R.I.P. Jeep Grand Cherokee

I know I was supposed to show you more pictures of our new home today, but I have something else I would like to show you.

Let me explain to you what happened two days ago. I was driving home from work, and I was probably about 10 minutes away from home when the "Check Gauges" light came on in my car. I thought, "Hmm, that's weird," but I wasn't the least bit surprised to see the light come on. My Jeep has seen better days. I was a little concerned, and knew we would get it checked out, but I didn't realize how bad it really was.

I was just a few minutes from home as I pulled up to a stop light. All of a sudden, I started to freak out! My car was smoking! As I was carefully driving home I prayed over and over my car wouldn't die or blow up!

Whew! Thank the Lord I made it home.

Still shaking and in shock, I went upstairs and explained what happened to Josh. He went down to the Jeep to look under the hood, and he found that the coolant had leaked out completely. We thought that was strange. To make a long story short, he went to the store and bought some coolant thinking maybe that would hold it over until we could get it to the shop on the weekend.

The next day I got up to go to work and felt confident it was safe to drive my car. As I was driving I kept glancing at the temperature gauge to make sure it was in its correct position. It was, and everything seemed like it was working fine. I made it to work without any problems.

After a long day at work I got in my car not thinking anything about the problems we had with the car the day before. Again, when I was just about 5 minutes away from our apartment, the check gauge light came on, and the temperature gauge maxed out. I thought to myself, "What in the world is going on??" I called Josh freaking out saying, "It's doing it again, the light came on!" Thankfully the good Lord was watching out for me because I made it home before it started smoking again. Josh looked under the hood and the coolant he had replaced the night before was gone! "Ok, so that definitely wasn't the solution," he said to me.

So early this morning we took the Jeep to Firestone, and I'm not even going to go into detail about the frightening drive over there because I would like to forget all about it. Basically, the car died every time we had to make a stop and the brakes would lock up. It was scary!! But we made it to the shop, again, in one piece. We went back home and waited to hear back from the mechanic about the tests he ran on the Jeep.

When the mechanic called, I think we were prepared for what he was about to tell us. He said basically we would need a new engine, and that it would cost about 5 to 6 thousand dollars to fix it. We decided with the jeep having almost 130,000 miles on it and becoming less and less dependable, it would just be better to invest in a new car.

So that's what we did all day today, and we are completely exhausted. I thank God for his provision. We prayed for his guidance, that he would lead us to the perfect car, and He did. We didn't even know where to start looking, and we were nervous about car shopping with an 11 month old, but the search for a new car went so smooth. And sweet Noah was such a patient little guy. It was a long day for all of us, but we now have a wonderful, dependable car. Thank you God for providing for us.

So do you wanna see it now? Here is our new Toyota Camry!

Isn't it beautiful!? I never thought I would want a small car, because I loved my SUV so much, but I absolutely love it!

More house pictures to come tomorrow! Have a wonderful night!