please, learn from our mistakes

Hello blog world...it's been a while.

We are still just trucking along with raising support. It normally takes a couple 6months-1year to raise it. So we feel like we are in a good spot. We are still praying to be on campus by February. Keep on a prayin for us! :)

So with support brings the countless number of hours spent in my car. Filling it up. Driving it around. Watching the miles creep up and up (125,550 currently). Weighing it down with our life in luggage. Now put this on repeat since June 10, 2011.

Our plan is to keep this car until it will no longer run. This means maintenance has to be done to keep it on track. Well, that has been less than my focus on the car since my parents handed it over to me in August 2008. My dad did a great job keeping it updated...me...not so much. Sure, I did oil changes on time, but that was about it.

Now, we are paying for it. Literally.
Here is what we have HAD to do since August:
-New Battery ($78)
-Cleaned our our fuel system/test ran ($468)
-New fluids ($180)
-New Alternator belt ($206)
-Charcoal Canister ($390)
-Delayed Title switch over ($496)
-Two new tires for Teddy's truck ($448)
-Both cars inspections ($45)
-Registration tags ($55)

Grand Total: $2366

Now, I KNOW some of those things are normal things that have to be done. But, it's been crazy that it's all happening August-now considering that are in transition and even had 2 months of no paychecks. God teaching us to trust Him with our finances...perhaps. He had taken care of us.

You might wonder what a Charcoal canister is. I had never heard of that before. Well, now I know. Basically, it's a thing in your car that helps your car not smell of gasoline when you put it in your car. It helps with those fumes. Very rarely, it can malfunction and not do it's job. This means that things will back up in your fuel system & not allow you to pump gas well. The gas line with click/pop as if your tank is full, but it's really not. You will spend 15+ minutes trying to fill up your 12 gallon tank. ANNOYING. We are happy this is fixed now...but not as happy that we are one of those "rare" cases. :)

You might also be wondering what on earth I mean when I said delayed title switch over. Listen up people...if you are buying a car from someone, getting it as a gift, anything like that, you HAVE to get the title properly switched over within 20 business days. If not, you will PAY. Backstory: After we got married my dad said we needed to switch the car over into my name. So he signed the title & I went to take care of it. Turns out, I needed my moms signature too, in addition to lots of other paper work because they weren't present (lived in different city). I was overwhelmed and walked away not doing anything about it. Fast forward to this year. We did not receive our tags in the mail, so I figured I just need to go to the southlake town hall (where my parents get their car tags from)to get things taken care of. Low and behold, because my dad had started the process of turning the title over to us by signing the title, we were now being charged $20 every 4 weeks until it was finished. We owed Texas $496, not including our tags ($55) because we had not finalized our title switch. I was so frustrated at the whole situation. It was one of those situations that you know you are responsible, but I just didn't know either. I had NO idea you had to pay like that because we didn't finish it.

Lastly, Teddy's truck needed to have the inspection done & updated. It had actually expired back in August, but because we haven't been driving it (just sitting at friends house), we figured we would eventually get to it. We wanted to get it taken care of while we were in Lubbock. So we went to get the inspection done & discovered that two of Teddy's tires were bad. PERFECT. :) It was the result of him not taking care of his truck too. So our $15 inspection, turned into a $448 charge for two new tires & $15 inspection.

Lesson are being learned in the Lytle family. Please learn from our dumb mistakes :)
Take care of your car. Rotate your tires. Do normal maintenance. Finish paperwork.
Understand that you have to spend some $$ in order to keep a car for years. It's much better than having a car payment each month. Just do it. (I have to keep reminding myself of this)

-Kelli

complex life

I received this in an email today. Good stuff...

Today's complex life is the deadliest enemy of listening. The result of our complexity is fragmentation, thinness, and the inability to concentrate or become deep about anything. Satan is the happiest heir of our technological age, and he enjoys slapping us about like a handball. I must resist him by deliberately choosing essentials and rejecting the gadfly activities that render me ineffective.

How do I learn to be a good listener to God? I must begin by giving Him time and attention. That is the crucial part of the battle. I must reject the siren calls that tell me to be everything to everybody, and simply concentrate on God. Next I must develop a sense of awe and reverence for God, which is a natural preparation for silence, which in turn is essential to proper listening. Once I develop an ear for God, I will be able to hear Him even in crowds and, as Brother Lawrence says, "Go forward even in sleep."

DAILY WITH THE KING

small pet peeve

We all have them. Little pet peeves that can drive you nuts.

Thanks to Taco Bell, I have discovered one to mark down in the books.

Speaker: "Hi, Thanks for choosing TB..take your time and order when your are ready."
Me: "Thanks"
Speaker only 1 minute later: "Take your time and order when you are ready."
Me: (thinking in my head...THAT IS WHAT I'M DOING) "Thanks, it will be one more second."

Or another one that really isn't so much a pet peeve, just bothers me sometimes. Often when you pull up to a drive through they will ask how are you doing. We usually will respond great, how are you doing? (genuinely asking) Their response: Take your time and order when you are ready. Really, this boils down to people either not actually listening or they are just stuck in a routine & it's hard to shake a routine. :)

Note to self: Spend less time at drive thru windows. This will help my stress & frustrations AND my waist line :)

-Kells