Blessings...

 We have known for a while that we needed to replace our larger car (taurus). Thankfully this year we are able to pay off the civic and last Saturday we decided to go "look" at cars. We had done a lot of looking on the internet and basically had determined we were going to have to drive out to Miami to get the kind of deal we were hoping to get. Our biggest request of a vehicle was that it gets decent gas mileage since we drive about 30 miles one way to church 3 times a week. Secondly we hoped to find a vehicle with as few miles on it as possible since we do have to drive alot to get anywhere (living in the boonies!). We stopped at a couple car lots in Ft. Myers and the first one basically said we have nothing in your price range. I was glad they told us that instead of trying to talk us into something. I am super strict on the budget these days (I think everyone has to be) so we knew what we could afford and weren't going over. The second place we visited the salesman was a jerk. He wanted to argue with me about whether the car was big enough for us. Another thing I really wanted to look for was a car/small suv where Jakob would have enough leg room as he gets taller. In the taurus his little legs touched the back of the drivers seat. He would often kick the back of his daddy's seat while he's driving and Jeremy didn't like that too much. We weren't expecting the best car ever, but we were willing to wait and find the right car, even if it meant driving a couple hundred miles to get it. We were basically just looking anyways because we hadn't paid the civic off just yet. Mostly just trying to get an idea of what we could afford. The third lot  we met the salesman and he was so nice. Laid back. We told him what our price range was and he showed us a couple cars. Inventory was low there because they had just been bought by a bigger company so there was basically two cars in our price range. One was a Toyota, it was only a couple years old, but when Jeremy got in it and fixed the seat for himself there would be no room for Jakeys legs, so that one was a no. The second car was a Mercury Milan. It had 18,000 miles on it and still had a 100,000 mile power train warranty on it. This car gets 31 miles per gallon. When Jeremy sits in it Jakob's legs can't even touch the drivers seat. The car was very reasonably priced, but still out of our price range. It was everything that we had wanted in a car, and it was cute. I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I would have to settle for a good car that I didn't really like the way it looked. Anyways, long story short we got the car! We are very thankful we got a good deal and it basically just fell into our lap. Definitely a blessing from God. Another blessing I received was Wednesday at church. I was once again reminded that I am not the "sun" in the middle of the universe. God is the "sun" in the middle of everyone's universe. When I get self absorbed, only thinking of me I can start to think life isn't fair because things aren't going the way I want them to. What I have to remember is that the universe is God's and I am just a small thread in the tapestry he has put together. My trials in this life will help me to be a comfort to others going through similar situations. Whenever we get our eyes off of God and on ourselves we will feel fear, depression, a desire to escape. It's good to be reminded that God is in control. These are all things I know, but sometimes I just need a little reminder. There was a verse read where Paul said something about why would I fear death when I know the God who raises the dead? It is so comforting when you know the God we serve and know he has a great big plan for each individual life. I don't know if I explained that very well, but it sure was a help to me. Anyways, those are just some of the blessings lately. Even my little son is a blessing to me. Let me tell you what we've gone through so far this week...The other day Jakob came to me and he was fussy, I think he wanted to eat. He smelled like poo, really strong. He had a long shirt on (which is why I think I didn't notice) but I grabbed him and said Jakob you stink, let me check your diaper, and my hand touched bare skin. My heart stopped beating for a second. I hurried through the house looking for his diaper. It was in the living room, closed up on the floor. He had taken it off himself because it was poopy. Thank the Lord in heaven he hadn't felt the need to paint the walls or anything like that. Wednesday night we walked into the nursery to pick Jakey up and there were pencil shavings from a pencil sharpener all over the floor. Yep, my baby boy got a hold of the pencil sharpener and dumped it all over. (Jeremy wondered why they would have a pencil sharpener in a nursery, but it is a daycare all week long and my 2 year old at NA used pencils also). Yesterday morning I heard my phone ringing, but it wasn't my ring tone. I had left my phone in the diaper bag so I grabbed the diaper bag and fished the phone out and I was like, o.k., what's going on, my ring tone changed, and my wall paper changed. Then I noticed it wasn't my phone. Thankfully I knew whose phone it was when I looked at the pictures on it. I called the girl to let her know I had her phone. Anyways, I was a little happy to see that other people can't keep him out of trouble either. I was beginning to feel like a bad mommy. Jakob's making sure there's lots of stories to tell when he is a teenager :) Hope you all have a great weekend.

This is for you Amber!