Nissan NV Passenger Review

 

Our new ride, Mufasa!

It has to be said, The Nissan Passenger is amazing! I’m here to tell you what I love, what works, and what you will miss from your previous van/truck when making the switch. I was really worried to leave behind my Honda Odyssey, because I’ve never had a problem. In fact, two of my 5 kids cried when we left Coco Obby at the dealership. Yes, we name our vehicles and yes my kids were attached (many issues over here). Who wants to get rid of a van that’s been wonderful? Well I didn’t, but 5 kids in our van about put me over the edge. Plus, I take my nephew and niece a lot and that meant there was absolutely no room. However, I didn’t want to drive a huge van. I needed to look semi cool, people. The Nissan is a beauty. I know, I know vanity is ugly, I’m a work in progress.

We bought a 2016 Nissan Passenger (black) V8 with leather interior. We named her Mufasa. The leather was worth it to me with kids. Malachi smeared chocolate on his seat the first day. Thank you leather for being so good to me. The V8 was important to my husband. He wanted to pull our boat or a rented pop up camper once in awhile. I didn’t think it was a big deal, but the V8 is great. Mufasa is fast and can beat the best of them when merging onto the highway.

I’m not the best driver. For example, I hit my garage 3 times in 2 months. The men fixing it wanted to paint a bullseye on it for fun. So the thought of a 12 passenger van created all sorts of panic for me. I was nervous the first drive, but then Mufasa grew on me. I’ve never driven a Suburban, so I imagine it’s just like that.  You can park in just about any space. Well once upon a time, we lived in Chicago and New York City, so I take that back. I don’t parallel park, ever. I can park Mufasa perfectly in parking lots, there that’s better. I saw one brave mama park her Nissan Passenger right up front near Target. I tried to get near her on the count that Mufasa could be near family, but I could use a little more practice. I make a 50 point turn at least once a week, but the back up camera is my jam! The camera is huge and so helpful with sounds and markers.

My husband is 6’5. He loves the room. We just drove to Great Wolf, and he loved the drive. There is a ton of room up front, and the seat fits him well. I love the large compartment between the driver’s seat and the passenger. I figure I could fit another kid in there if I needed….kidding, but it is big enough. I was worried I would be losing too many cool options from Coco Obby (my Honda Odyssey if I’m losing you). The automatic doors were a plus with Coco. The Nissan Passenger has one big door. Kids can close it! My older girls (8 & 6) can shut the door from the inside and the outside. I do the shutting when it’s just the boys. I just tell them girls are stronger, hehe.

Now I need to speak with the genius who came up with the seat belt configurations. The seat belt buckles each have their own seat. Does that make sense? So I can put 3 boosters next to each other if I want, because my kids can buckle up and not bump into the other buckle. I added a picture below for you. It’s genius. Also, the seat belts start from the actual seat and not the ceiling so you’re not strangling your kids. That’s important… sometimes.

I’ll update you in a couple of months. We are driving 22 hours to Florida soon, so that will be a good test. For now, I love the Nissan NV. If you have any questions, ask away and I’ll answer. And by all means, name your van.

See the buckles? They can’t hide when there is only one. The seat belts all go opposite ways. Genius, friends.

And just because it’s Sebastian. At least there’s room for him to sprawl when necessary.

Teach Your Children to Share; It’s Biblical.

I think it was last year. Someone posted an article about why teaching toddlers to share wasn’t beneficial, or another one where a mom said she wasn’t going to teach her children to share. “It’s not natural,” she said.  As I was reading it, my jar was on.the.floor. but I couldn’t exactly put into words why.  Remember my problem with articulation? Basically, toddlers don’t understand the reasoning behind sharing. I could list about 50 things toddlers don’t understand the meaning behind, but I am positive at least 5 just popped into your head. Number one, being why we don’t poop our pants. The article went on saying when adulthood comes, we are not made to share. If a kid wants to play with the wagon during play group and another child comes up and wants to play with it too, you shouldn’t make your child take turns. After all, as adults you can’t tell your friend you want to drive her car and it’s your turn, right? Baloney, is about the sweetest word I can find to use here. Adults should be sharing. I share all the time. And if we shared more, we would benefit lots of people around us.

