Gratitude Countdown - Day 5

I am very grateful for our plucky little car. It's been a good, reliable car for us and takes us where we need to go.

We sold our cars in Hawaii before we came to Korea. We just didn't think that either of them were nice enough to ship all the way here so we just decided that we'd buy some used, but serviceable car when we got here. And how we came to buy the car we did was one of those events in my life that reminds me that God is always watching out for us and that there is a reason that things work out the way they do.

We got to Korea in June of last year but since money was a little tight, we decided to wait to purchase a car so we walked, took the subway or taxis everywhere. By October, with the promise of a cold winter looming ahead of us, I decided that we could wait no longer; I needed a car. So we started looking around for used cars everywhere we could but since it was no longer PCS season (when soldiers move to new duty-stations), there weren't many options available, particularly in our price range.

We called around to a few listings and checked out a few cars but none seemed right. We called about a Hyundai, selling for $2000, which was a little bit more than we wanted to pay for a car but David knew not to test my patience anymore. I was sure that we would buy this car and I was over-joyed at the thought of finally having a vehicle again. But, as we were walking to the commissary to test-drive the car, the owner called David to tell him that he had just sold the car to someone else. Needless to say, I was very upset. There just weren't any other cars out there and that had been our best bet. David tried to cheer me up and say that we'd find something else. Once we got to the commissary, we noticed a new "for sale" sign that hadn't been there before. It was for a 1996 Kia Sephia and the guy was asking only $850 for it. It seemed like too good a deal to pass up so that night David called. Later that week, we test drove the car and we both knew it was the right car for us.

We found out that the guy had just put up that sign and we were the first people to call him. So it all worked out the way it was supposed to and we didn't have to stretch our money to cover the cost of a car. I'm so grateful that our car has lasted us this last year. I'm happy every time the ignition starts and I can drive our car to work, the grocery store, or to a friend's house for some much needed social time. I'm grateful for the independence that a car brings and that driving in Korea has become second nature--and much less scary--to me now. I hope our car will last us until next June, when we can pass it on to some other soldier or sailor in need.