Cruising

She didn't at all go looking for a PT Cruiser. In fact, she didn't at all go looking for anything. She saved her money, and when she had enough put away to buy a dependable, yet relatively enexpensive vehicle, she got dad to do the shopping. She didn't care what he chose, as long as it was reliable and didn't break her budget. Kayla is a practical kind of girl who doesn't obsess over fashion, styles, or brands. She is focused on work and school. It's good that her driving style is not similar to her work or study style. At college, she's several weeks ahead in Math and most of those are 100's. At work, she's known as "Turbo," or "Mighty Mouse." Both of those a step up from "The twelve year old" as she was originally known. She may be little, but there are days when she's completely in charge of the facility. There are residents who won't eat or shower if Kayla isn't there, and Kayla is a favorite of all the staff! Sometimes this mom feels a bit of deja vu, she's so much like I was. Yet, there are parts of her like her dad. Like...she's super smart like him. We joke and say that she and her dad are so much smarter than the rest of us, yet they have no common sense. Maybe that's all I better say there, and get on with my story about the car. So, her dad ended up finding her a sweet deal on a 2005 PT Cruiser Limited Edition with only 47,111 miles. It's in super great condition and she loves it. The gas mileage will be an improvement over the family Yukon, and it's probably a bit more reliable than dad's old green work car; the dodge stratus with well over 200,000 miles! (Dad might be a little jealous--at least of the low miles and the fact that Kayla's car still has most of its paint. Haha!) 

Kayla loved to play cars when she was younger. Before she could read, she'd memorized the names of all her matchbox cars, and there were a lot, but still turned them over to "read" the names on the bottom of them when we'd ask her what they were. Once, when we went out with a friend of mine and when we got home she wondered what kind of car she had been driving, saying, "We should have turned her car over to see what kind it was."

 Kayla had an old little tykes car that was given to her by a friend of daddy's at work and she used to say with a sigh when she'd get into it, "Whew! It's amazing grace that keeps this car running!" Kaderick now drives the same little car, so that grace must truly be amazing! 

Every day, when she leaves for work or school, her mom prays that Amazing Grace goes with her still today. 

We affectionately call her PT Cruiser a "PB Cruiser" since that's what she used to say was her dream car. We never planned on it happening that way, but it's kinda sweet that it did. 

This post is supposed to be about her car, but mom got to reminiscing. 

When Kayla was four years old, she began suffering from frequent, grand mal seizures. We didn't know what was wrong and realistically, it could have been very serious. After much time and testing, she was diagnosed with Rolandic (childhood) Epilepsy, and she has completely outgrown it today. During that trying time though, I remember feeling that I needed to be open to God's will, even if it meant losing her in this life. More than anything, I wanted her to grow up and be a child of God. The only way I could even begin to envision losing her was if I thought she would grow up and stray from God. God so graciously gave me a promise that I still claim today, "....with long life will I satisfy him (her) and show him (her) my salvation." Isn't that just like God? To promise you the best of both worlds? 

Just the other day, she walked out of class because they were showing inappropriate material on the overhead. She did so quietly and with grace, and I was encouraged to know that she wasn't alone. It's true, "If you cannot be a Christian where you are, you can never be one at all." The safest place is always in the center of God's will. 

Now, before I ramble on any longer, here's that sweet girl and her new car.