It’s funny how God works sometimes, isn’t it? I love to travel and I love going on family trips. We went on many family trips growing up and I have so many fond memories of them. I want our children to have similar memories. So I have wanted to get a motor home for quite awhile. Adam doesn’t mind going on “vacations”, but he does mind spending a lot of money on them; things like going out to eat every meal, hotel rooms, and the like. So I thought it would be cheaper and more convenient to travel in a motor home. (Although we went through what gas would be for a motor home getting 6 miles to the gallon on a 2,000 miles trip and it would be the same amount if we traveled in our van, eat out 2 meals daily and rent hotel rooms at $80 a night, all for a 5 day trip. So a motor home would be just for convenience, really.)
On Friday, I was 10 seconds away from owning one. I was bidding on a 1984 Southwind Fleetwood from an organization called Rawhide. We had gone down there to see it on Thursday and came back home that night and bid up to $4,500. We stayed the highest bidder until about 10 minutes to the end. By the time it was over, I would have had to bid $4,800 for it. We had agreed to the maximum of $4,500, and without Adam being here, I just couldn’t go that much above what we had agreed to. I was very disappointed.
This is where God’s leading come in. I really started to think about things and I came to the realization that it would be a better use of our money to keep saving for a larger vehicle than it would be to buy a motor home. Actually, it had occurred to me earlier, but I wanted a motor home so badly, I didn’t say anything to Adam about it and I didn’t really ponder it much. Adam had realized this much sooner than I had, but didn’t say anything because he knew it would have fallen on deaf ears. But I got to thinking, that it’s very likely that we will need a larger vehicle (a 12 or 15 passenger van), while we we never need a motor home. And so it was decided that we will continue to save our money, for those of you who know or who have ever looked, these larger vans are not cheap!
And to further see God’s leading in this: We live very near, almost on, one of the Potawatomi reservations. Because of two casinos, one of them being down in Milwaukee which brings in a profit of $1 million daily, they are a fairly wealthy tribe. Every so often, they “get rid” of certain vehicles and buy new ones. To get rid of them, they put them up for auction. Once the bids for the vehicles have all come in, they choose the highest bidder and that person(s) get the vehicle. Adam needs a new car, for his is dying quickly. It so happens that right now is the time the tribe is putting up for auctions their security vehicles (which are Jeep Liberties) and their mini vans they use to transport people. We have put in a bid for a Jeep and have a good chance of getting one because they don’t advertise these auctions, they tend to have higher mileage then most people want (which means they usually go for not much money and not many people bid on them) and are only “advertised” by word of mouth.
One of the administrators for the tribe goes to our church. I was asking him today when their 15 passenger vans would be up for auction. I thought he’d say maybe in a year or so. Nope. He said “in about 2 weeks”! I was very surprised. We don’t need a larger van right now, for our mini van will fit everyone (with no room to spare). But how many times do you come across a 15 passenger van for cheap? And a decent one at that! This man told me that some have a higher mileage (over 100,000 miles) and some have less. And they rarely get more then $3,000 for any one vehicle, including a 15 passenger van! Talk about a good deal!
We are considering it. Even though we don’t need one at this time, it would be almost foolish to pass this possibility up. At least that’s what I think. And yes, the gas mileage would not be as good as our current van. But who’s to say we couldn’t get ones of these 15 passenger vans now and not drive it until we need to. Or we just use it when the whole family is together (which is typically twice a week) and I drive the mini van when it’s just me and the children (we actually have two extra car seats in the basement, which would make it easier not having to transfer cars seats all the time).
Anyway, it’s awesome to see God working like this. If we had won that motor home, we wouldn’t have the funds to take advantage of this possibility. You know, we may not always (or seldom!) get what we want, but He will always provide what we need. Many times, the things are provided for even before we know we need them. Isn’t is wonderful to be taken care of like that?
Note: I love change and since I don’t color or cut my hair anymore, I don’t have the money to change my wardrobe and I don’t have the energy to rearrange my living room furniture, changing my blog template is the easiest and fastest change I can do. This isn’t the first change and it probably won’t be the last.