Thursday, July 23, 2015

My Beepi Experience

I'm not sure how many of you enjoy buying a car, I do not. In fact, I extremely dislike the hours I have to spend online trying to find a car. Then you have to contact them and see if it's still available and then see it.

Our car buying experience lead us to a dealership. We had a hard time finding what we wanted from a private party. We went to the dealer and found a car we 90% wanted. We figured it was close enough to what we wanted so we made an offer. They gave us a good deal on our trade-in so we shook hands and moved ahead. After getting more of our information in, Drivers Licenses, and Insurance information in the computer the manager came over. The original deal had no sales tax included in the price, the cost went up almost $2500. Needless to say after two hours we walked out.

We were sick of the whole process and two weeks later I called a company called Beepi.com. At first, I was skeptical. I actually asked a few questions and then got off the phone. I ended up calling them back about 15 minutes later and had a slew of questions answered.

Charity and I prayed about it overnight and we ended up purchasing a car we had never seen off a website we had never heard of. It sounds crazy right!

The whole online process was pretty easy. After making payment I was asked to enter our DL information and then submitted a picture of our insurance card.

My initial email told me the car would be in my driveway in 11 days. This was 2 days longer than they say on their website. I figured that was cool, just as long as it was there before we left on vacation. At this point Beepi would send me daily emails but no updates on shipping time for the car so I thought we were good to go until 2 days before it was supposed to arrive I got an email saying it wasn't going to make it.

At this point I called Beepi and was basically ready to cancel the car. They would have been totally cool with that and given me a full refund. We decided to wait. At this point Beepi offered us an Amazon gift card for our trouble (that I later had to email and ask about) But how it all played down, the day they wanted to deliver (3 days later) we were heading out on vacation!

Now when we finally got our car it had been 21 days since we ordered it. As I look back on the process I was a bit bummed but it was far better than having to search for a car online. We also didn't need to get the car immediately so it worked out fine for us.

The big day came and our car was finally delivered. It made it a little earlier, in the day, than our original delivery time. It came, parked in my driveway with a big white bow on the front! I took it for a spin around the block and was sold. The van drove great. The air worked. All the windows worked. The doors opened. It didn't smell like a dead raccoon. It was exactly as we had expected it to be.

We came inside and signed the paperwork and it really only took 15 minutes to complete. This was infinitely better than going to a dealership.

At this point you would think the whole thing was great! Well after putting the kids carseats in that night I realized the actuator on the drivers door was broken (not sure how Beepi missed that). We had to call Beepi and set up a time for them to come look at the van, take it to the Honda dealer, fix it and then return. This meant they needed to take it overnight. It wasn't the end of the world. And they even paid to fix it all up for us.

Today is our is our last day to return the car (did I mention Beepi lets you drive the car for 10 days and decide if you really like it?). As I write this post I know we're not going to return it. It fits our family, my wife loves it and its a smooth ride.

The question I think is, "Would I recommend Beepi to someone?"

Yes I would. We had some bumps along the road but Beepi was super helpful in the process. I have already recommended them to a few people and even saw another car with Beepi plates today as I drove home.

Thanks Beepi for making car buying way better than it has been before!

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Summer Fishing

This summer we went to Donner Lake for a family vacation. It was a great time with the family, friends and fishing with my kids!

Sophie is quite an animal lover and Leah just loves to have fun. We went fishing the first night we were in town, it wasn't more than just 30 minutes after being in town. We started with powerbait and not a whole bunch of nothing! Ok, nothing but good times and fun memories! Sophie and Leah probably had more fun playing with each other than they did fishing.

After getting skunked a few times we broken down and bought some nightcrawlers (this was tough for Sophie). But once we bought them, we started catching fish.

It was fun seeing the difference between Sophie and Leah when they caught fish. Sophie was willing to get right in there and grab the fish. She wanted to hold it and make sure to get a picture with the fish.

When I look at these pictures I think of all the fun I've had fishing. I'm thankful to be able to make these memories with my kids and that they enjoy fishing as much as I did when I was their age.

About 25 minutes after Sophie caught her fish Leah landed one. Her response was completely opposite. She didn't want to touch the fish, she stayed away from it and her facial expression was much different. She still enjoyed it but not nearly as much as Sophie.

In the end, we released both fish. The following day we went back to the same spot and caught two crawfish. The girls thought the crawfish were creepy!

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Donner Lake Train Track Hike/Walk

Last week we were up in Truckee and did the Donner Lake railroad track hike with our kids. As you read this, use the word hike loosely. 

The hike starts about 100 yards south of the bridge off old Highway 40. When you're driving look for this marker on the side of the road. 

Leah was super excited to hold Isaiah for the picture and to just make sure, Charity was right outside the picture ready to help in the need of an emergency. Sophie was actually really excited to do the hike (heavy sarcasm).

Take 3 minutes to read the plaque here and learn about the wall near the tracks. There is some great history here to learn and ponder as you hike.

Now, when you do finally hike, walk about 100 feet up the road and enter the trail from there. We made the mistake and barging into the forest and charging away. When you do this with you two little kids and pregnant wife, this is what you get. Our girls totally charged the way and it was awesome!

Once we made it to the top we took some time to walk down the old train tracks. The girls were a bit scared and you can see it on Sophie's face. If you head West on the tracks there are a few small tunnels. If you head East there is a longer tunnel. 

The tunnel isn't pitch black because there are slats where the light comes in. There is a ton of graffiti in the tunnels which was kind of a bummer to see. 

There are some broken down rolling doors that you can walk out of and see a great view of Donner Lake. Leah couldn't keep her eyes open in the sun but was stoked on the adventure!

When I look back on this, these are family memories I think the kids will remember. It wasn't a long hike, it wasn't too strenuous but man it was fun!

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Serving with your children

Serving your your children can be a tricky thing to do. You have to ask yourself things like, "Am I willing to take my kids to the inner city to serve Jesus?" or, "Do I want to take my kids on a plane to serve in a foreign country?"

This Sunday I preached on Nehemiah chapter 3. There is a great verse tucked in here that really caught my attention:
Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters. Nehemiah 3:12
Here is a guy who is out working hard with his kids. Since I’m a dad with young daughters, I imagine Nehemiah going around encouraging the workers, and then he sees one man serving with his little girls out in the hot sun. We don’t know their ages, so any guess is speculation on my part, but I imagine the girls helping to clean up the rubble. They are moving the stones they can and laughing and giggling the whole time. They are helping their dad plaster and get the stones in just the right place so the wall will be as strong as possible. Their laughter and joy encourages those around them and motivates them to continue working hard.

Now this father probably could have completed the work faster without his daughters there. If you’ve ever served with your children it can actually take longer to work with them. But as the Church we are called to train up those who are younger and this is a great example of a father who did this!

I want to be like Shallum. I want to follow his example of serving alongside my kids, right in my hometown. That is why I am going to take part in our upcoming backpack drive at CPC this summer.