 a.m.!!!! My portion of the sleeping over it was very short!!!!! 4 hours to be exact.

I knew this had taken us very much by surprise but I knew it was not a surprise to our Father God!! While I was typing my blog and asking for prayer the Lord just dropped in my Spirit this thought "I wouldn't have you here in Kansas City with a broken down vehicle at a Cadillac-Chevy dealership if you weren't suppose to buy a Cadillac or Chevy". Mickey and I both felt, almost from the beginning that the '93 was not worth pouring a huge amount of money into and it would be best to bite the bullet and buy a new vehicle. Our biggest concern was we hadn't looked at cars in years and here we were limited to the GM product only. Wasn't the "practical" thing to do would be to look at various makes and models, compare all the features, prices, etc. and then deside? See how easily we fall into the mind and our "thinking" and conditioning take over!!!!! No this was our answer. The Cadillac was economically out of the question for us on a fixed income. Now it was just a matter of which Chevy did we like, want and felt would fit our needs.

It just so happened (don't believe that for a moment either!!) that two of the couples we run around with had just recently bought HHR's!!! One a black one and the other got a gold metallic. They were both delighted with their purchases, comfort wise, mileage wise, ride, etc. Believe me Jack & Mary, and Don & Carol, that gave us great comfort!!!

We walked back into the dealership at 8:30 Thursday morning. Had them call our sales person on the phone and she was there in about 15 minutes. By 12:30 we were driving off the lot and heading home with our new jewel.

We cannot say enough for the dealership and how effeciently, professionally and kindly they handled our transaction. You know it's not easy to trade-in a car when you don't even have the title on you, you live in another city, etc. None of these factors were any problem with them. They even called our Insurance company and had the coverage transferred to our new vehicle for us.

We, our grandkids and our new vehicle are now safe and sound back home in Tulsa where we found we had an additional 4" of rain which completely finished off Mickey's lovely garden. Oh well, next years another year.........but we don't plan to be buying another vehicle next year. Ooops...better never say never, Mickey's pick-up has a lot of miles on it, and so do WE!!!