I love reading my kids Bible stories. I think they are the best thing I can give them. Relatable stories where God prevails, but not how you would expect. One of my favorites is this one;

There was a little boy who wanted to hear Jesus speak. Every time I picture him, I see my Dominic. He loves to see people happy. He’ll share anything if it brings a smile to someone. So this little boy wanted to hear Jesus. Not quite sure where his mother was during this time, but I’d imagine she was working her tail off for the family (insert feminist woman face here). This little boy packed a small lunch and set off to find Jesus. Once he got there, I am sure he was ravished. Again, I think of D hungry. Look out, cause things can get pretty ugly when D is hungry. He starts to open his basket of food when one of Jesus’ disciples taps him on the shoulder. “Hey, I see you have 2 fish and 5 pieces of bread. Would you mind if I took your food and shared it with all these people that you don’t know?” Imagine the boy’s first thought (or mine, either way). “Are you real life? I only have enough for me.” But instead this boy looks up and says,”Sure, I’ll share.” Then the rest is history, friends. 5,000 people ate fish and bread that day. God blessed the food, Jesus, the boy, and all the people with which the little boy wanted to share. Sharing can change lives.

So there it is. That’s why my jaw was dropped and I couldn’t articulate what was wrong. There is no blessing in a world without sharing. And you’re right, it is hard to understand and even harder to act upon. Imagine a world if we shared our homes with other families or children who needed it. Imagine if we shared our groceries with a family you know would benefit that month. I’ve got lots of work to do in this area, so there are no stones being thrown over here. I should be sharing a.lot.more.

I’ll leave you now and share some yummy pictures.

A Letter to Their Teacher.

I wrestled on whether or not to write a letter to my children’s teacher. I want to explain the background of my children as that is important. I must always decide what to share, how much to share, and how to share it. We are all quick to judge. I’m guilty of it. You see or hear something you think is offensive or off in some way and you decide you would do it a different way. It’s been the best year of my life. It’s also been hard. I hope my life is full of hard. I like the hard things, but trudging through them can be numbing and isolating. I don’t share a lot of that even with my closest friends.

So I shared a couple of things I felt were important with the teacher. Someone forwarded me a blog which is downright awesome. This post was super powerful for me. The adoptive mother is super (I like the word super, hints why I’m not articulate) articulate and pretty much said everything I felt. I remember tears in my eyes thinking, “You mean I’m not alone!” “Of course not,” God whispered.

I have high expectations. I’ve been told that many times. And I know that about myself. So I’m not quite sure what I wanted back as well as words. But what the teacher did say wasn’t that helpful. I thought, here we go again, Amanda, why did you even share that? She doesn’t understand, and won’t because she can’t. These are the moments you knew would come up. If you haven’t adopted, you don’t get it. I can’t explain it any other way. It’s just the case here. But I’m hopeful. I think all 3 of my boys will have a wonderful year. It’s a new season in our lives, and I’m excited to share them with other people. I’m most excited for them to learn more about Jesus and how to show Him to others. Three cheers to preschool.

Praying for My Bully.

Kind of crazy, huh? An adult bully.

My mom said to pray for her. But you know moms. They are so sweet and cute and well their advice is great, but I didn’t want to take it. “That’s cute mom, okay yeah. I’ll pray for her.”

I didn’t really mean it. After all, she said some pretty awful things. Not just her, others too. But she made it personal and wrote me messages. She kept badgering others too, and I wanted to make her pay. She deserved to be told what was up, you know?

