There's Another Car in the Driveway!

Now there are officially 3 cars in the driveway.  I can't believe it.  My oldest daughter just bought her first car.  I'm impressed.  I never was able to do that, though I had jobs from the time I was 11 on.  I never saw a need (I used my parents' car all the time!).  She, however, definitely needed one as she is out and about working up to 5 jobs some weeks.  We've made it work and she usually takes my car as I'm often home, but other weeks it has been a struggle as I will need the car which means those weeks I'm in the car all the time. 

I knew this was coming eventually though and so I really tried to treasure those times when she still needed us to pick her up.  I knew there would be fewer times of conversations, fewer moments with just her alone in the car.  This is another sign of independence and though we are thrilled for her, there is a part of us that is sad.  Our other kids are super excited and they kind of feel they got a new car, too!  She is the super fun (super bad) sister who takes them out pretty much all the time wherever and whenever they want to go.  This is a small child victory for them.  I can already picture how this will go...

What a great example she was to the other kids.  It wasn't like that just under a year ago, however.  Back in March last year, we sat her down and said, "Enough is enough..."  She was spending money like crazy and had nothing to show for it.  Yes, she was paying for her piano lessons and we were grateful for that, but the rest of her money was never being saved.  Here I was writing about debt and my daughter was not being the greatest example.  So we wrote up a contract that she and my husband literally signed and told her that if she could save a certain amount of money by the following March 2018, we would contribute to what she had saved and help her buy a car.

Something must have clicked in her brain.  First she worked at a greenhouse in the summer and then later on that summer she found a job at a restaurant hostessing.  She didn't just take on one or two shifts, but sometimes 7 a week.  In addition to this she somehow maintained her piano school (in her final associate level), her piano students, photography shoots here and there, teaching at a co-op and just being a great daughter here at home helping me out when she could.  We barely saw her once she got that job this past summer.  But she was determined and she almost had to save she was making so much money she couldn't spend it fast enough!

Pretty soon she had enough and started to search.  I feel like God really blessed her because she basically was able to buy the first one she saw and the whole deal went down extremely smoothly. I'm super proud of her!

The last couple of Sundays we've been doing a family Bible study in the evenings.  We're kind of like our own small group.  Love it.  We decided to pick up a book we had in our house but hadn't ever gone through as a family on Biblical finances.  We talk about it all the time, but now we're reading the actual verses we talk about and then studying and applying it to each child.  Our daughter was a great illustration to the rest of the family of what can be done when you set your mind to it.  She also bought the car debt-free so she's off to a great start.  She'll be able to drive it knowing it is fully paid for.  What a great feeling!

The fun part starts today....she bought a standard!