A couple of weeks before our trip, I prayed for humility...and my prayer was answered! First Logan was sick and in the hospital, then Annie redecorated our house, and then we broke down as we arrived in Colorado. We cancelled the Utah portion of our trip as a result, and spent an entire week working on our car. When we thought it was all over, Jim accidentally left his car keys with me and didn't realize it until he was ten minutes from boarding his flight (two hours away!). Add to that an enormous amount of unexpected bills in just a few weeks, and I was a mess. However, we've learned some good lessons through all of this, and I have been impressed to realize the blessings we had with each trial. Each time I wanted to cry (or did cry) the good things about each situation would come to my mind and I could see how the Lord was with us the whole way, even though we needed to be challenged some. At moments when I was feeling very stressed, I was sometimes blessed to realize someone else's challenges, and it made mine seem so little.
Challenge: Logan's illnesss
Blessings: He recovered fully with no lasting effects. We were blessed to have adequate coverage for his medical expenses. We were blessed to meet many caring nurses and doctors who showed genuine concern.
Challenge: Annie's art
Blessings: We had the internet and therefore a quick source of useful information. The most important areas came clean, and Jim and I had a chance to work together.
Challenge: Car trouble (which happened once again this week)
Blessings: When we broke down, we were only 9 miles from family. We broke down in a place where we had help (my brother Josh) to do most of the repairs ourselves which saved us money. The car didn't break down until we were all the way to Colorado, so our vacation wasn't cancelled as a result; at least not entirely. We had the opportunity to sacrifice a portion of our trip, our desire to simply replace the car, and our comfort (because the a/c never got fixed and the LONG drive home was VERY hot). It is very difficult at times to say, "We can't afford that," or, "We really want to do that, but it's not the right time," but I know there are longer term blessings by doing so. Sacrifice is a blessing.
Challenge: Jim forgot his keys
Blessings: This was the little thing that nearly broke me because it was in the midst of everything, but was also the moment I realized how many times we'd been blessed. The airline changed his flight for free, so I was able to bring him his keys. Then, because his flight had been moved to the morning, I was able to spend an extra night with him before he headed home. My brother was kind enough to watch the kids and we had an unexpected night alone.
Challenge: $$$$ in unexpected expenses
Blessings: The Lord helped us to be prepared, so that not only were we able to pay these expenses, but also to pay all our other bills on time. The medical expenses, car repairs, and other surprises could very easily have put us in a desperate situation (and I did feel desperate a few times). Each time we thought we wouldn't be able to pay, we were either relieved that we could, or discovered that there'd been a mistake in a bill.
Anyway, I really wanted this list. I really don't want to forget how we were blessed all through this last month. Here are the few pictures I took of the car stuff. I'd intended to document the whole thing because I knew it was going to be a big process, but didn't after the first day.
This is the bar we were towing the car with...after it was ripped out from under our car.
Jim pulling the damaged parts off.
The damaged we caused from trying to tow it ourselves. Off to the junkyard to find parts!
Jim and Josh putting the "new" parts back on. That was the easy part. The hard part was that we still had to pay for a tow because it wouldn't start after that and we couldn't diagnose it. If only we'd known...
After we had it towed and found out what was wrong with it, we had the shop do one repair and we did the other major repair. It turned out that the fuel pumps put on our model and year were faulty, which explains the half dozen times our car mysteriously broke down on us over the last year. The pumps were replaced on most cars by the dealer (ours didn't qualify), and the only way to get one that would fit in our tank was to pay an enormous amount from the dealer (and we weren't even sure that it wouldn't be the same faulty pump). Instead, Jim got a fuel tank from a car one year newer than ours, and used the inexpensive pump that we could get at the auto parts store. It was much cheaper. We're calling it creative engineering, and it totally did the trick. He did some more creative engineering this week when our ignition lock got stuck (another typical problem for our model of car). Instead of getting it from the dealer (because they were closed and it would have been more expensive), he got one that fit from the parts store, but didn't have the necessary electronic chip. Then he went to a hardware store where they created a key that matched the new lock and had the electronic chip in it (copied from our old key).
