This could be an example of how I viewed my life over the past week and that would be an accurate picture indeed; however this is actually the windshield of our new to us white van.

We purchased this van back in November with the idea that it would become a vehicle for us to use for travel, in addition to next school year replacing my car as a daily driver because all three kids don’t fit well with book bags and lunch boxes. Prior to the purchase we knew it needed work on the rear brakes and after driving home I knew it needed work on the front brakes as well. there also was a small crack across the bottom of the windshield which we talked about needed to replace eventually.

Last week, Haley’s car died and she needed to be able to drive to college starting Monday so we made the decision to sell my car to her on a pay as you can parent loan. With this decision, we ramped up our efforts to get the brakes fixed. Matt was able to fix the rear brakes using the parts that were given to us with the van and some good old fashion labor. On Thursday, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that we could definitely wait on replacing the windshield because we did not need to get it inspected until next year. Matt purchased new brakes and parts for the front and replaced those today and asked me to take it for a test drive.

The brakes work awesome, I was on my way to my parents house when the hood latch failed, the wind caught the hood as I am driving at 40 to 45mph and above is the result.  I am so thankful that none of the kids were in the van and God’s hand of protect kept the damage to things that are replaceable.

Total Expenses so far for this van:
$126 tags, tax and title
$119 brakes
$217 new windshield
$60 increase in insurance
$20 hood pins to replace the broken latch
$542 total in addition to the initial cost of the van

In January it would appear that Life happens to be very expensive.