God loves to show me how to live like I know Him and His son, so not too much later after I was huffing and puffing, Cealy and Rosalie said they wanted me to read their favorite book. “You know, Mommy, the girl I want to play with in Heaven?” Oh yes, Ruby Bridges. So I grabbed the book and here lies the most amazing, brave, loving, daughter of God, Ruby Bridges. And heck, if this sweet 6-year-old can endure the hate she did and pray for those who were beyond awful to her, I have no choice. So I sat and prayed. And what do you know? I truly want happiness for this woman. God is so good.

And just because I love to make you cry, here is the prayer Ruby prayed over those who were spitting on her while she walked into school for the first time: “Please god, forgive these people because even if they say those mean things they don’t know what they’re doing. So you can forgive them just like you did those folks along time ago when they said terrible things about you.” Oh my heart, I want to play in Heaven with you too, Ruby. (Note: Ruby is still alive, but we figured we wouldn’t meet her until Heaven).

We have the Choice.

The pastor at our church, (Itown Church) said something the other day that knocked me off my feet, and I’ve been wanting to share it with you. Now don’t go quoting me, because I can’t remember the exact phrase but it was awesome. “You choose Heaven or Hell. Hell is not a place where God sends you. Hell is somewhere you go when you choose to pay for your own sin.”  Sweep you off your feet, powerful. We have the choice. God is love and wants you to choose Him. Let Jesus pay for your sin. Would you drive away without your food at a drive thru because the peach in front of you paid for your meal? “No, sorry, I wanted to pay for it and now I don’t want it.” Nope. You’d grab that delicious caramel macchiato and throw that sweetie who paid an air five.

Jesus lives.

Why I don’t want your hair card.

It’s taken awhile for me to get the courage to say this but here is goes. “I don’t want your hair card.” I know your well meaning. I think you are just trying to help. It probably looks like I have no idea what I am doing with my daughter’s beautiful Congolese hair. You are right. I’m a slow learner, but I will ask for your help when the time comes.

I remember the first time I was given free hair advice. It was my first time out of the house since our twins and daughter came home. I knew I couldn’t leave my daughter yet, so I brought her and her sister along. I was nervous with the thought of a babysitter, but I would be back in an hour flat. My phone was broke as a joke and I was up for a new one. The last thing on my mind was my daughter’s hair. I was surviving, friends. I had 5 kids ages 7 and under who constantly wanted my attention. I was holding a child every hour of the day, and praying for strength and wisdom every minute. My daughters were instantly best friends, thank you God for bringing that relationship together. They dressed alike most everyday and were hopping around my local phone store, hoping people would think they were twins, only one of our daughters is black and the other is white. Kids are so darn innocent, aren’t they? That’s when it happened. I thought I was getting help with my new phone, when the beautiful woman helping me punched me in the stomach with her words. “I can tell you love your daughter.” Wait, what? Are we talking about my kids or my phone? “Her hair doesn’t look like you take care of it.” I couldn’t wrap my head around what she was saying. “It’s not just me, there is another woman in here who I can tell is giving her dirty looks, because her hair looks dry like you don’t take pride in it.” I was shaking. Did she say that to me? I proceeded to tell her that I put a spray in it and thought it looked curly. She assured me it didn’t look curly. I tried to listen to what she was saying to me about hair. I tried to make sense of it. I know she was trying to help. She wasn’t being mean or rude, but she was careless with her words. Then she tried to teach me how to use this new phone, but I couldn’t follow. I was so upset.

When all was over, I walked out and cried on the way home. I wanted to tell her that my daughter loved her hair. I don’t care if she thought it looked dry or not taken care of, my daughter loved it. I was just getting to know her. Her head was shaved for years. She wasn’t given the opportunity to grow her hair in the orphanage. She was so proud of her hair that she smiled big every morning when she saw it growing. What was I to do? Tell her, I don’t care how she likes her hair, it has to be done a certain way? I couldn’t say any of those things. I froze and was so mad at myself for not responding. It looks like you love your daughter? If you only knew how much I loved her. Oh my heart, I was just trying to hold on to my new life.

