Thanks to many of you out there who have been praying for me to find a car!!!! I found one!
It is a 2002 Honda Civic, silver with around 112,000 miles on it. It is in good condition both interior and exterior except for a minor little ding on the back right tail light.
From everyone who I have talked to about cars they give double thumbs up for a Honda and say that I can anticipate adding many more miles to a honda engine and still being in good shape. The amazing thing about all of this is that God is teaching me how to use my intuition and my perceiving skills. Out of all the cars I have seen, and driven I never had a good sense about any of them. I couldn't put my finger on why exactly but something in my gut just told me to wait...so I did. I went back to the news journal to look to see if any new cars came up and my eyes caught one that I had seen before but over looked because I just didn't think it was what I wanted. I figured I'd give the guy a call to see if it was still there (chances were that it wasn't, being a Honda and all-they sell quick.) The guy answered and told me he still had it, and immediately I had this sense of "rightness" about this car. I just knew. Yep, this one is it. And it is! I'll make it final on Thursday! Thank you so much for praying everyone! It's amazing, absolutely amazing that God is as involved in these aspects as he is in bringing people to salvation. He wants our whole lives sanctified, which includes how we handle buying cars, how we use the personality He has given us in making decisions, and trusting Him through it all. This is what it means to be in constant communion with God, relying upon His guidance and leading and trusting Him when He leads. Scripture has become more alive to me than ever lately! And God uses our everyday circumstances to show us how alive He is in us! What a wonderful SAvior!

Summer, shaking her fists at cars. Grrrr.

Just want to let ya'll know....buying a car is absolutely frustrating! Can you hear the angst in that statement? If not, re-read it, it's there. I know next to nothing about cars except what body style I like and the color. So, you ask me to make a decision on a car and I'll look blankly at you...I have no idea. And trying to find a car for $5000 that doesn't have 130,000 or more miles on it is virtually impossible. And so, must I give in and buy a car with 145000 on it? To me that just isn't worth it, but what can I expect? I have only a certain amt of money and don't want to go into debt just to buy a car.
I spent several hours today and over the past few weeks trying to find a car....finding one that I liked and then having something happen that makes me doubt that it is a good find. Like today, I was all set to buy a dodge stratus, 2002 with 75000 miles on it...then I went to look at a consumer report and there were more black dots than red ones....not good. So, I started over and left the search today bereft and frustrated. All the thoughts swarming through...do you want that many miles? You only have $5000, will the engine last? how about the transmission, will I have to replace it in a month? Ooooh I'd really like a jeep, oh wait how many miles per gallon? Was this car in an accident? All those scratches, does it have a cd player?Oh! I like the sun roof! What about the tires?And it's the battle between what I want and what is practical. Sigh. I just don't want to make the wrong decision and have to pay for it later.
Here you are folks....this is the real nitty gritty stuff of the life of Summer Hartzler in Longview TExas! In the face of frustration! ARGH!
Ha, so as you can see I haven't quite learned the lesson in patience in this matter. If only the car would fall in my lap....well not literally that would be quite painful. Sigh.