NATE & WILL & THE BUS-CAR

While I was off in the Faroe Islands last July, Nate and Will were in Arizona. While there, their primary mode of transportation was in their grandmother's minivan, or bus-car. This three week brush with suburban America left a huge impression on both our little boys. Since returning from Arizona, they have offered up literally hundreds of prayers concerning the bus-car.

(The term "bus-car" was coined by Will last year. He knew about buses and he knew about cars. When he saw our rental minivan, he simply said "bus-car!" The name stuck)

I don't toss out the estimate of "hundreds" lightly. Every day, Nate and Will offer up 3-8 prayers thanking God for their grandma's bus-car, and looking forward to the day when they have a bus car of their own.

So last Saturday, Julie and I went through the humiliating and degrading process of buying a car. We really had no choice. This new daughter is scheduled to arrive on Friday, and we don't have a car that can fit three car seats. So a minivan was going to happen one way or another.

And as we suffered through long and thoroughly horrible car buying trudge, Julie and I comforted ourselves with this single thought: Nate and Will are going to freak out when they see this. After all, we were about to prove to our little boys that God actually exists... and delivers minivans.

So on Sunday morning, we told them we had a big surprise for them and let them out to the garage. Will just stared at the ground, then looked up and the car and declared, "bus-car."

That's it. We drop a serious pile of money on the car of his dreams and all Will can think to say is "bus-car?" Come on. To make matters worse, Will gets into the car and immediately notices our Subaru out in the driveway. The Subaru used to live in the garage, but it's been kicked out onto the drive way in favor of the new minivan.

"Will's car getting wet!" You've got to me kidding me. He's worried about the old car? Moments later he asks for his old car back. You can actually see some of the exchange below and hear me try to sell him on the concept of this new vehicle.



Needless to say, I've learned my lesson about trying to purchase happiness for my two children. In the future, I'll only try to purchase happiness for myself.