Fast forward two weeks, I had a friend call me and ask if I visited this phone store near us in the last couple of weeks. I was super confused, but said Yes, I had. She went on to explain that when she went to get a new phone a woman was asking her about her life. My friend explained that had two young children and was adopting a child currently. When the woman found out the baby would be black, her only comment was, “Promise me you will do her hair.” Then she said, “A woman with good intentions came in awhile ago dressing her two girls like twins, and her daughter’s hair was nappy.” My friend thought it could be me, because my girls love to dress alike. Anyway it was hurtful and embarrassing. I am positive the woman had no idea she was talking to one of my friends, but her words were hurtful.

I have certainly hurt people with my words, so I understand the reality of “meaning well.” It taught me a lesson. I talk a lot. I mean…too much. I must learn to hold my tongue. I have no idea what my neighbor is facing today, so my best bet is to be loving. And sometimes, my free advice, is better served just listening.

There were many more hair cards after that. I took our daughter many times to get her hair done, but every time she asked me to let it free. She didn’t like braids. They hurt her head. She didn’t like the way they looked. She loves hair bows and fancy headbands with all her hair free to show the world. So that’s why I won’t take your hair card. She gets to decide.

Their Bibles.

I finished the Bible. It only took me 33 years (insert face with mouth wide open in embarrassment). My sisters call me Tigger, you know the jumping, crazy, always annoying somebody Tiger on Winnie the Pooh? I guess I jump from one conversation, chore, or activity to the next without warning. I see this as normal and mostly exciting. They see this as unrealistic, unorganized, and talking in a circle type people. So picture me reading the Bible. Yes, I was all over the place. I made sure to star the chapters I finished. I reread some of the chapters a lot. Luke, Matthew, Daniel, John, and some others. I really want to understand Jesus better. I really want to know Him, so reading the New Testament is very interesting and self-motivating for me.

So I follow an amazing chick on instagram. She bought her daughter a Bible to give to her on her 18th birthday. Follow me? So what do you do until then? You ready your daughter’s Bible and write her notes that she can read when she finally sits down to read a page or two. And it might this daughter of yours 33 years, like it did me. But how cool is that? You have hand written notes from your mama in your Bible. My kids love when I tell them stories about my childhood. Better yet, their favorite ones are when I am in trouble. Their eyes get all big, their sneaky smiles take over their face, and they ask question after question. “What did Marm (their grandmother) do when you had a bad attitude? Why did you hit Keke (their aunt)? Papa (their grandfather) told you not to wear that skirt and you did anyway?!? You lied to Marm and she chased you up the stairs?” They LOVE me in trouble. I have a lot more to share with them as they age. To say I messed up many times is an understatement. My friends are grinning big time right now. I mess up all the time, and sharing my mess may help them one day.

I was always planning on rereading the Bible again anyway.  I’m one of those people that will tell you I haven’t read a book, and my mom will follow it up with, “Yes, you certainly have.” I.have.short.term.memory. I must read the Bible over and over to really understand the most important book of all time. Now, I get to read my daughters’ and share with them some life lessons. Loving this gift.

Because he lived, Christian Henry.

Christian Henry is his name. He now resides in Heaven. He was held first by his mother and father, and soon after by Jesus. I met his incredible mother, Erin, a few years ago at My Gym, and I instantly loved her. What I didn’t know then is that I knew this woman before we ever met. I learned about her through my best friend and prayed for her. “Keep me updated. I’ll pray with you,” I told Courtney as we hung up the phone.

