Goodbye Corolla

(a pic of Joel and Steebo with the Corolla on their way to see the Dawgs play)

We said goodbye to the Corolla last night. It's been a good car to us...and Joel's parents...and Joel's grandparents! There was certainly nothing cool about the Corolla...but, I got a warm, fuzzy feeling every time I looked at it because it reminded me of the huge sacrifice that Joel made so that I could stay at home when we had Mary Kate. Joel's first car at 16 was an '87 Green Chevy S10. When he got it, my house was his first stop and he took me for a ride. He continued to drive the S10 for the next 10 years. His college buddies affectionately called it the death trap. I guess, any time you let someone borrow your truck and you have to send a pair of pliers along with it, that's not a good sign. I really didn't think that truck was going to survive our engagement since it broke down 2 or 3 times burning up the road between Athens/Gwinnett and Knoxville, but it did. After my first year of teaching, and when we actually had some money in the bank (man, I wish we knew how rich we were then...before kids), Joel bought a gorgeous 4 door F150.The original owner of the S10 actually wanted it back since it was where he kissed his wife for the first time...so sweet. Joel loved his F150, but when Mary Kate came along he put it up for sale so that I could quit teaching and stay at home with our precious little girl (Thanks Joel. I love you). It took quite a while for it to sell, but a dear friend of ours from Griffin ended up buying it (I think it was more as a favor to us than because he really wanted it, but we were thankful). We actually sold our car and our house all in the same day. Joel's parents generously gave us the Corolla to have as a second car. That car was good to us, if we were good to her. We had to let her warm up for about 15 minutes every morning to get her in the right mood. Now, we hope that she'll be good to her new owners. The reason that we were able to part with her is quite a testiment of the Lord's provision. As we near the day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus, I am humbled at the ways that God still shouts out that He loves us and delights in us.