Monday, July 25, 2011
0300 hours: wake up.
0400 hours: load up kids and leave for 6 hour drive to Grand Junction, CO.
0630 hours: switch drivers at Hwy 191 Junction just past Flaming Gorge
1000 hours: arrive in Grand Junction and drive around a bit
1145 hours: drop off Popeye at the Town Hall for his written test and oral board review
1200 hours: SHOP! Hit up Target and Old Navy for some school clothes
1330 hours: pick up Popeye and learn that he didn't get the job. Go swimming and then to WalMart and Cold Stone for some sugar therapy.
1600 hours: leave Grand Junction and start home again
1830 hours: pull off onto scenic overlook 20 minutes past Vernal, UT because van starts clicking REALLY bad.  Dipstick breaks off in engine.
1840 hours: good samaratins stop to see if they can help
*After this is all a blur in timeline but it went something like this:*
Dale (Good Samaratin Husband) and Dolly (his wonderful wife) call son to bring some oil.
Son comes with wife and kids in tow and adds oil to the engine. Still clicks.
Son recommends we go back to his place and get his trailer to tow the van back down to Vernal.
Families cram into pick-up truck and SUV and head back to Vernal.
Get a call from Dale, we're changing plans. It's getting dark so let's get the van tomorrow and stay at a hotel.
Go to Smith's for diapers and toothbrushes.
Check into hotel and go to sleep.
The next morning:
Wake up to a hot continental breakfast. Call Son and he takes Popeye up the mountain to get the van to take to the dealership across the street.
The dealership will get to it in the afternoon.
We go to son's house to chill for the day - his kids are the same ages (to the month) as mine. The kids hit it off right away and I have some talk time with the wife.
Noon - the van still hasn't been looked at. We feed the kids and hang out some more. The kids are loving it!
4:00 - the van still hasn't been looked at and probably won't be. We accept offer to stay at Son's house for the night.
6:00 - dealership calls. The engine needs to be replaced. Will cost between $5k and $10k to get it fixed.
6:15 - I have a minor heart attack. :) (Pathetic attempt at a joke, I know. Humor me, k?)
The husbands take kids on 4 wheel rides while I deep clean the kitchen (it's what I do, right?).
Next came dinner, more talking and playing, bedtime for kids and more talking for adults.
This morning we woke up and had some breakfast and headed to get the van. My brother-in-law met us in Manila, UT with his tow truck and an extra car for us to use until we can figure out what to do about the van.
Headed to Lyman, WY to drop off van at his shop and get lunch with my sister.
And now we're home.
So. What bad things happened over the last 3 days? Just about everything. Still no job, out a couple hundred dollars for gas and food, out a vehicle that fits all 7 of us, stranded on the mountain top... Yep, when it rains, it pours and then it floods.
BUT!!!!
I can not in all good consciousness stop there. We have been so blessed over the last 3 days. To start it out, Popeye didn't get past the interview in the testing process with GJPD. If he had, then we wouldn't have been rescued when we broke down. Dale and Dolly decided on a whim to go to the lake to visit with family that day. Had they not, they wouldn't have driven past us in our time of need. Their family had been so generous in paying for the hotel room and then feeding us and visiting with us and letting us stay with them and giving us pajamas to use and a computer to search for more jobs. They even started calling friends looking for a job for Popeye. In fact, after Son dropped us off (and I secretly hid some money in his gum package because I knew he wouldn't take it), I texted him to let him know it was there. He told me that I needed to call him about a job his dad found in Utah for Popeye.  They kept looking even after we were long gone.
I can not express adequately enough the emotion of gratitude I have right now for these wonderful angels sent to us. And even more so, for my Heavenly Father who had it all orchestrated so beautifully that we were well taken care of. There wasn't one fight amongst all 9 kids - that is a miracle in and of itself. :)
Some dear friends were made this week and we actually are very excited to visit them again.
But next time in some very different circumstances.