52 Week Blessing Challenge – Week 4 Van

I am SO thankful for our van with the wheel chair lift. What a blessing it is!

We had a Dodge Caravan a number of years ago, when Emily was much smaller. We would just tilt her back and put her front wheels in the side door and then lift the back of her chair and push her into the van. It wasn’t difficult, just a heave-ho. But then she grew.

I prayed and prayed for a van with a wheel chair lift but they all seemed so out-of-reach, the prices so expensive. One day while driving down “auto-row” I saw a large van with the door open and a wheel chair lift on it. I went into the dealer and inquired about it. He said it had only been out and open on the lot for about 15 minutes before I drove by. It was a used GMC full-size van. We bought it, 15 minutes after it had been placed on a lot.

Boy, I felt like God had blessed me with the best gift! It was large, I could haul any number of kids or packages, along with Emily and her wheel chair. It had air conditioning, and heat front and back.

But that van guzzled gas. And the transmission wasn’t built for the heavy wheel chair lift that had been installed sometime after the van was made. We used it daily, and it used us. Our pocketbook was being depleted not only by filling it up with gas, but other issues began to crop up. Oh Lord, how can we afford this?

Then one day, again driving by a car lot I saw a small Caravan opened up and wheel chair lift on the ground. I ventured in to the dealership and asked how much this nearly new beauty would set us back. I told them we needed to trade in our old rusty van and use that as a down payment. It probably wasn’t going to work out, but the salesman sat down and did some paperwork. It took a couple of hours, and my husband stuck to his guns. We had told them we could only afford SO much. That meant SO much, and not one penny more. Well, more adjusting numbers here, and a little there, and by dinnertime we drove off the lot with that nearly new van!

Oh boy, I was in seventh heaven…. again! The new van had a nice new Lock Down system, and air conditioning that worked. Oh I am so thankful for good gifts from God.

This is our little beauty in the February snow. The lift comes out from under the van.