Looking back at 2012

The 2013 Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog Cruise is starting back with a 2012 in Review theme.  2012 is coming to a close and I am not sorry to see it go.  Here at my house we dubbed it the year of things that broke.

I no longer recall the exact order of items only that through out the year things kept falling apart, breaking down or just simply not working anymore, including me!

We had a broken dishwasher and a broken kitchen sink. At some point, but thankfully not at the same time, we also had problems with both the washer and the dryer.  Those were earlier in the year.  I do remember the dishwasher and the kitchen sink being worked on around Easter. 

We were all in the family room enjoying a movie or something when the futon suddenly decided that it had had enough.  After 15 years it just collapsed.  With all of us sitting on it!  That was not fun.  It was funny later but it was no fun finding myself sitting on the floor!

In July  we began to have serious “car trouble”.   One day on the way home from church the van just “killed”. It stopped. We noticed that it stopped when we were too long at a stop light or stop sign or in a traffic jam.  Honeybear did an oil change, cleaned some of this and that and got it to run better.  Then a couple of weeks later, on Sunday, coming home from church the transmission starting going out.

Since we were blessed with a van (the one having trouble) and a car (really ancient, only seats 5, uncomfortably)we decided to just park the van in the driveway, make do with the car and save money for repairs.  We hoped and we prayed that it would be an easy fix.  It wasn’t.  In the end we LOST money.  We had to pay for the labor to assess the non-fixability of the van.  We did get paid by one of those “cash for cars” type of parts places but it wasn’t enough to cover the labor costs. 

So we settled down to being a one car that we don’t all fit into family and began to save money to buy a new van in the future.  Like after tax time in 2013. 

Remember, I said this was the year of things that broke.  On a Saturday evening, driving home, (from guess where?  did you say church?  You’re right!)the warning lights on the dashboard came on and we lost power steering.  Honeybear thought we broke a belt (that’s a fairly easy fix!).  We made it to the auto parts store but the belts were fine.  The car however, was not repairable.  We made it home and cried.  We were now a no vehicle family. 

Here is what I put in our Christmas Letter when I shared about the Year of Things that Broke:

Through it all though, we’ve had the opportunity to witness God’s hand in providing for our every need. We’ve found the “blessings in disguise” and have learned not to take things like dishwashers and transportation for granted. I won’t be complaining (or least not as loudly) about being a 1 vehicle family because for nearly a week we were a zero vehicle family. Much thanks and appreciation for those who helped us through that trying time.

Though I’m not sorry to see 2012 end (hopefully that will mean an end to the end of things?) I have to say that 2012 has not been all bad.  Our family had an opportunity to witness a miracle of God and to be used by Him.  Baby Gabriel was born at 22 weeks 6 days gestation.  After 5 months in the NICU his parents got to bring him home!  I am awed and amazed and thrilled to have played a tiny part (I helped with meals). 

2012 brought changes for the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  I have named the 4th Year (2011-2012) the Year of Transition.  I am looking forward to a wonderful year of reviewing great products in 2013.

On Tuesday, the Looking Back Blog Cruise will be live on the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog.  Be sure to stop by to see what my fellow crew members have to say!