October 12th, 2013

Can't sleep tonight ... insomnia brought on by too much stress ... complicated with hot flashes from some nether world of horrible ... and further complicated with a sick stomach that nothing seems to calm down. 

We have been wrestling with all this about the car being impounded for 23 days now. Waiting on the money to come in so that we can get the car out of impound. 
And today, Kathy (social worker at the dialysis center) called Rick, told him that the check from the Kidney Fund had come in. 
Rick then called 1st Choice Towing (Melissa, TX) and talked to them about what the charges are to this day. $780+ ... the whole check. Not enough money to rent a trailer to haul the car to the auto shop. Not even enough money to buy the fuel to go get the car. 
So, we sat here today, all day, going over and over and over it all. Making phone calls. Talking with one another. Talking to Joshua and Dessie. Rick even talked to his daddy. And of course, we prayed and prayed over it all. 
This is a time when there is no good answer. Every answer has something not good about it.
 
There is a hearing scheduled for October 28th at 10:30 a.m. before the Collin County JP, Precinct 1. 
Rick called the 1st Choice Towing, asked them if they would hold the car until after the hearing ... they said no. They will hold the car for 30 days after picking it up - which will be October 17th. After that day, they will crush it. Not sell it. Just crush it. 

I know that there are so many things not fair in this life. 
But this is one of those things that just isn't RIGHT at all. 
What did Rick and I do wrong? We have searched our hearts, in the stillness and quietness of these long days and nights, even to one another - opening our hearts to one another, enduring the questions over and over and over again. 
There was (or is) no guile found in either of us. We were acting in total good faith. No ulterior motives. No ill intents of the heart or mind. 
When David Sprouse (owner) and the girl in the office (his employee) both told us that the car was fine where it was at, until we could rent the truck and get our stuff out ... well, we took them at their word. 
When the girl in the office gave us the number for Enterprise, and then called us by name ... we didn't press to "leave" our name at that time. 
When we told them that we would be right back ... we meant it, and we were. Gone no more than 25 minutes. 
So, why did David Sprouse have the tow truck called just moments after we left with the Enterprise guy? He had to have called almost before we got out of sight. We were only gone for 25 minutes, but in that time, (1)the call had been made to 1st Choice Towing in Melissa, TX - (2)their driver had been dispatched to Sprouse Automotive in McKinney, TX - (3)the tow truck driver got to Sprouse Automotive, (4)had the paperwork working, (5)had the car loaded on the truck, and (6)was ready to drive out with it when we got back - 25 minutes after we left to go rent the truck. 
This car was NOT abandoned!!! It was in the parking area of an auto shop, where the owner had pulled it, where the owner had told us it was fine until we could get our stuff out, and where it sat for 25 minutes - with their knowledge - while we went and rented a truck from Enterprise Rent-a-Car. 

If we spend literally every cent of money that we have - we might be able to get the car out of impound, and drag it to the shop in SS. "MIGHT". 
If we get it to an auto shop, it might be the CV joint ($200) or it might be the transmission ($1200 - which we can NOT afford, so it wouldn't get fixed anyway). 
If we don't get it out of impound, they will crush it in less than a week. 
If we have the hearing we could win or lose. If we lose, then will David Sprouse ask the judge for any compensation from us for any of this?But if we win, we could ask for 3 times the amount of all the towing and fees. 

I wish I could tell David Sprouse just how much this has literally screwed up our lives! Oh I know, this is only a car. 
*But it is the car that we depended on to get us back and forth to the doctors, the clinics, the hospitals. 
*The car that I could drive with comfort and ease. 
*The car that we have just spent $2000 on repairs for in the last 2 years.
And I realize that the car breaking down was no fault of David's nor of ours. 
But for him to call a tow truck, after the conversations with both him and his "girl in the office"? 

So what are we going to do? 
We have waffled back and forth all day ... even more so than we have done the previous 22 days. 
Finally, Rick said that he had decided to just let the car go.  That he believed it would be better to regret letting it go, than to regret spending every penny that we have to get it out, and then ??? A gamble ... a very large and expensive gamble. 
I am going to call the JP office on Monday and ask them what will happen to the hearing if the car is no longer in existence at that time. Is there still a reason to have the hearing. 

Are we doing what is best? At this point, I really have no idea. I don't know what to think, what to feel, what to do or what to say. 
I know that we feel violated. That we feel the car was stolen from us. 
When we did everything we knew to be right and good ... and this happened. 
We are shaken ... 

But we still trust in God. We still praise His Name. We still believe His Word. 

And in the words of Rascall Flatts - "maybe forgiveness will find us somewhere down the road". 

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