Recently we realized that our air conditioner in our van wasn't working, so we took it to our mechanic to get it fixed. Air conditioning is important in the South!! I figured it would cost a few hundred dollars. Well, the mechanic called today with an estimate which was substantially higher than what I thought it would be. His estimate took my breath away (and not in the good kind of way).
Our first response was there is no way we are going to pay that much money to get our really old, broken down van fixed. We will just purchase a different vehicle. So, for about four and a half hours I was in "gotta buy a new to us used car quick" mode. Then, the children went to bed and David and I had about five minutes of quiet where we regained our sanity. Tomorrow we will call the mechanic and nicely ask him to fix our van and grudgingly (I mean willingly) write a check for an obscene amount of money. And, yet, it will be the wise thing to do. Yes, it is risky, because our van is older than dirt. Oh, how we pray that God will honor our commitment to not incur debt by extending the life of our van until the end of this year!!
The hardest part is telling our children we are not getting a new to us car. We rented a Suburban (really large tank-like vehicle...I felt strong and mighty) today. Noah LOVES it. He thinks it's cool because it can seat nine people. Today on the way to school he was deciding who we could add to our family. His conclusion was Katie H., Jeremy D and Josiah D. He did point out that we also need to build them beds in our house so they can sleep. Poor Noah will be disappointed on so many levels. But, he will survive.
The bottom line is we can afford to fix our car. We cannot afford to purchase a new car.
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