New Car!!!

FINALLY, Chelsey got her new car. She's been saving for years, and years to buy a car when she was 16. Well, she inherited the truck instead...why buy another car when you can use a family one. Then when she turned 17 we looked and looked. Found the perfect, Honda Civic, silver, two door, sunroof and spoiler (her dream car since age 13) but literally as we were walking out the door to drive to Phoenix to buy it we got a call saying the guy had just sold it!! Then came the move issues and so the car was put on hold. She really wanted a car for her 18th birthday, with the red bow and all...but it didn't happen. We found a wholesale dealer here and have visited his lot about every week or so for months now. Twice we came so close to getting a silver Honda...but it never worked out. Once we had the keys in our hands and were walking out to drive the car home to meet Ken (for the 'dad' inspection) and some girl drove up with her mom waving a check saying she had the money to buy the car...so Chelsey quietly handed the keys over to the "new owner". Anyway...a couple of weeks ago we drove by. He had a new silver Honda on the lot and Chelsey was anxious to see it. While she was looking at it out back, I saw this cute little white Accord and told her to take a look. She did and fell in LOVE! It isn't silver, or a Civic or a two door and it doesn't have a sunroof or a spoiler...but she LOVES it!! The best part of all....she paid for it all herself!!!! It's in great shape, well taken care of with a fairly new paint job. We bought her new tires and put her birthday stickers from Clint on the back window, she bought a dangly peace sign to hang from the rearview mirrow and now it doesn't look like a "mom" car!! The lady at the DMV dug through different license plates to find one with her favorite number "13", just to make it more personal without costing anymore money! She's worked hard to save for her car, was patient (most of the time) about not having her "own" car and now her waiting is over. Everytime she comes home from work or driving around she comes into the house with a smile and says, "I LOVE my car!" Congratulations Chelsey!!!

Chelsey is 18!!!!

On October 8th, Chelsey turned 18!! I can't believe that my baby is 18 years old! I'm not ready for that!! Where has the time gone? She was pretty anxious for the day to come...mainly because Clint was coming out for a visit but even still, she was counting down the days weeks ahead of time. I took the day off from work, slept in and then the girls and I went out shopping for the "birthday outfit" including accessories (which is a rare thing that I purchase). She didn't find anything!! We did go to Olive Garden for lunch and celebrated her 'time of birth' there. Later that evening (after a pop-in at YW) we had brownies and played UNO (I won). We read off the birthday game answers, laughed and got homesick for everyone. There were calls from family all day long, which was a treat...especially the call from Jake and Emily right at singing and candle time!! Made it feel like you were all here with us!!! She said she had the best birthday ever...but honestly, the visit from Clint made it so. She didn't get her Honda Civic, silver, sunroof and a spoiler but we did test drive an Accord with no sunroof or spoiler but too many miles. I know she wanted the car with a big red bow on it...but it didn't happen...but it will...someday!!! She's grown into a beautiful young woman, hard-working, dedicated and thoughtful with a testimony of Christ. We couldn't ask for more!