the bigger the mountain, the greater the victory

this past week, tyler and i learned (the hard way, i might add) that buying a car is not a cake walk. deciding on the type of car was easy for us. tyler knew exactly what he wanted: a 2005 or newer jeep grand cherokee that he can modify to his specific liking, which is another post in itself. but finding the right one was very VERY difficult. just when we thought we had found the perfect one, it was pulled out from under us after a week of speaking with this guy, because the owner decided he "didn't want to give it up", even after we had already been financed and everything. (deep breath to remember that it's all over now) so we kept looking! and kept looking, and kept looking, and talked to several other car owners we found on craigslist around the oklahoma/texas/arkansas area.

lo and behold, the car of tyler's dreams lived right here in OKC with us. after a day of talking to the owner, we met at the bank the next day to finalize the deal. this car we bought is so nice! i'm talking leather seats, sun roof, wood grain, V8, windshield wipers that can actually detect the rain and move on their own? super nice, and it was the perfect golden green color.

God gave us a week to fall in love with this jeep. well, about 5 days. that was until the third rainy day in a series of rainy days came along. after seriously about five minutes of just rain and mild wind, tyler heard a noise outside and went running. two of our good friends from tahlequah were in and we were confused to why he would want to go watch this uneventful storm, yet we followed to the front porch. that's when i see tyler standing in the pouring rain looking at his car that's being smothered by a 50 foot tree. 

a sense of panic sort of set in, like what do i do? how do i help? did this really just happen? because it isn't everyday, thankfully, that you see your week old car resting under a tree. however, tyler and i were able to remain relatively calm during all of this. he handled everything really well, and never seemed to be too stressed out, which is one thing he's always been good about. thank god for that trait in him because he tends to mellow out my anxiety about things.

one of my best friends boyfriend's matt never hesitated to run out in his nice shoes and clothes in the pouring rain and help tyler cover the sunroof that's been busted out. which covering the big gaping hole in the roof was first priority at this point. we had called our parents to inform them of everything, and both dads come up to the city eager to help us. before my dad and brother were able to get here with the chainsaw, a man who lived across the street from us ran over to help us, chainsaw in hand.

so just picture it- here we all are drenched by the rain (seriously, i think tyler and matt both went through multiple outfits this night), all tugging at branches, with this man neither of us even knew lived near us. apparently his electricity went out, and he went to his porch to see if anyone else had power when he saw our struggle. this man stayed until every piece of this tree was off the car, and refused to take money even for the gas he used helping us.

i always feel as if i live in part of the ghetto community, where it's every man for himself. everyone minds their own business, and everyone keeps quiet, but on this night it was different. standing there watching it all happen, i felt really truly grateful and aware of the meaning of community. this man had no ties to us, didn't know our names, nor did he ask, yet he was standing there with us in the pouring rain wanting to help.

at any rate, this is day 2 without a new jeep in our front yard. my parents are kind enough to let us store the jeep in their garage while we wait for the insurance company to give us the "estimate", more like the verdict of our car situation. at this point, best case scenario, they total the car and hand us a check for 15 thousand dollars, or worst case, they cut us a check to repair the damages. but who really knows what is "best", or what is "worst". like i said earlier, the sunroof was busted out, the roof was dented in pretty badly, especially around the door frames. the tops of the front two doors were dented, the windshield was cracked all over, and the hood had a few scrapes and dents as well.

yet even in the middle of it all, i can't help but be reminded that "the bigger the mountain, the greater the victory."