All done

Well, I'm finally done being spanked for the whole car issue. Nick actually let me have a pass last night because my bottom was so tender. It was bruised from Saturday's paddling, and Sunday's left it pretty flaming red. But tonight he got the paddle back out and gave me my final 25 swats. Spankers, if you're looking for a good, inexpensive, relatively lightweight, yet very effective implement, the Cane-IAC Jr paddle is it. I can say with authority, it will get your point across. You can pick it up with or without holes, in maple or oak, or even in a very pretty pink for under $17.00. Plus, with Cane-IAC's new Dollars For Toys Program, the more you buy, the more you save. In fact, here in a few weeks when things settle down for us financially, Nick has given me permission to put my credit towards a pink one. They also have a very neat Misfit Toys section where you can purchase discontinued or slight imperfect (but still very high quality!) items at a discounted price. I've got my eye on a few goodies there too.

Speaking of finances, I would really appreciate it if those of you who pray could say a prayer for us. Back in November there was an incident where a neighbor girl stole a car and wrecked it in our front yard, totalling Nick's Suburban. When we went to court over it we won a judgement against her of $4100.00. She was supposed to get a job and send us (through the court) $400 a month. That was in January, and we've gotten all of $875. A few months ago her mom regained custody of her, and she moved to a nearby town and got a new job and a new parole officer. A couple of weeks ago Nick went to talk to our neighbor to see if he knew anything about why we're not getting the payments. This is the girl's uncle who, along with his wife (the girl's mom's sister) had custody of her at the time of the wreck. He called his mother-in-law (the girl's grandmother), and she said that they've sent about $900 in money orders payable to Nick to the courthouse in the town she now lives in, and they assumed they were being passed on.

So Nick has been trying to get in touch with the lady at the DA's office in our town for the last two weeks to find out where the money is, but he can't seem to get her to return his calls, and because the girl is a minor, they won't let us call her parole officer directly. $900 is a huge amount of money to us right now. Not only do we have to pay for my clutch, but the tires on his motorcycle (which he's had to ride every day since I've had his truck) are dangerously worn, plus we need to pay for Morgan's school books, and this trip to Texas is going to cost us some too. Despite Nick's sister's much appreciated generosity in paying for the plane tickets and hotel, we are still going to have to come up with money for a car rental as well as a wedding gift. We also have some family birthdays that have been put on the back burner. This last has been met with great understanding, but we still feel bad about not being able to come up with at least a small gift for each. On top of all of that, Nick is going to have to miss a day of work for the wedding, and our bills are all at the point where they need to be paid right now.

Anyway, I know that God has a plan and a provision for all this, and we would really appreciate your prayers.