Strangers in the Lord

It has been a growing period for our family these last two weeks.

We needed a new fridge and had it delivered on the 4th. I felt badly that the delivery people had to work on Independence Day. When we bought the refrigerator on the 3rd, we thought it wouldn't be delivered until the 5th. Thankfully we bought our fridge from the Sears scratch 'n dent store so we ended up saving about $300.

On the 5th, we were on our way to stay with my sister's in-laws and meet my sister and her husband there. We decided that the almost 5 hour drive would be better broken up and we could all indulge in a little bit of pool-therapy since my sis's in-laws didn't have a swimmable-pond/lake/body of water on their massive property. On the way down, one-half mile from our hotel, on the off-ramp to our hotel, our car stalled, wouldn't restart, and then the radiator's slow leak just let loose. Here we were, sitting on the off-ramp with a sedan-load of various camping gear, snacks, and pillows, not to mention our two boys. My Dearest pushed the car to the nearest gas station while I steered. As we approached a restaurant, a "stranger-in the Lord" named Chad jumped out to help my Dearest push our car to a gas station. (Strangers-in -the-Lord are those who are also Christians, we just don't know them yet. We're just a bit cheeky.) Wouldn't you know, we could see our hotel from the parking lot of the gas station? My Dearest checked into the hotel and we walked our belongings over to the hotel. We didn't know if we were going to really spend the night in the hotel or complete the ride down to my sister's in-laws. My sis's father-in-law drove an hour north to where we were, dropped off his car for us and rode with the towing company to deliver our car to a dealership near his home.

We drove the rest of the way down on the 6th. My sis's in-laws have extensive property with chickens, donkeys, goats, a pond/lake, trails to walk or ride on their go-cart. We sat by their pond/lake cabin and never in my life have I been so happy to do nothing. I kept telling my sis and her m-i-l that I had never been so happy to do nothing. They just laughed at me, but let me ask you: Can you sit and do nothing easily? I know I can't. Being a mom pre-disposes me to always planning, doing, cooking, or calculating something. Anyhow, we didn't know if we were going to have to rent a car, buy a car, or replace our engine to make it back home. Knowing that God is sovereign and has planned everything made it easier to enjoy our time instead of nervously wringing our hands trying to figure out what we should do.

It turns out our car had an after-market remote starter installed (of which we had no knowledge) and the wiring prevented our check-engine light to come on. We ended up with a reconditioned radiator and a bunch of wiring taken out of our car. Plus, it was ready that night. It cost us less than we were expecting, but much more than we had budgeted for, ya know what I mean? ;-)

My Dearest changed the oil before we left on Sunday morning and found metal shavings in the oil. We drove home without any unexpected incidents.

Now that we are home, all of the mechanic-y people from My Dearest's work are recommending that we sell it, scrap it, just get rid of it as quickly as we can since the next incident with the radiator could result in total engine failure.

Car decisions, here we come! We'll keep you posted.