Randomness

Becca is sick with a nasty cold. I'm praying that Jacob doesn't get this as I can only imagine how hard it would be on an immune suppressed body. There is nothing worse than a summer cold, that's for sure.

We are enjoying the cooler weather that we've been having. There is no sticky jungle like feel in the air, unlike last week. Yesterday I was able to hang out several loads of laundry and get some weeding done in the garden. Joe helped me weed and pulled up a few tomato plants in the process, snapping them in half so that they were not replantable. How sad I was about that as they were some of the healthiest plants in the garden. Before going to buy more plants I found baby tomato plants emerging in the garden (we always have a few surprise plants pop up because of our compost pile dirt) so I moved them and replanted them...I'm hoping they will catch up with the other plants and I'm curious to see what types they turn out to be!

We finally found Ben a new (to us) car after searching for several weeks. Ben's car has been a reliable work car (going back and forth a few miles every day) but it is not reliable for out of town travel. Which means that the kids and him haven't been able to visit us when we are in the hospital in Iowa City and we really can't depend on it as a second car to help us in a bind. So, with the money we had in savings (no, not Jacob's Benefit Fund...we use that only for expenses associated with his medical costs and costs incurred while being in the hospital) we set out to find a car...which is pretty tough to do with such a small amount. Every car we looked at was either too expensive, had too many miles, or had something wrong with it. The prices of used cars has gone up considerably since just a few years ago, we've found. It's stressful to car shop and there were several times when I saw how freeing it would be to just walk into a car dealership, point to a new car, and tell them what color you would want. But I also know that the monthly payments would not be so freeing!

So when our fridge went out last week I was dismayed. It was hard enough to try to find a car in our price range but now we would have to use part of that money for a new refrigerator! Then an angel stepped in and gave us enough money for the fridge as well as extra to fill it with food! I still can't believe the mysterious ways that God works and the goodness of people. That was a huge burden lifted.

We were back to searching for a vehicle but not having much luck. Saturday evening we looked at a Ford Explorer in our price range but it had a rusted hanger holding up a part underneath. We test drove another vehicle that had a slight tick in the engine. Uh...yeah...neither of these were going to be the reliable vehicle that we needed. Yesterday evening I stumbled across an advertisement for a 2000 Saville in the town over from us. It was within our price range if we could get them to go down some on it. We figured it wouldn't hurt to go check it out seeing as it wasn't too far away. It turned out to be a really nice car in really good condition. Not many miles, the air worked (yay for hospital trips!) and when we offered a price they accepted! To most, an 11 year old car is not something to get excited about but I'm loving the fact that we now have something reliable (aside from our van) and that Ben and the kids can visit us during our stays at the hospital...as well as an air conditioned vehicle to drive Jacob back and forth to the hospital instead of having to borrow a car on those hot summer days.

So with the stress of last week behind us and some big purchases made and paid for I hope that we have a smoother ride these next few weeks. Now I'm off with the kids to the hospital for Jacob's lab work and then they are going to have a picnic at my parent's house while I try to get some cleaning done here at home. No worries about them passing their germs on to my parents as that is where Becca caught it in the first place!