Courtney learned one of her teacher friends at school received traumatic news. She was 23 weeks pregnant and after a routine ultrasound to find out the sex of her second child, she was told he wouldn’t live. He didn’t have kidneys and would never survive. Courtney told me this woman was carrying her child to term. He may not live, but she would do her part as his mother. Courtney called me months later to tell me, Erin gave birth to a little boy, but he passed away soon after being born. I remember that phone call vividly. I couldn’t imagine her heartache. I didn’t put God in the forefront of my life during that time. I had no idea how she would ever come back from such a tragedy.

Years later, I am listening to my new friend talk about the thought of getting pregnant again. What would ever hold her back, I thought? Her son was Cealy’s age, and I already had Sebastian. She was like Ms. Duggar to me. Her son was Team Adorable and Erin was the sweetest, most fun mom ever. She started to tell me little by little the story of her son Christian, and how he came to bless her life. As I started listening to Christian’s story unfold, I realized I was friends with someone I already knew. Someone I prayed for, and would meet years later without even knowing it. God is quite the story weaver.

Erin and her husband were told they could end her pregnancy right away. Their son would not survive, but they knew Christian was God’s son too and He would take care of him. She felt his kicks, his life, and his love until she had to say goodbye. Erin’s words are truer and much more beautiful than mine: http://www.forchristianhenry.blogspot.com/.

In memory of their son, Erin and her husband created Christian’s Random Act of Kindness. We are to bless those around us in honor of Christian. Many tell their stories on Christian’s R.A.O.K. Facebook page. I will share ours here as well:

I talked to God about how our family could honor Christian. It wasn’t an hour later that He came through. It was story hour, and Rosalie’s book of choice was, “I Walk For Water,” by Lindsey Andrews. At the end of the book, Sebastian said he wanted to give the little boy water. Sebastian was bouncing around like a bunny the whole book, how was he even listening? It didn’t occur to me right away that God wanted us to look into this more. I read another book and when I finished that, Sebastian told me again he wanted to give the little boy water. I started to tell him we couldn’t when it hit me. Maybe we can? We walked over to the computer and what do you know, Indianapolis has a Walk for Water. We could walk for our brothers and sisters in Kenya without clean water. Two of my three babies were sick from drinking unclean water when they arrived home. Imagine never getting the chance to recover. It took over 6 months of antibiotics to cure it. Imagine not having the medicine. Imagine dying within hours of drinking unclean water. This is the reality for many of our friends all over the world. I’ve already talked to the gentlemen in charge and was blessed with his story and the creation of this walk. We will walk on August 1st in honor of Christian. Our team is called Team Christian and many of my friends and family are doing the 3 mile walk with us, yellow buckets and all! (https://indy.walk-for-water.org) Had Christian not been born, his parents wouldn’t have needed to create this day to honor him. I would have told myself I was too busy to help when Sebastian asked. But Christian pushed me to do better. We will bless our brothers and sisters in Kenya because Christian lived.

Because Jesus lived, Christian lived. Because Christian lived, we walk. Christian pushed us to look into something beyond our everyday lives. He lived so we could bless others. Thank you Erin and Wes for sharing Christian’s life with us.

Giving Up Facebook for Lent.

So I gave up Facebook for Lent, who cares?! I knew it would be a big deal. I didn’t make that known to people around me though. I mean come on? What sort of person wants to act like facebook is a priority in his or her life? Not me. So I acted like, you know I’m just giving up Facebook for 40 days, it’s totally no big deal.

It was a big deal. Well for one, I found out through other people, my sister was moving. Well I knew she was moving, but I didn’t know the date. She was moving from Switzerland to Verona. She told me it was coming up, but when a friend mentioned her moving in 3 short days….I felt like I was missing out. The adoption world needed me didn’t they? I was answering questions for people who just came home. I was asking my own questions. It was necessary. Right? And I wasn’t on facebook that much was I?

