We've still got our swagger

...wagon.{Brian is still crying softly in the corner. He insists upon Neuter Scooter to Swagger Wagon, lol}. But one thing or two, to point out about BLESSINGS!

It has been almost exactly one year since we first met Sienna. Our first minivan, replacing our '00 Honda Accord (which we bought in '04).

It's has been almost exactly 2 weeks since she got crashed and totaled. But no one was hurt, even a little. That is a huge blessing. The guy who hit us was fully insured, another blessing. We got to drive a brand new 2012 fully loaded Surburban (leather, DVD's etc) for our rental car. It {sadly} has to be returned by Friday. We were very spoiled with that luxurious blessing:-)

We found a new vehicle and were able to purchase it for $100 less than we got from the insurance company for our old van. Huge Blessing!

We looked through a lot of ads, cars, and possibilities. Yukons, Suburbans, Odyssey's, Sienna's, Sequoia's, Pilot's, Town & Country's...even some 5 seaters like the Highlander were considered. In the end, the best value we could find was this:

2004 Toyota Sienna XLE

The blessing here, is that we are getting more "car" than we had. It's 2 years newer, and has fewer miles (it has 137, and our old one had 151). It also has the leather etc, as we had before - but due to the body changes and upgrades, there is more room in the van. (It does not have the sunroof or DVD package as our former van had - but in the old van, the DVD didn't work -which we didn't discover until August when we went to use it!)

It is a 7 seater, but we have the option to purchase the "bench" insert that coverts it from captains to a bench, making it an 8 seater!

It has lots of "perks" and attention to detail that our former Sienna body style did not have.

Because of the way the seats fold flat, the trunk area is much larger and deeper now.

It is obviously a used vehicle and not without fault, which is why we were able to get a great price! They are things that we considered fixable or that we could live with. The front passenger door will not lock/unlock using the key remote, you have to do it manually, and there is a crack in the dash due to sun/heat I guess (it's not very obvious at all, but it is there). Those are the only two issues, mechanically  it's great, and should have many many more miles left in it! There are a couple small dings in the body (car doors banging it etc), but nothing terrible. It is overall in extremely great shape!

So, although an accident is never desired and always an inconvenience, in the end, God took care of us and provided for us - and even gave us a little "more" than we had before. We're very thankful!!