Our new car . . . maybe???

Well, I put a deposit down on a van today. It's a 2009 Kia Sedona with a whopping 34 miles on it! Sumana can get IN and OUT of it all by herself, since it has power sliding doors. Yea!!

Now, a couple of 'ifs' remain as far actually bringing it home. One of the 'ifs' is that the cash for clunkers program will have to allow an improvement of 3 mpg from our Astro. Secondly, Sumana's disability income will have to stay intact. I got a letter today from Social Security saying that they want to verify that she is still eligible. This van is specifically for her use and progressing independence. (If I had been able to choose, it would have been more of an SUV-type!) I can't believe she wouldn't continue to be eligible, but I want to find that out BEFORE we get the van!

Anyway, we won't even be able to get the van for another couple of weeks. Please pray with us that God's will is accomplished. Everything has come together well so far, but we'd rather have a roadblock come up and stop us at this point if it's not in God's perfect plan.

Well, Sumana and I got up at 4:30 this morning to take Gretchen to the airport. She flew out at 7 am for her week-long missions trip in Monterrey, Mexico. We had a couple of hours to wait til the Kia dealership opened so we went and visited Aunt Ruth again in the hospital. I wasn't sure if they'd let us visit (official visiting hours are 11-8). But, we walked right in and I said that we were there to help Aunt Ruth with her breakfast and they let us go right in!

She still doesn't have much of an appetite, so breakfast consisted of an Ensure milkshake. But, we helped encourage her to get most of it down before we left. I was really thankful that she was in a private room, because it was 7 am and we were laughing a lot! She's in such good spirits and is very alert . . . full of stories like usual. Today she told us about how 'things' were so different when she was Sumana's age. She and her younger sister were sent to a neighbor lady's house and didn't know anything was going on until a delivery man asked them how they liked their new baby brother (my grandfather!) I guess they didn't stay much longer with the neighbor . . . they wanted to get home and see their new surprise! How different times were, huh?? Today our kids not only know when a baby is coming, they often have pictures and know if it will be a sister or brother!

As an update on Giana . . . she is being treated for a staph infection. Poor little lady! At least they are able to treat her at home. I think her one year birthday is this week. Please pray that she'll be happy and healthy to celebrate!