Cars, Contentment and Change

Hello!  Thanks for stopping by my blog!  My name is Jeanette Paradis.  I am a mom and wife who works from home as a health coach.  I have found myself chuckling over something these past 24 hours and wanted to share the story here...

 

So, the photo above?  Those who know me are probably surprised to see me with a 2016 BMW SUV here in my own driveway??  Hmm - what is up with that?  Our car of the past year is a 2014 Honda Insight... a little hybrid that gets 50 mpg!  We are a single car family and we are planning to pay off this car and save before purchasing another car.  With my husband working close to home and me working from home, it is doable to share one vehicle.  Is it always convenient?  Nope!  Is it that hard?  Not really.  We have found a way to make it work.

 

Last month, we had driven down to see my family!  Through a miscommunication and a lot of confusion in my sister's driveway - aunts, cousins, grandparents, a family birthday and getting ready to go to the Elk County fair, something happened.  My dad backed into my car!  No one was hurt.  In retrospect, I was in a bad spot when it happened.  I have wished soooooooo many times that I could go back and change it!  My dad kept it together and SO GENEROUSLY offered to take care of all of the damages by filing an at-fault claim through his insurance.  I don't know if he has ever even had one of those??  Oh dear.  It took a while to get the car on the schedule at our nearby body shop but it is finally there this week!  We will have a new driver's door and repair work will take place on other parts of the vehicle as well.  

 

 

Yesterday I dropped off our car and through some turn of events, our "loaner vehicle" is this BMW!?!  It is an SUV.  The kids had asked me OVER and OVER what sort of car I would have when I picked them up from school yesterday?  I told them it would probably be something similar to what we own... they kept laughing and remembered the LAST time we had a loner car.  More on that in bit!  When I picked them up yesterday, my 6 year old nonchalantly stated, "We should just keep this car.  I like it better".  Hmm... discussion on value and how this car is worth like THREE of our car.  Driving the BMW X3 actually reminds me quite a bit of our Honda Pilot.  We had the Pilot before the Insight Hybrid.  

 

Side note - why on earth did we go from our special edition loaded Pilot down to our little base package Insight?  My husband is 6'2", after all!  To be honest, the mpg of the Pilot (we averaged 16-17 mpg) was KILLING me!  But I did love driving that thing.  The 3rd row seating and built in entertainment system were great for when we had friends riding with us.  When I was working with a 50 mile round trip commute to the barn where I taught riding lessons, there was MANY a drive on 90 where I encountered some awful weather and the Lord used that vehicle to keep me securely on the road.  Unfortunately, just going to work and back cost $12 in gas at that time.  Going down to see my family for the weekend cost $60 round trip!  I wanted to be able to go and see my family more often this past year - and we certainly have!!!!  We bought our Insight in September of 2014 and I LOVE being able to visit my family for about $12 in gas, rather than $60!  Are we "cozy" in those quarters?  For sure!  Is it worth it?  Yes.  I like being able to go and see my family often and not have to feel badly about it!

 

 

Before the Pilot, we had an older CR-V and that was a great vehicle for us as well.  So, back to the last time we had a loaner??  The Pilot was in to get the timing belt replaced and Bianchi Honda was going to keep it for a full day.  They gave us the most teeny-tiny vehicle EVER to drive around town that day!!!!  The kids and I looked at the thing and the tires looked less substantial than what was on their bicycles!  We got into it and felt like we were inches from the pavement!  We started it up and vibrated so much that we were dying laughing!  We began to drive and felt like we were in a go-kart or something!  It was SUCH a contrast from the Pilot and that was what we were accustomed to at that point in time.

So, what is the point of all of this?  Contentment has been on my mind lately.  Going from driving our banged-up little Insight hybrid into the unexpected BMW SUV loaner was quite a switch yesterday!  18 months ago, switching from our bells-and-whistles Pilot to the munchkin loaner was another contrast.  Part of it depends upon what we are accustomed to and our perspective on that.  Part of it depends on what we think we "should have" and where we are with attaining it.

When I was a kid, there was a day that I made my parents laugh and cringe at the same time!  I had been all over the place and was making everyone weary.  I quoted Philippians 4:12 and said that I "have learned" to be content in all circumstances.  Umm.... that has been a work in progress ever since!  We still laugh about that day and my announcement (in the midst of restless angst and pestering them for something!) that lo and behold, I had learned to be content gave us all reason to pause.  Thank God my parents have prayed for me my entire life!  Who can say where I would be without God's grace to me and their example over the years??

I can say NOW (at age 37) that I am really content with whatever I am driving, as long as it reliably gets me from Point A to Point B.  We are sooooo not mechanical here in my immediate household so we need a vehicle that runs well and doesn't require much beyond routine maintenance!  BMW or Honda hybrid or something in between... It is just not very important to me!

In the bigger picture?  In life itself?  I am learning more and more contentment.  For me, a LOT of it comes down to TRUST.  I trust God's plan for my life.  I trust that He is faithful to lead us.  I trust that he will provide for our family. I trust that He will draw my children to know Him more and more each day as we build our lives upon HIM as our foundation.

I posted these words on FB earlier this morning, along with the image below...

I woke up and thought of this favorite song.

The melody is just so perfect to me!

And the words are very much from scripture which just makes any song more significant to me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RRZgr7wNDs