Yikes, I had a lot of free time. Why you ask? You have 5 kids. Because when they were watching their morning cartoon, I had to check up on what my 600+ friends were doing, not to mention that 15 of the 600 were my people. Why do I care what vacation Judy Moody is on when I saw her last in 7th grade? It was important. I had to know. In this free time, the Bible became my facebook. I started reading every morning, and even writing down verses that would help my character. I really need to read the Bible everyday. I am someone who needs to read a chapter several times, before I am enlightened with any material. Plus, starting my day with the Bible puts life in to perspective. Reading about Jesus’ life can really benefit me, reading about Judy Moody’s? Not so much.

I learned some good lessons. One, I am on facebook way too often. I never thought I was. I liked to look at others, like my husband and call out his phone issues, but I never really looked at mine. Awhile back, my husband and I were watching a Dateline episode. Our jam is Friday night Dateline. We set the fun bar high, friends. Well anyway, the person murdered was a mother, wife, friend, and computer nut. One of her favorite things to do in the last year that she died was play in an imaginary world on a computer. Let’s just fast forward to me with my jaw dropped when her child said she was on the computer all day in this imaginary world. My heart hurt for her kids, not to mention the complete wierdo I made her out to be. Who likes imaginary worlds? I can’t handle. But facebook is an imaginary world. I don’t have to build a castle and make up a fake name, but I don’t want everyone to know that my minivan broke down at the hospital and my kids were running around the parking lot while I was trying to find out how in the world to pop the hood! (I never found the button anyway, I had to ask a man walking by.) Or that I lost Sebastian at the pool and panicked like holding my chest panicked, and he was just sitting in the corner cackling while I had tears falling down my cheeks. Or that sometimes life is really messy and really hard, and I would take being a cashier at my local Super Market, over staying at home all day.

So in two short days, I’ll be back! I am not putting facebook back on my phone, no applause needed. If I’m away from my house, I’ll work on giving attention to those I am with. I do care what people are going through. I do care if someone is experiencing lows and needs a written letter or a phone call. I love and I mean love being connected because I am an extrovert. I love seeing the great things God has done in people’s lives. It is certainly not all bad, but not worth the time I was allotting.

My English Language Learners.

I really didn’t know where to start when our twins came home. They were three-years-old and knew no English. Not a single word. I was must worried for our daughter who would be coming home soon after. She was seven and I knew it would be extremely hard to communicate with her. Because of my awesome Type B personality, I didn’t even think about it until they came home. My girlfriend brought me Picture Words, by Trend. They were awesome! We visited the doctor’s office quite often in the beginning so I had plenty of time to work with our boys. Not only did I work with our twins, but Sebastian was almost three as well and needed some help in the “naming things” department.

I read and continue to read a lot of books. We get 20-30 children’s books from the library every 2-3 weeks. We read them several times. Because I was a teacher before a stay-at-home motha, I have close to 100 children’s books that we own. We read the Bible everyday. I would never use the words they are learning in my everyday speech. It is important to read, read, read. Our boys favorite series right now is Henry and Mudge. Now they want a big dog named Mudge to adventure with. “That’s what your imagination is for my loves.” Cealy and Rosalie are obsessed with their children’s Bible right now. As soon as we finish a chapter, they can watch a movie that goes along with it.

Anyone ridden in my car lately? If you have I bet the first words out of your mouth when you exited were, “That was the most obnoxious car ride of my life.” And not because I have 5 kittens in my car singing loudly, but because of the songs they are singing. We listen to nursery rhymes. Yep, I was that annoying mom who listened to nursery rhymes in the car when my babies were born, so when my babies came home, it was only natural. You don’t hear many seven-year-olds singing “Itsy, Bitsy, Spider” with confidence in public, but my daughter will own that song. Now Malachi can own, “All about that bass,” as well, but you better believe he knows his nursery rhymes.  We also listen to gospel music and Chris Tomlin most everyday.

They are learning. Currently, they knock my socks off with how well they speak. We laugh a lot, because of miscommunication, like the time Rosalie told me there was a big mouse in the basement and I lost my mind, only to find a big mess, not mouse.