La Famille Armstrong

Let's start with the car. Our newer car, 2005 Ford Escape, has been going through oil like crazy even though it hasn't been leaking anywhere. When it would get really low there would be a loud rattle when accelerating or right before it would switch gears. We probably put about 10 quarts of oil in there within the last 2-3 months. At our last oil change they "took a look" and couldn't find a leak and didn't hear the rattle so they (and we) figured it was just the oil being too low. Well, it's gotten worse the past month and a lot worse the past week. Finally, yesterday was the low point.

The car was sounding so bad that Mark stopped on his way home from Salem and took it into the Woodburn Ford Dealership - mainly b/c we thought our warranty would cover mechanical breakdown. 4 hours and $200 later we find that one of the pistons was out of place allowing the oil to just be burned up by the engine and totally messing the engine up. The mechanic there said he would just replace the engine... the whole thing!!! He also said he could take it apart to see if just a few individual pieces could be replaced but that alone would take 15 hours (which is a lot of labor) and would be pretty expensive too. Granted, this is just a quote from the dealership place and I'm sure we could get it done for less elsewhere... but $7000 is what we're looking at. Yikes! The car is only worth maybe $12,000... hardly seems worth it! But we're still making payments and still owe more than it's worth (especially now) so we've been praying about that a lot lately :-)

All this to say we will never buy another Ford. No way. There is no way that a car that has been mostly regularly maintained should die like this in 4 years. Our warranty expired so that's out of the question too. We aren't "worried" b/c we know God will take care of it... more just irritated at the car and the dealerships. We've been very foolish in the past with our purchases and this vehicle was not one of our best decisions but we've been good to it and have really enjoyed having an SUV for carting around the kiddo and his loot everywhere we go. Thank God we have a 2nd car that we don't have payments on! We also have been loaned an older car from one of Mark's bosses so when we really NEED to be 2 different places and both NEED to be driving we'll still be okay. Like I said, it's mostly just being irritated at this point. But, I think I'll email Dave Ramsey with the situation and see what he thinks in the best route. 

I was looking at the baby shoes business, crunching all the numbers and figured I would need about $7000 to really get it going all at once. I had resolved to just keep saving and that in time I'd be able to start it... maybe by next spring even... now, that is really, most likely going to be further off. Unless, my photography starts bringing in crazy amounts of money... which is not too likely :-) Not the craziest idea, but again, not likely. I will give it a shot though! I've been doing more work for Jeanne so we'll just be setting that money aside for a while. At least Mark has an awesome job where we make enough to pay all our bills and not worry about food... or even coffee!!! The crazy thing was just before Mark called me about the car stuff I had read in my bible study book about trusting God in trials... insane! He KNEW I needed to have that fresh on my mind. And it certainly helped. I felt especially safe and taken care of after bible study this morning too... I love the women at our church!!

Well, that's pretty much it. But I am going to bombard you with 8 Asher photos :-) We went outside for a while today and he was so adorable... what's new! Once the "snow mold" in the grass out in the backyard dries out we'll really be outside more! Also, we went for a walk once Mark took off for worship practice and I had an incredibly peaceful time and got a small workout in! I always hear God most clearly while walking or running outside... we truly serve an all knowing God who loves us way more than we deserve! Enjoy the photos!

This is one of his best odd faces.

"Hmm, what trouble should I get into first!"

"What in the world is this stuff?"

Watching intently as the motorcycle drove by.

Checking out the rocks...

and this was about the 10th rock he tasted and tossed.

I still have no idea what he was looking at.

He makes the funniest faces!