Thanks for all the replies guys. What many of you failed to read in the above posts I made was that the TB replacement was done by the prior owner before me. I had the carfax on the vehicle and found out through that who the previous dealer was for the car. I called their service dept and spoke to them. While he couldn't supply me with a print out of the services completed on the vehicle, like I asked for, he did read the list of the services the vehicle had done. He was very impressed by the amount and how well the car was serviced. The big item for me was the fact that at 76k the TB had been replaced. That was a $700 repair that I knew going in to it, I wasn't going to have to shoulder.
In reading up more about the year/make/model and problems, it seems as though there was an issue with the tensioner on the 02's. Was that replaced with the TB service?? I don't know. I have not called the previous dealer and asked them for retribution. Why waste my time? I'm a second owner of the vehicle since the replacement. If I was the original owner after the TB service, you can bet that I would be there daily.
What I've decided to do is just change the motor out. I've located a motor with 83k on it for $500. The install will cost me $1080 for the ~14 hours of labor and an additional ~$300 for parts/fluids etc.. I'm going to have them change the timing belt on it while it's out and change all other parts related to it ie. tensioner, springs etc. My total costs are going to be ~$2,000.
Based on my reading and in speaking with others who are way more fluent in the mechanics than I, those interference motors are notorious for bending/breaking/damaging with broken TB. The way my wife described the sounds of the two different times she turned the car over, I'm certain there is damage done.
I almost had the TB replaced with the hopes that there was no damage, but after reading on here and speaking with others, I just couldn't see spending ~$500 in labor to have them replace only to then hope there is no additional damage done. To me, it's just easier to shell out the other dough and be done with it. I'd be sick knowing that I just wasted $500 on labor that was useless.
So this way, they take the motor as a core, I won't know either way. I'm not going to the local dealer here. Haven't even called them about it. As I type this, I think maybe I should just to hear what they have to say. But, we all know their take on everything.
Anyway, that's where things are now. I appreciate all the advice and help. It's a sh*tty situation, but, hey, like I told my wife, we can go back to $300 month car payments, or we can live with repair bills once every few years to keep our paid for cars on the road.