The Search is OVER! (WARNING: this post may be long!)

I am now the proud owner of a Black '98 Chevy Malibu. Yesterday at this time, if you would've told me that, I would've laughed in your face. You see, for the last week and a half I have been diligently looking for a Honda/Acura/something foriegn car. Why? Well, most people know that Honda's have an impecable reputation in quality and endurance. Or, shall I say, they last forever! So, I knew going into my search I wouldn't find any that were much newer than a 96/97... actually I was surprised to find those years in my price range.
I let a decent Accord slip through my fingers on Tuesday night... 95 with all the features I was looking for plus a couple extras.. my standards were power locks/windows/cruise... not a very hard order to fill. That Accord had leather interior and moon roof... and it was in solid working order, but my dad wasn't back quite soon enough and I didn't feel comfortable buying without him. SHOOT...

Having my dad back yesterday was comforting, but I was still kicking myself about that other car... I was anxious all day yesterday, but trying my hardest to trust that God had something else in mind. It was the first night of youth group last night and before I went, my dad and I looked at a silver 97 Accord, but we found out WHY it was in my price range. Something was making noise whenever we turned the wheels right or left.. we got back to the guy's house and he said, "yeah, it's about a $250 fix"... well, that would've been nice to know BEFORE we test drove it, be honest atleast before someone takes it out. Atleast we could know that and not feel like you're covering it up. anyways... I was not in a good mood when I got to church and on top of that I was really hungry and there was only over-cooked frozen pizza left over. I vented to a few people and then decided I needed to try and stop thinking about it and think about the night. Worship was at the end of the night, and it really helped me to focus on what really matters and truly trust that God has my best in mind.
It was hard falling asleep last night, I almost came and posted, but eventually fell asleep. I couldn't get my mind off the fact that my car was going to be taken away and I had nothing to fill its spot. (hey E- no apostrophe after it, right?! :)) I prayed myself to sleep because I got myself all worked up again and anxious again, it's all I could do to get it off my mind.
The drive to work was surreal, realizing it was the last time driving that car to work, or anywhere for that matter! You can read my previous post for more details on how it felt to give up my car.
Okay, so I'll jump ahead to tonight. My dad had called on a couple more Honda's and a couple VW's (one Golf, one Passat). One of the Honda's was in New Hope, so we swung by there and gave it a wirl, decent good driving car with not bad miles.. just really scaled back no power anything, not even a cd player and no cruise. Good car if all came to worse... so, then it was off to Jim Lupient's Bargain Lot. My parents have bought 3 cars there in the past 15-20 years and they've always been good, so we checked their stock. As we walked through, I noticed a 97 Acura Integra with leather interior and just a bit above my price range, but possibly negotiable. I started getting excited, but when we took her out for a spin noticed again, why it was priced lower. No AC working and a couple other little things that would all add up to atleast 500=1,000, so we passed on that. Next was the car I am driving now, which is funny because I wasn't too interested in it when he first suggested it, but when we looked closer it had everything I was wanting PLUS more. The drive was really nice and I was pleasantly surprised. We got back to Lupient's and asked about the CD plate because it wasn't in the car, so we tested it out and it sounded really good. There was one other Honda that my dad thought we should maybe look at, more for me because he didn't want me to always "wonder" or have a "what if." The only downfall was that it was located in Woodbury/Maplewood(can't remember which)... he was willing if I really wanted to go, so we were on our way and as I kept thinking, the Honda was a 94 with 150k miles and only 2door... it just didn't make sense for us to go all the way out there. I had this peace about just saying, you know I think I should just take that Malibu... so we exited the 394 exits into Downtown Mpls, turned around and headed back. Just for the sake of it, we went to look at the Passat at Westside VW, and I knew that was definitely not for me.. older and really boxy.. no like.

So, there's another whole story as to what happened after we left the VW dealership and buying my car at Lupient, but I'll spare you that tonight. If you're interested in a funny story, ask me another time :). Here's the cool thing about this search. I kept praying about not getting my hopes up, or having high standards about this car that I'm not sure how long I'll keep. Knowing it was going to get me buy for only a year or two, I didn't want to be picky. The thing is, he knew what I really wanted and knew that I would be okay without having those things, but I got all of my requireds and more. Here's the details... cruise- check, power locks- check, power windows- check, cd player- check (nice one, plus a cassette deck?! funny), moon roof- sweet, power mirrors both sides- double sweet, key-less entry- nice, LEATHER- rockin'...
The only possible downer is that it might need new roaters or pads, but my bro-in-law can do those for less than $50!
As I drove my new car home I had this thought as I was praying over my car for it to last me... it was this... My God takes care of me, and why NOT ask for what you really want because he really does care about the little things. This whole journey of finding a car really parrallels with finding the man I want to marry. Don't take this wrong... the whole "trying out" and those details are not what I'm saying... what I'm saying is this: I was worried and anxious about finding the car.. thinking I turned in my old one too soon... nope. He had one waiting for me... it wasn't exactly the "model" I was looking for but it had all I wanted and more. That sounds a little strange to me, but it just resonated.
One more little thing.. I've never named my cars before.. never... and this may be odd especially to post it on the world wide web, but owell... for some strange reason I had the word "prince" pop into my head, so I think I'm going to "dub" my car a male and call him my prince! :) It's cheesy, but then again, I laugh at cheesy jokes... and I can be cheesy.. so there. The End.