A Car for Austin...

Around these parts, when a kid turns 16, they get not only their driver's license, but oftentimes a new car to go along with their legal right to drive. Around our house, however, getting your license does not necessarily mean you will be getting a car as well. So when Austin turned 16 last September, off he went to get his license -- thankfully on the first try -- and thus began a year of sharing my minivan.

Now, if you know many 16 year old boys, you can imagine how thrilled (not) one might be to find himself driving a minivan to and from high school and to all his many social events! But bless his heart, Austin never complained about the uncool car he was allowed to drive. He went so far as to suggest that maybe I should get a new, cooler car and he would take the van. That pretty much sealed the deal for me -- I knew right then that he was too special to be stuck driving a minivan for long.

So after a year of sharing, we finally decided to get serious about finding Austin a car. If you recall, the area in which we live, many kids get new cars. That was never going to happen for Austin. That's just not our style. We were simply interested in locating a safe, used car at a nice price. Turns out, this is not as easy as it might sound! Bri spent HOURS on the internet .... craigslist, ebay, etc... searching in vain for the right deal. When he finally found the perfect car, it was located in several hours south of here. The gentleman selling it was unwilling to meet us halfway, even if we agreed to purchase it sight unseen! Bummer. Back to the drawing board!

During the summer, Brian has very little excess time or energy. Golf lessons consume his every waking hour and he is spent from working in the heat & humidity all day. Suffice it to say that the task was wearing on him and we needed to come up with a solution quickly.

Then one night, right around the big 17th birthday celebration, we get a call from dear friends who were moving to Arizona. Turns out they are going to buy a minivan here and drive it to AZ. They aren't going to get a ton of money on their trade-in and they heard (through the church grapevine) that we were searching for exactly this type of car! We had about 8 hours to decide if we should buy this Toyota Camry or keep searching.

After much prayer & discussion - the answer was BUY THE CAR, so we did. It worked out nicely for all involved and Austin is delighted with his new wheels. The best part is that he is driving a car that once belonged to a friend and both he and our friend love that connection.

We all love this car. I drive it occasionally just for fun. It takes me back to the first Honda Accord we had when we first got married - eons ago. It even smells the same. So thank you, Jeremy & Amanda for blessing us with this vehicle. We will take great care of your car for you. May it carry Austin safely for many miles!

Bonus story #1: The car is missing the letters "C" and "Y" on the back where it should read CAMRY. Austin likes to tell people he is driving the new Toyota AMR - it sounds so impressive! For his birthday, one of his friends gave him the magnetic letters "C" and "Y" (the kind you buy for preschoolers and put on your fridge) so he could fix the problem. It was hilarious!

Bonus story #2: The gentleman with the first car we wanted? Still trying to sell it on craigslist.com! Sorry buddy, but you should have met us halfway when we asked!

Austin & his buddy, Laz in the driveway, getting ready to drive away for the first time in his new car!

Gotta "throw your twos up!"

Ooh, intimidating!

Backing out....

And away they go! Off to Subway, or the gym, or the ZOE house.....

*sigh*