Goodbye Big Black Truck... Hello Van?!

Back in 1996 a teenage boy bought a brand new black truck.  He loved his truck.  He spent hours and hours cleaning and caring for it.  He spend dollars and dollars modifying and enhancing it.  It was a very special truck.  In fact, I have heard him say (in a large group setting) that this truck was an idol to him. 

Brandon and is Big Black Truck.

As the years went by his heart turned from worshiping his truck to worshiping God.  The truck which had once been too special to share easily soon became a ministry tool.

I met this truck back in 2003 when it hauled my futon and couches to my first apartment. The young man who drove this truck won my heart and eventually the fact that he drove a large loud truck didn't really bother me too much. 

Finding the truck useful once again moving from apartment into a house with "the girls"

In 2004 I (through marriage) became co-owner of this truck.  I was very thankful for it when we moved in 2005 and again in 2009.  

Brandon is an impressive packer. 

In 2011 this truck began to haul more precious cargo as our son loved driving in the big truck with his daddy. 

M is proud of the truck

In 2013 baby sister came into our family, and we knew that a 2 door cavalier and a big truck were not the most practical combination for our growing family. 

Our precious cargo children

Brandon was approached by someone at church about the truck and within a week it was sold.  The offer came to us and we were blessed.  None of us cried on the big good bye day.  It was strange to say bye to something that had been a part of our lives for so long.  I wondered over and over again what the boy who bought the truck would think of the man who sold it.  Two very different people in the same body. 

Brandon an hour before saying good bye.  My how he has changed inside and out since the first photo.

Once the truck was sold our garage became a lovely huge oasis for all of our strollers and bikes.  I was very excited to be a one vehicle family for a long time.  Since my work is here at home and Brandon's is next door, we don't have a huge need for any vehicles, let alone two of them. 

Well, one Monday morning during the Brandon's bike ride I decided to go online and just see what was available in used minivans.  I found one that sounds much too good to be true.  Brandon inquired about it and decided to take M on an adventure to look at it. 

Once at the dealership (about 45 min from our home) he discovered that it had been in a moderate accident and then repaired which led to the lower price.  He also discovered it had many of the features we were hoping to have in a van.  It was also almost brand new (2012 and only 3000 miles).  He asked if he could drive it home overnight and have our mechanic look at it.  They said yes, and after much thought, prayer, and wisdom from our car guy we decided not to take the van.  There was more work that needed to be done and they might not want the low offer we were willing to pay. 

Brandon and M took it back up to the dealership and they agreed to fix the problem (it has now been totally fixed) and compromise on a price that was doable for us ... SO... WE BOUGHT A VAN!

Brandon and the kids are excited about the van

I was pretty excited too. 

We realize that there could be things relating to the accident that could turn up later.  Luckily, overall the van still has many factory warranties.  We are a family who is not afraid to take a chance on things and we trust that this van will faithful serve us for many years. 

I am slowly adjusting to driving a van.  It was never really an ego or pride thing for me.  It was more of a "man a van is huge" sort of thing.  I am becoming better at parking it.  I am squealing the tires less and less as well.  The van has so much more power than the car and I think I turned as red as the van a few times squealing away from a stop sign.  We did learn how to put it in econ. mode which helps.  M told several people that he didn't like me driving because I "put on the squeakies" Nice! 

We recently took a road trip to visit Brandon's family (huge photo blog coming soon) and wow was the van helpful.  We had so much extra room and M could see out which helped him enjoy the journey much more.  We feel very blessed to have this van and see how we were really led to it.  May God allow us to use this vehicle as a ministry tool as well!