Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unbelievable is about the only word to describes what took place. If you have kids you know the first thing that you must do once they are born is “get them home.” (I guess that was a no brainer.) Anyway, once these little tykes have come we have to be able to transport them properly home from the hospital. It’s kinda a big deal, if you haven’t been down this road yet, wait. If you don’t have an approved car seat they will make you get one, then they watch like a hawk as you put the car seat in the car.  Waiting to pounce on you inexperience parenthood, to correct you and point you in the right direction.  With Tater our first son I had no idea, let me say that again I HAD NO IDEA what I was doing. I didn’t know that there were different settings on tilting the car seat so that the kiddo could lean back a little. So when I put our first born in, I thought no problem. Until I looked back about half way home and his neck was bent in two and he was basically hanging from the seat belt part of the car seat. I did everything but freak out, because I was driving. I told my wife “great we’ve had him for two days and I broke him already. She assured me that he was very nimble and was not hurting, I’m not sure how because the position he was in would make a contortionist cringe.  Anyway, I digress, the whole car seat thing is vitally important. But what is equally important is the vehicle that you are able to put the seat into. This is where my wife and I ran into a snag.  We have gone through a few cars throughout our marriage. Praise the Lord we have never had a car payment though.  Currently we own a dodge Dakota sport four door and a motorcycle. Before the motorcycle we were down to one vehicle which was not a terrible place to be but it did leave my wife stranded at home with tater all day having no escape. Plus with only one vehicle it (allowed) me to be present for all grocery shopping trips. Don’t get me wrong I love grocery shopping just as much as the next guy, but our situation is different. See when I go grocery shopping we spend an unexpected amount of money. My beautiful wife is an amazing shopper. She has a budget and sticks to it and gets everything we need. I on the other hand end up seeing and buying, so it is really not a good thing when I go. The motorcycle was purchased as a transportation vehicle for me to work and back. Although I happen to think I look very good on it, not to mention that I feel like a cool cat when I ride it. The only problem with a motorcycle is where we live in the Midwest it tend to get FREEZING come October into winter. Now I could be a diehard bike rider and ride the bad boy all through winter, or I could be smart and get into a car with heat and four wheels. So we were faced with a dilemma. We needed a new vehicle; the truck is too small to fit three car seats across the back so it wasn’t going to work.  The motorcycle is looked down upon as a family vehicle not sure why, if a bear can ride a bicycle then surely a family of five can fit on a motorcycle. So we did what we will always do. We prayed and asked the Lord what to do. At this current time I help coach football at a local high school. Which I truly love and puts some money in my pocket. Well we thought we would take that extra football money and use it to buy a new vehicle.  It was a great plan. Because when it was all said and done around Christmas time we would have around 3,000 dollars, which is enough to put down on a nice van, because that is what is most efficient. My wife and I had sat down figured the number and what we needed and decided for the money, fuel economy a van was the best route.  There were only a few problems with our plan. One was that it was getting very cold in the mornings on the ride. (Painfully cold)  Also, the house we life in is not completed, it’s a fixer upper, but a direct blessing from the Lord.  So we needed some money to get the basement prepared for these two little blessing that are coming. Well since we were going to spend all the money on the van that left us with no money to finish the basement. But priority is priority; we have to have a way to transport these little tykes. So that was the plan. During this whole time I was not really sure for the money what type or shape the van that we were going to get was going to be in. I looked at a lot of vans in the upper hundreds of thousands of miles in our price range. We were in a “pickle” you could say. We didn’t know if we should buy a van for 3,000 dollars with high mileage, which was basically the case for the price we were looking at. Or do we go ahead and get a van that will last us, a good solid van with fewer mileage. With some of the nice features that would surely benefit us with having twins. Things like as remote doors, nothing in the center isle so that my wife can move about the van while I drive, Captain Seats for a second row. I know that his seems very spoiled and you might be right but if we were going to have a car payment then we were going to get what we wanted. Well this dilemma was soon taken care of supernaturally.  My parent had been in town to visit us for the weekend, to celebrate my dad’s birthday. When some DEAR friends of ours wanted us to all come over and celebrate at their house. I thought that it was a nice gesture since these friends are mutual friends with my parents it would be fun to celebrate together. We all gathered up and went over to celebrate at the friend’s house.  We shared some cake and talked for a while, and then it was gift time. The husband (lets call him JOE) said that he wanted to share something. If you knew Joe this is probably not out of nature for him. He is a man from the Lord and walks in wisdom, so any word from Joe is intentional and meant to edify and build up. So I was eager to hear the encouraging word that he had for my dad on his birthday. Joe started by saying “happy birthday” to my dad then said, “Usually you get presents on your birthday, but being a father, and your dad (speaking to my dad) would agree that the best gift is not one to you but one to you children.”  Joe said “the Lord has been gracious and amazing to us, and we would like to show you something (now Joe is talking to my wife and I).”  We followed Joe to the garage and there was a new Chrysler Town and Country VAN.  I felt like I got hit square in the chest, my breath left and I instantly had tears in my eyes. I couldn’t process what was going on and I just stared at my wife. I could tell that the same thing was happening to her. Word wouldn’t form, my body went numb, I felt unresponsive but I couldn’t do anything. Joe and his wife (lets call her GRACE) started to tell us about this unbelievable gift they/ the Lord had just bestowed on us. Joe and Grace when through all the special features like REMOTE ENTRY, CAPTIAN SEATS, AND NO ISLE so that my wife could move about while I drive.( yeah if you’re not crying by now I certainly am why I type this) How amazing is that, exactly what we had wanted and the Lord provided, unbelievable.  We told Joe and Grace that this kind of thing doesn’t happen, people don’t do this. They graciously responded “it wasn’t them it was the Lord.”  They went on to tell us that the Lord had told Joes about two weeks before once he found out that we were having twin that he should buy a van for us.  Then a couple of weeks later the Lord told Grace that they should buy a van for us. The Lord told them separately, then when they talked about it and had confirming stories they knew that the Lord had great intentions and was directing them to do this. The Lord is so great, and Joe and Grace are phenomenal.  The Lord is great and will always be, but His Grace, Mercy and Love are so greatly exemplified when his children (Joe and Grace) are completely submitted to Him and love those around them.  The Lords Love for us and for all was exampled on the cross but here it is 2000 years later and he is continuing to look down and show favor and blessing, wanting to continue to bless his children. I feel overwhelmed with blessing not just to know Joe and Grace as brothers and sisters of the Lord but for their complete abandonment of themselves and obedience to the LORD. I pray that the Lord will bless them 100 fold what they blessed us with, my confidence is that any material blessing that I could come up with to repay Joe and Grace will be so inefficient to the powerful, full, complete blessing the Lord will pour out on them, because of their life example of the Lords LOVE.