The Linhart Mobile

So, I mentioned a few weeks ago that we were going to need a mini van in order to accommodate our growing family.

Well, Grandpa Bob made a generous offer to front us the money to buy a van now and said we

could pay him back when our Accord sold. That took care of the gap between cars problem and lifted a huge burden off our shoulders.

I started emailing Geary postings for Honda Odysseys and Toyota Siennas from Craigslist. Each day when he got home from work he would call and research several vans. It was an often frustrating search as we learned about vans that would have to to shipped from England or were in perfect shape "except it will need a new transmission, no big deal." Last Saturday Geary went up to Portland to look at a van and then continued on to Longview to see another one. People asked me, "Don't you want to go with him and choose your car?" But I completely trusted my

husband to make a wise choice.

Saturday night he came home and raved about the Longview van. We made an appointment to pick it up on Tuesday night. Toby and I picked up Geary and Noah from school and we all drove up to WA singing songs and telling jokes on the way. When we arrived at the dealership (more of a storage center) they had our van parked out front. I immediately liked it. A tan 1999 Toyota Sienna. Noah immediately named it "The Linhart Mobile."

After all the paperwork was signed and we were given the keys, Noah and I drove in the van while Geary and Toby followed us in the car. We drove into downtown Longview to find a place to eat dinner and ended up at Lynn's Ice Cream, Yogurt, and More! It was a funny, cute, coke paraphernalia-filled cafe with tons of toys and knick knacks that our kids were encouraged to play with. The perfect we-got-a-mini-van-let's-celebrate type of place. We noticed that Lynn's served licorice ice-cream which seemed very appropriate since that is Grandpa Bob's favorite flavor.

After dinner we drove home and went to bed, tired but happy. Geary registered the van on Wednesday and this week the goal is to clean out our car, wash it, photograph it, and get it listed on Craigslist. Please pray that it sells soon!

This is not our van but ours looks exactly like it. The boys love riding in it. It drives great! We couldn't be happier.

If anyone is interested we have a silver 1998 Honda Accord with about 137K miles in great condition. It runs perfectly and even has leather seats!

Thank you, Grandpa Bob, for your help and advice. And thank you, Geary, for your good work researching and for finding the perfect vehicle for our family. And most of all, thank you, Lord, for providing for us yet again--you are so good!