Trying to Be More Thankful and Positive

It seems like when it rains it pours and I was upbeat and positive about it all but then the tides turned when they totalled our van. Although I've been thinking it's only money and we'll make things work and prayer certainly helps. Things could be worse. Keep my co-worker in your thoughts as she was rear ended this morning by another driver and has had to go to the hospital. We talked some this morning and her husband assures me she's okay. Keep her in your prayers and hopefully soon I'll hear some good news. So I'm thankful that with our accident no one was hurt only our van.

I've also been reading another blog that makes me thankful for what I've had. It's a very positive and powerful blog. It's the story of a husband whose wife has cystic fibrosis and who is on the donor list for a lung transplant and the birth of their precious daughter (premature). It's really uplifting to read. So if you need to be uplifted please visit Confessions of A CF Husband and read it. I'm sure that the prayers for their family have done wonders as well.

So I'm thankful that God has only given us financial hardships to deal with and not physical or medical challenges. But if he does I'm sure he'll help us through that as well.

A New Van

Well having our Kia Sedona fixed was not in the cards for us. Due to the amount of damage (which doesn't look as bad in the photos) under the hood the cost to repair it is too close to the market value of the vehicle. So the Kia Sedona has been deemed totalled. So yesterday I went and cleaned out all the rest of our belongings from the van and put it in the trunk of the car. That night we went out and found a replacement vehicle (With three kids involved in all sorts of activities we need two vehicbles). We ended up with a 2002 Chevy Venture. It has a few more bells and whistles than before but the nice thing is it has a roof rack, which will make long distant trips more bearable because things can go up on top. This also seats 8 instead of 7 and according to the salesman has 16 cup holders. Although to me that means 16 holes we'll have to clean spills out from. It's not as slick body but I think it will be a good fit for us.

Can I Call A Mulligan On The Week?

I'd like to call a mulligan on the week and go back to Saturday if that's possible? Does it ever seem like no matter what you do you keep getting hit with a string of bad luck? We just spent a decent amount of money fixing my car so that it was truly safe to drive (new brakes, tires and fixing a tie rod issue) on Friday. Money well spent. Well on Sunday on the way home from the Mall (We should have listened to Alex's request to go to the bookstore perhaps he's psychic.) we were in a fender bender with the van. This was just added to the $1200 we spent to make Montana well (money that I'm not complaining about) and that our heat pump is out (thank goodness for the fire place) it just wasn't a good time.

However, I'm choosing to take the positive spin on everything:

1. Montana got ill so we would appreciate and love him more.

2. The heat pump went out so we'd appreciate modern technology and make more use
out of our warm blankets.

3. The car was fixed so that we would have a reliable vehicle to drive after the
van accident on Sunday.

4. We got in an accident on Sunday so that Phil's endoscope would show that he didn't have any major damage to his stomach, no ulcers and no stomach cancer only esophagitis.

Hopefully these events are the last for the rest of the year. Not sure I can continue to put a positive to spin on more large ticket items.

Day of Mourning

It is with great sadness that I must state that our pet iguana, Katara, has passed away. She had not been eating for quite some time and rarely moved around. Many had already thought she had passed for weeks now. She brought joy to our family and the students in Phil's classroom that have watched her and helped take care of her. It really is a miracle that she had lived as long as she did. Katara's previous owners did not take very good care of her and she had some deformities. She almost died several times before we were even able to adopt her. With all of her special and unique features we enjoyed her and treasured her even more. It will be sad this summer not to see her outside enjoying the sun in her large cage, climbing up the sides and up the large limb put in there for her enjoyment. I'm sure also sure that the students will miss seeing her every day in Phil's classroom.

Katara you will be missed but we know that you are no longer in pain. Rest in Peace Sweet Katara.