surprise!

Okay, so here's the full story. About two weeks ago I was complaining about our van to Jeremy. I asked him if there was any way that we could get a new van now... instead of later. If you have ever seen our old van... you know that we needed a new one terribly! The wheels started turning in his head... and I said, "You just keep thinking about that." and left for a girls night or some meeting. I got my hopes up. Kept thinking that he was going to surprise me one day. Then I was having a really hard day and I point blank asked him, "Honey, are you going to get me a van?" and he said, "No... it's just not the right time." So, I tried to stop thinking about it and set out to just enjoy the van that I did have and try to find the good in it. Last week he had me go online to the Honda website and build my dream car... color, interior, everything that I'd ever want. I thought it was cruel and unusual to do that to me after telling me that it would be another year before we can afford one... but I obliged. Little did I know that instead of staying late to study like he said he was the past two weeks, he was test driving vans with his friend in hopes to find me my dream car. After searching around every Honda dealership in the area, he finally found it! He got it all financed so that when we went to pick it up, we could drive away in our new beautiful van!He planned it perfectly. Our van was just about to run out of gas, the air conditioning had gone out (again), it needed new brakes, an oil change... and I was having a poor me kind of a day. We dropped our kids off for date night. He had told me that he was planning it and that it was time sensitive so I needed to be ready on time. (I thought he was taking me to the movies... my favorite). We got on the freeway with literally no gas and I thought he was crazy. We pulled off the exit, drove past a gas station. He gave me a present in the car and had me open it right then. It was this adapter for my ipod to use in a car that doesn't have a cassette player. I looked at him... because I knew what that meant. I got a huge smile on my face... punched him in the arm... said, "Shut up!?!" and looked up to see that he was pulling into a Honda Dealership.We pulled up and I noticed a beautiful blue van with a bouquet of balloons in front of it. Jer leaned over and said, "Baby, it's yours!" I started to get choked up... it was too hard to believe. We walked into the dealership... everyone was staring at me because they were all in on the surprise. I felt like a celebrity. It was one of those out of body experiences. Here's some of my reaction.

We drove off into the sunset in our new beautiful van... straight to Max and Erma's (a tasty restaurant) to celebrate. I am still in shock... and am having a hard time believing that it's really mine and I don't have to worry about my car starting, or the kids being so sweaty every time I look at them in the backseat, or the car dying in the middle of no where. I feel safe and spoiled and so blessed. I can't believe he pulled off the surprise of the century... but I'm so glad that he did! It is pure bliss driving my "Erma" around town!