Meet the newest addition to the family...

Last week we received our Adoption Tax Credit Check from the IRS.  We had already decided to look for a replacement for the 1998 Dodge Caravan when the money came in.  Chris has been looking online for about a month at different cars, vans & SUVs to see what might be available and to give me some options to consider.  It also helped to narrow down where we wanted to actually go and see for ourselves the vehicles we might be interested in.  Last Thursday we went to two dealerships to look at cars.  The second one (Classic Chevrolet in Sugar Land) had a vehicle that Chris found about a month ago and kept going back to when looking online.  We looked at it, looked in it, took it for a test drive around the block, got the Car Fax report on it and told the salesman that we would let him know later if we wanted to look at it again, then went to lunch.  We talked about it over lunch and called the salesman to set up an appointment for Friday morning.  After talking with our mechanic (Robert at Integrity Auto in Richmond), we felt good about the car.  We also printed off the Internet listing to take back with us on Friday. 

Friday morning we met the salesman and told him that we wanted our mechanic to check out the car and with papers in hand, we took the car to get checked out.  They came back with a 'clean bill of health'!  Back at the dealership, we talked numbers and got a really great deal.  We put a down payment on the car Friday and brought it home. 

Today, we paid the balance with a cashier's check and the car is completely ours!  Now all we have to wait for is the license plate, registration papers and title from the state. 

Bella (our new car) is a 2009 Dodge Journey that is pretty fully loaded!  There is a built-in DVD player for the back seat (complete with wireless headsets), a 6-CD changer, USB ports for Ipod or MP3 connections, auto-set for the air/heat, hidden storage under the passenger seat, lots of storage space in the back, a back seat console with cup holders for the boys, electric adjustment for the drivers seat (including raising the seat higher), keyless entry, alarm, remote control start and many more options that we didn't look for or expect!! (We found out about the Remote Control Start yesterday!)

God has really blessed us with Bella!!