So, it's been a while since the last post. There has been a lot going on! Never Say When is done mastering their cd and is getting ready to put ISRC codes on the songs, copyright the material, then send the master out to have the replication process done! Hopefully all of this work will pay off by having the finished product in hand by the end of November.
And of course there has been a lot of talking about our baby! We have had our first sonogram and heard it's heartbeat! 186 bmp. And we saw the baby wiggle a little! What a miracle. 8.5 more weeks until we get to figure out whether it is going to be a girl or boy. We have decided to not go with pink or blue. We like neutral colors. We were thinking that we were going to do animals as a theme, but are now thinking that we will be doing brown and white. Thanks to all who are offering us baby stuff! We are so blessed to have family members and friends who love us enough to offer to help us in so many ways!
So, we currently travel with Never Say When on most weekends. This entails packing the car with people and luggage and instruments. Since we will be adding a car seat, child, pack and play, stroller, and baby bag to this mass of things, we thought it might be a good idea to look for something with a little more cargo room.....A MINI VAN! And with that thought we automatically lost 10 cool points. But that's okay, we were very excited to be able to stretch out our legs on long trips rather than curling up in a ball in the backseat in order to sleep. I say "were excited," because it didn't happen like we thought it would. Here's the story:
Becky and I get excited when we found some time to look for a van. The first place we went to was Urban Motors - a branch of a used car dealership from Chicago. We looked at a conversion van that we thought looked comfy but decided it would not be fun to drive around town all the time. So we looked at the Ford Windstar (1998, 127000 miles) next to it. After looking at another minivan that smelled like a child's vomit on the inside, we decided that the Windstar looked really clean inside and out. After talking to the salesman who said he could probably do an even trade for our car we left, telling him we might be back. We Carfaxed Becky's car and the Windstar and found that they both had very clean records. It seemed that we were getting a great deal for the van and the salesman, in turn, was hasty to make a deal since he was getting the more marketable car (what college kid is looking for a mini van...oh wait, me). We went back and test drove the van and immediately found something goofy and unexplainable with the brakes. We had a knowledgable friend check it out and he could not explain the odd grinding feeling either. I figured it had to be the ABS (especially since the ABS light was on). We took it back to the dealer and said that there was something goofy going on with the brakes. He immediately said that he would fix it. Easier than I thought. So we told him that the handle on the inside of the sliding door was not working and he agreed to fix that too. Wow...nice guy. We left telling him that if those were fixed we'd be interested in making a deal. The next day, Becky made some calls to bigger dealers in Macomb and asked what they could do for us. The best we could get from them was a decent van for our car plus about $3000. Since our goal was to not spend any money we asked the second dealership if we would be getting a good deal for the Windstar. He said that we were probably getting a fair trade but we should test drive the van and take it to PM Auto - a local independent mechanic's shop. We went to test drive the Winstar with high hopes. The salesman handed us the keys and said that the brakes were new and we were ready to go. We drove the van to the auto shop and the brakes were fixed! After about a half hour at the shop, the mechanic came out with a list of abou $1750 of work that needed to be done in order for the van to not break down immediately. And guess what...the brakes were only about 50%. Lame. So we took the van back to the dealer, told him we were going to walk away and showed him the list of problems with the van. His response was that they were all routine things that exist because the van was older. Um...no. There were fluids mixed in with other fluids due to a leak. There was a fluid that was supposed to be a light color and was black due to metal shavings. Both tierod ends were bad and could break, easily causing a fatal accident on the highway. There was a bad rear bearing. It pretty much needed a new radiator. These problems may exist because they have developed over time as the vehicle got older, but they are not routine things. They should have been taken care of a long time ago. We could have bought the van and died in it the next week. Or at least been $2000 in debt. Thanks, Urban Motors, for a poor first car shopping experience. Did I mention that our mechanic said that he's seen a lot of bad stuff come out of this particular dealership? Huh. I wonder why. Wait, no I don't. I'VE seen bad stuff come out of the dealership. I dont' think that I will be going back there. Apparently, you can't even trust the used car dealer in a small town. And now I am done spewing my anger about Urban Motors.
So the van search may go on if GOD decides he wants to put something in our past. But we see that GOD provides even if his answer is "No, Hollands. Wait for a different vehicle." He has ultimate control. I think of how disappointed I get because I can't go get in my new van to drive to Rockford this weekend. But then I realize how great GOD is that I am not unsuspectingly getting in a dangerous van to drive down the highway at 2 am!
Well, I hope you enjoyed the story and are keeping your feelers out for anyone who wants to trade their good condition van for a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am in good condition!
the Hollands
