Please join us in praying for an affordable vehicle with a lift that can hold 2-3 wheelchairs (my power chair is optional, but Jon and Vanessa need their wheelchairs to best enjoy activities). The vehicle needs to seat at least 14 including the driver so we can take Amber and Angela along too. Extra seats beyond 14 would be a bonus for friends who might be crazy enough to want to go somewhere with us and for luggage and medical equipment that travels with us if we are gone more than a few hours. Several people have asked if it can be a yellow mini school bus...yes! The kids would love it! It can be any shape, age, color, etc as long as it runs and has the items listed.
We have found out that we can even install seat belts so please pray for the following:
- Affordable
- Wheelchair lift
- 2-3 wheelchair spaces
- Seats at least 14 including the driver
- An automatic transmission is preferred so I can drive it too (Something about a driver with just one good leg driving a standard makes the Department of Motor Vehicles nervous.)
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| The school bus provides our kids the only opportunity that they have to take their power wheelchairs in public. |
Please be praying that we will have the right amount of resources to pay cash for the vehicle when we find it. We have passed on several vehicles because we would need to take a loan to cover the purchase. As many of you know, we started on a path to be debt free in 2006 and our home is our final debt that we have yet to have eliminated. (You can join us in praying about wisdom in eliminating that debt too.) We have made due without transportation for over 2 years, but now the situation is getting tougher as the kids grow. Please pray for us to continue to be patient too.
EXPLANATION:
I know some of you are saying that there is nothing wrong with debt if you can pay it, and I agree that responsible debt is not sinful. In fact the Bible gives us guidance on being responsible debt holders. However, we feel that God has called is to another standard of financial freedom and responsibility so we can be available to His direction for our lives. For example, within 6 months between October 2009 and February 2010, God grew our family from 5 to 10 children and one of the boys spent 2 months in the hospital having open heart surgery and other medical problems! We had no way of knowing that we would be given these awesome opportunities to expand our family and to help 5 little boys who needed a home. What if we had previously made financial commitments to use the money that we needed to get them home? To buy beds? To pay immigration fees? To buy shoes? To get lab tests for parasites? To get post placement reports? We had to depend on God's provision to help us through that time, but if we had also had other debt, then we could not have met the financial requirements.
INTRIGUED? Our family specifically follows Dave Ramsey's advice for financial freedom and when the boys added to our family, we had just reached Step 4. It took almost our entire emergency fund to get the boys settled, medically treated and deal with the legalities. In fact we are still on Step 3, rebuilding our emergency fund over 2 years later, but we have no stress of debt on our cars, no credit card payments, no student loans left....It is a great way to live and be available for whatever happens next in life. If your interested, check out http://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/?gclid=CPHfnqz0prACFUZeTAodOwR9DA
Owe no one anything except to love one another,
for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
~~Romans 13:8
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