Bethany's Sweet Ride

Bethany and I have recently purchased a new Toyota Corolla to add to our fleet. We now own 8 wheels which are all Toyota’s. However the acquiring of this latest addition was a mystery fraught with uncertainty.

It all began one dark night on Craigslist. I found an advertisement for a nice looking white economy car being sold by a man named Tony. I called Tony asking if I could meet him the next day in a nearby parking lot and he agreed (public places are key). Craigslist is a somewhat risky move for buying a used car because Arizona has one of the highest rates of auto theft in the country due to the fact that it is near the Mexican border. The cars which are stolen most often are small, popular economy cars; exactly what Bethany and I wanted to buy.

Tony and I met the next day and our conversation went as follows. “Hi Tony, I’m Eric. Your car looks nice. Can you tell me about it?” He replied, “Hi, Eric. My name is actually Brian.”
“Oh okay, Brian. So do you work around here?” I asked.
“I can’t tell you where I work because it is a secret.” He replied.
“Oh okay. Well do you have any paperwork from the maintenance you did on your car in the past couple years?”
“No, I don’t really keep track of that stuff.” Brian said.
“Do you have the title for the car?” I asked.
“No, that is at home.”
“Do you have insurance or the registration for the car?” I was getting worried.
“No, not with me. I have them somewhere but I can’t find them.”
“Do you have the two original keys which came with the vehicle?” I asked him.
“No, I lost those.” Brian replied. He still didn't seem to understand the problem.
Long story short I told Brian I would not buy his car unless he showed up at the DMV with his title and we did the transfer at the DMV. Only then would he see my money. He responded sourly, “What you do not trust me!? Then I am not selling you my car!”
I replied, “Okay I understand. Best of luck to you.” 15 minutes later I received a phone call and the person on the other end said, “Hi, this is Brian. I decided I will go to the DMV with you because I need the money.”
“Great! Glad to hear it Brian. I will see you then.”

The next day Brian and I went to the DMV and I got a level one inspection done to ensure the vehicle was not stolen, the title was real, and that Brian had legal rights to sell me the vehicle. We then went to my bank and I took out a cashiers check for $4,000 dollars which I put in my pocket. I had chosen to wear running shoes that day just in case something bad went down. We drove back to the DMV. Before Brian got any money I had a license plate, registration, and brand new title in my possession. I then handed over the check to this sketchy Brian guy and said, “Nice doing business with you.”

I was grateful Bethany did not have to part of this long awkward transaction because she is not as fast as me when the situation requires a speedy getaway. I then got to pick her up at the airport on her way home from Vancouver, BC in her new car. I was very happy to have my wifey home.
Praises: God gave us one of our favorite cars! A 2002 Toyota Carolla with 130,000 miles for $4000. They are supposed to be very reliable! Thank you Jesus.

Prayers: Pray for Brian/Tony. That guy is wack and needs the Lord.

Because He Loves Me

This morning I dressed my hubby up really nice because he has an interview at 2:00 this afternoon for a job that he would love to have. I'm writing a small tribute to him while he goes for this interview. Here he is looking ready to be hired:

Eric has been working hard over the past couple months to get a job that he would enjoy and so far he has been turned down over and over. Despite his discouragment, he went out the door today fully prepared to sell himself and convince the Arizona Children's Association that they should hire him to work on their computers. This job fits his skill set perfectly and also matches his experience over the past 18 months doing computer work for a social service organization. Our prayer is that whether we hear "yes" or "no", we would trust that it is for our good and for God's glory.

Besides being good with computers, Eric is also a wonderful husband. I am reminded of this in small ways every day but this week I have been reminded in big ways. On Saturday I went to Urgent Care because I felt terrible and had been coughing with pain in my chest for almost a week. They gave me antibiotics and wrote "bronchitis" on the diagnosis line. Eric has been very patient with all my coughing fits and let me lay on the couch and do nothing while my body recovered.

Yesterday he came with me to a spring training game downtown where the Rockies train. If you know Eric, then you know that he would rather watch football than baseball but he came along and sat with me through 6 innings of a spring training game. We left when the temperature hit 60 degrees and the rain started falling. It started off warm and sunny but things changed quickly.

We also designated last night as "Eric's date night" which meant it was his job to plan the evening including dinner. I do this a lot because I like making nice meals and then following up with a movie or something but this time it was his turn. Although I knew the menu, I was met with an amazing array of tastes in my mouth when this was on my plate:

Yes, those are king crab legs, spears of asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes. Yummy! We had a great time together cracking open crab legs and savoring their wonderful flavor.

One of my friends wrote to me the other day and said, "It sounds like you have married well" and indeed I have married very very well! I am thankful to God for Eric and his kindness, patience, hard work, love for the Lord, and sense of humor.

Hopefully this blog will be followed up with some great news about a new job for my husband. Please keep praying for us as we finish working for GAP and we venture into new territory as a married couple.

The Hidden Canyon

Sunday afternoon Janet, Eric and I started the 6,000 foot ascent to Grand Canyon, AZ from Las Vegas, NV. Needless to say, a lot can change climate wise when you climb 6,000 feet. It was dark when we reached the long road that leads to the canyon from the freeway so we didn't get a clear idea of how much snow there was. When we checked into our hotel, however, there was a weather forecast on the front desk that revealed our fate for the next day: 8-12 inches of snow and winter storm warnings above 6,000 feet. We were unsure if we would even get into the park on Monday.

The next morning we woke up to fresh snow and had to borrow a scraper to clean off the car. (Who owns one of those in Tucson??) We were quite thankful that we had just replaced our tires so there was nice new tread for the little Echo to trek through the snow.

They let us into the park and we found a place to catch the bus to the lookout points. It was snowing at a decent rate and the sky was completely cloudy so when we approached the canyon rim, this is what we saw:

Having seen the canyon splendor before, Eric and I could not believe that it was impossible to see even a glimpse of how beautiful it is. Janet kept declaring that she didn't believe there was a canyon there to see! We were faced with a dilemma: wait around to see if it cleared up and drive back to Tucson late, or try to get a hotel room for another night and see the canyon on Tuesday. After all, it would probably be a while before Janet got to fly out west again. We got some hot chocolate to warm up and sat and practiced our Black Jack skills while we discussed what to do.

With a plan in mind, we walked back to the bus stop to get to the car. Janet was trying to book our hotel by researching on her fancy-shmancy cell phone while we walked towards the parking lot. Suddenly we saw a patch of blue sky and the sun was poking through! We found the nearest path towards the rim and started trudging through the snow to see if maybe the clouds were lifting. Alas, we were met with a large gray cloud again. We started walking back but then Janet saw the blue sky again and turned around and ran towards the canyon. This time we got to the rim and started walking east where the blue sky was and our excitement increased as we started seeing little holes in the big patch of fog and parts of the canyon were coming into view.

The clouds were clearly on the move and it would only be a matter of time before they were completely gone! Finally, we came to a spot on the rim where we could see out into the canyon and Janet was leaping for joy. It was incredible to watch the clouds lift out and clear up and the beautiful snow-covered canyon come into view.

That happened around 3:00 and we spent the next three hours until sunset enjoying the view and taking pictures before our drive back to Tucson. (We also had some more hot chocolate because it was SO cold!) Eric and I were especially thankful because the first time we were at the canyon, it was cloudy and there wasn't a nice blue sky for our pictures. This time, between the snow and the sun, we have some great memories captured on film.