Best. Mother's Day. Ever.

So, I know this past Mother's Day was my first, but I have to say it was better than I could have asked for!

As many of you know, we have been a one car family for about three months - and it has been almost the worst three months yet. Not that one car families are bad - but right now Alex and I have such different schedules and we are both always running around for school or work or appointments... I'm still not sure how we managed for as long as we did. But, for as long as we've been a one car family, we've been a car shopping one. We hadn't found anything that we liked that fit what exactly what we wanted. We test drove and really liked a few different ones and after research and consumer reviews, everything just kept pointing to the Kia Rondo and we felt like that was the best fit for us right now. Only thing was, we couldn't find one it seemed like the dealerships just try to take advantage and do whatever they can just to make a sale. After a lot of contemplation I told Alex that since school was getting out and our schedules would be less hectic we should just wait till the end of summer and try looking some more then.

Of course, being of the male gender, he did not listen to me! ;) He kept looking online and one night he showed me something he'd found on craigslist. A 2008 Kia Rondo with about 13,500 miles. It was listed for sale by a man from the Blue Ridge area that has a small car business where he mostly sells Mustangs. He said he bought the Rondo at a dealers auction and used it for traveling so as not to put the miles on his other vehicle. It was perfect, it was like the answer to our/Alex's prayers =)

The best part is..... the guy was selling his Rondo for almost $4,000 cheaper than a Rondo almost identical, down to the miles, at a dealership in Athens. Alex went to the bank and talked to some people he knows and they gave us the money. The bummer part is that we now have another monthly obligation, but the great part is that it was just a deal that we couldn't pass up. We would have never found another car even close to being in the same shape as this one for the price we got this one for, it gets awesome gas mileage and it's still under one of the best factory warranties there is out there for a little while longer. I really feel like this just happening to fall in our lap at the right time was a great blessing, and also a good lesson to learn about not loosing faith that things will happen when they are meant to... I know that it didn't work out for us at any of those other places and dealerships because Heavenly Father knew what we needed and what we could afford and He came through for our family. So we have another car payment, but it's less than what we expected to spend and I know that we will be blessed with ways to earn or find or recieve that extra money.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped us in this little chapter of our lives - "the car buying experience."
The people at the bank who loaned us the money and said "we didn't need to go through the trouble of running a credit check..." they are so great there.
The people who help support us by calling us regularly to babysit and are always telling us to make sure we bring the baby and people who just donated to our "new car fund" because they care about us and want to help.
Our family who is always willing to give advice or help or whatever we need.

This was the best First Mother's Day because it reminded me of all I have to be thankful for, besides my beautiful baby boy.

This is what it looks like for those of you who are wondering!!