Who has time for this????

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18

I love my van. I really do. It has room for everybody.  It has doors that open by the touch of a button.(Fancy!) It has a lot of cup holders, and it has a dvd player that makes my life sooo nice. You can judge me if you want for letting my kids watch movies in the van. I don't mind. I understand that it would be better for them to look at the beautiful trees and discuss the leaves changing and falling to the ground or for them to be playing wonderful car games and singing to the top of their lungs. That would absolutely be ideal, but I'm doing good to get them all in the car without cutting their heads off.  I figure a movie isn't hurting them. In other words, yes it is because I'm lazy, and by the time I get behind the wheel, I'm tired. (And truth be told I still answer a thousand questions about the trees and clouds and birds and grass and roads and trucks and truck drivers and hand me this mama and where is my this mama sooooo I don't care if you judge me for letting my children watch Cinderella.) When we picked out our van, I was pregnant with the twins, and we were thinking about carseats to hold all of our babies. We didn't have the money to buy a new van, so we got a very nice van that had some miles on it. (A lot of miles actually!) I figured with me being married to the boy that can fix everything, we could make this van last through med school and well into residency. (Let me clear my throat.)

The first thing that has happened to my van is my wonderful husband decided I needed some connector device hooked up to the radio, so I could listen to music from my I Pod. Isn't he sweet? So thoughtful. Now, that was fine with me because like I said he is a master at knowing how things work, and I trust his decisions. (UH EM!) In the process of hooking said little connector device to the radio, something happened. I'm still not really sure what even though he has explained it to me several times. (Let's be honest. I don't care what happened. I just want it to not happen!) Anyway, the cd player will not work, and the dvd player is broken. Yep broken! Now, he says he can fix this, and I have full confidence in him that he will be able to fix it, but it hasn't happened yet. We have been on two trips in the wonderful van with no dvd player......one all the way to Knoxville, TN and back. Then we traveled with five children to Asheville, NC and back. We survived, but there were definitely times that I exchanged glances with Mr. Cooper and told him with my eyes that a dvd player sure would be nice right about now!

Another problem with the van is the engine has had a coolant leak or something to that effect. I discovered the seriousness of this when Mama and I were on our way back to Eudora from G'ville one day. I swear we thought there was a rat in the glove box because we kept hearing it knock around in the dash. You can imagine the fear that was in the van in those moments, but we made it to Eudora with no sighting of the mouse. I dropped mama off and headed back to Shreveport. I decided to give Z a call on my way home. I was telling him all about the weekend. "Mama and I did this and then we laughed about that and then we thought there was a rat in the glove box. Haha! It was so funny, Zach." His responses to me consisted of "uh huh," "yep," "oh yeah. That is funny." After talking for about 15 mins, I glanced down at my gages and realized we were hot. I mean really hot. I told Zach, and let's just say that he convinced me I should probably check my gages a little more than I do. I did what most girls would've done in my position. Told Zach that I would handle it, and quickly called my daddy. (For future reference girls, if you hear a knocking sound,  CHECK YOUR GAGES! DO NOT ASSUME IT IS A MOUSE!) Tisdale came to my rescue! He bought coolant, filled the little thing up, and showed me how to do it if I was ever in this position again. (It should be noted that he did not make me feel stupid. Thank you DADDY. uh em!)

Okay, so this brings us to the current problems with the van. It blows smoke like a freight train. I mean seriously, it is a sight. It also sounds funny. Zach has decided that it has a blown gasket, which is a big deal apparently. It kept my Z up all night one night wondering what we were going to do. He walked through our room about 2:00 in the morning, and said he couldn't sleep because he was worried about the van. I was as sympathetic as I could be for someone that was sound asleep. He also explained to me about pistons and up and down and oil and water. I really did try to listen with the intent to learn. The nest day, Zachary Ryan talked to a mechanic and there is apparently some bottle of something that we can pour down in there somewhere and it will stop a leak. He is going to try that before taking it to a real mechanic. (Uh em!)

This brings me to this morning. Oh this morning. Zach has an interview in Dallas today, so of course he isn't home. Nor, do I want to call him because you know he is busy making decisions about our future. I slept with all 3 babies last night. Wait. Scratch that. Let's make it all four babies because this pregnancy is getting REAL! We woke up this morning, and of course Lee doesn't want to go to school.  That is like pulling teeth. I hear things from him like, "I'm dying." Um no you are not Lee. "I wish I had your life mama." Oh yeah, Lee. Sure you do. "But I just want to spend time with my Kate and Wade." hahaha that is a funny one. I got all the kids dressed with breakfast in their hands and loaded in the car. Turned the key. Click click click. NOOOOO! The battery was dead. Zach had already decided that it would be safe for me to drive Lee to school and then come straight back home. I was so mad at my silly silly van. (I would say stupid van but I know that isn't nice so I'm trying to be respectful.) So now, here I sit with all of my children. 

There is no point to this story, and it is much longer than I planned on it being, but we could just call this a little rant. Sorry if it was a boring one. The children do not seem to sympathize with their mama too much. 

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:29-30