Not that I ever had a doubt . . .

There is a God!!! We made our way up to Missouri and picked up the horse trailer, a mildly uneventful trip until it was time to come back home. I was driving and I noticed that the van was not responding as it should and the check transmission light was on. That it was on was not really that new given the fact that it had been coming on, on and off for the last few weeks (we won't get into that.) Anyway, after several of dh's attempt to "fix" the problem by feeding the monster more transmission fluid, it finally had enough and gave up. i could start the van but could not get it into any gear to drive it :( Let me set the scene for you, 10:30 pm, 5 kids who have been stuck in a van all day, 2 tired parents who are now very frustrated, and of course the cherry on top a dead van in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately I remembered that dh had a contact in the general area that he had grown up with in California, though he had not seen them in years, nor did we know exactly where they lived. Well we called around and get a phone number for them and wouldn't you know it, they were 15 minutes from where we broke down. As if that wasn't enough, this family of 4 drives an 8 passanger vehicle, so we were all taken to their home without any trouble. What's the odds on something like that . . . I mean really.

Tired and frustrated, not sure what the plan is, we crash hoping to get some answers today. DH was up bright an early making phone calls to everyone and anyone that works on transmissions. Knowing that we needed to get around I began looking for a vehicle, and was blessed to find a GMC Suburban at a very reasonable price. I was then blessed to be able to borrow the money and have it sent via moneygram. We are no longer completely stranded. YAY!! We do however still need to figure something out for the other vehicle. I got a call from the shop saying that they were able to get it to run and infact not only did they drive it but they had no leaks. They still recommend that we have the transmission rebuilt (2K) but, I think that we will be taking the old girl to CARMAX in the morning and taking whatever we can get for her.

All in all we are safe and sound and have been able to marvel at God's blessings.