To say that we've had car trouble lately would be quite the understatement. About 2 months ago, my van started overheating. Charles replaced the thermostat in it and that was a success. On the way to church the next day, he rolled the window down, only to discover that it would not go back up! Well, we had to park it for the weekend and cover the window because, of course... it rained that entire weekend. Well, Charles decides to drive the van to the body shop on Monday to check on the window; however, the van will not crank at all! Well, thankfully, Charles has the use of a company truck so I began to drive his Jeep.
Everything was going smooth for the next month or so and with the exception of sharing a vehicle on the weekends, our situation was working out quite nice. Well, on a nice Sunday drive to the park one afternoon, the Jeep begins to sound funny. It had the sound of driving a standard shift vehicle in 1st gear so we were pretty sure it was a transmission thing causing it not to automatically shift gears as it should. Our suspicions were confirmed when I took it to the shop and was told that it needed a new transmission at the bargain price of $2000! Well, we decided that getting whatever was wrong with the van repaired would be cheaper than that so we started working on that.
We were so grateful to learn that a $70 battery and a $140 switch would make it crank and make the window work properly! Our happiness came to a screeching halt this past Thursday when the crazy van started to overheat again and NOTHING would get it to cool down. I was running errands and pulled into the school because of red lights flashing in the vehicle, only to find smoke pouring out of the hood and a terrible smell. Now, I don't know much about cars, but I'm sure that neither of those things are good. My brother in law and Charles worked on it all weekend and have discovered that it is a hose that shouldn't cost too much but is not something they can get to - so it is being towed tomorrow.
In the meantime, we had just Charles' work truck AND he locked the keys in it on Friday. No, I am not kidding. To make matters worse, his cell phone was locked in there with his boss's phone number in it who just happens to keep the spare key. Our incredible friends, the Schwartz, took pity upon us and loaned us one of the vehicles over the weekend. So, he was able to drive to his boss's house on Saturday and get the keys! I am now driving a spare car of my mom's that we lovingly call the granny mobile.... 1991 Chevrolet Lumina with 19000 ACTUAL miles on it. Yes, my mom bought it from an old lady (her aunt) who apparently didn't drive very much! Well, just so it would not be outdone in the car issues, Charles left for work this morning with the ONLY known set of keys to the granny mobile in his pocket. I realized it at 7:45 (the kids have to be at school at 8:00). He flew back home, gave me the keys and we both rushed off to begin our day.
I know that these things are so petty when compared to other things that could be happening and we actually started laughing like crazy when we realized that his keys were locked in our only mode of transportation. Our God is good and I know that He uses problems, big and small, to allow us to lean on Him. I am praying that these crazy months that we've had will teach me to lean on Him more and to be thankful for every blessing, regardless of the size!
