March 28, 2010 and so on and so on . . .

We pulled over to check it out. Because it's almost 5:00pm on a Sunday, there wasn't much help we could get in Provo. So after Alex spent hours on the phone with his Dad trying to diagnose the problem, the best we could figure was that it needed some anti-freeze because the coolant had over-heated and was steaming over for whatever reason. We ended up driving the car back over to Gio's because we didn't want to risk going any long distances without getting the problem fixed first. Many prayers later, we spent the night at her roommates' apartment, bless their hearts, so we didn't have to risk driving back to Elliot's in Salt Lake and have the car break down on the way. This was really beginning to test our resolve. If it had been just Alex and myself it might have been easier. But I'm sure that anyone with young children will understand how difficult this all is, especially when you're in between homes and have to live out of suitcases.

As much as I seem to complain about this trip, I write it to share the fact that even though it wasn't an easy one, it's not something I want to forget because the Lord really does watch over us and take care of us one step at a time. That night, there was nothing for us to do but wait. Wait and pray and watch the movie Cars for the 100th time. By this time, I had gotten anxious and just wanted to get to our destination already.

As I sat on the couch watching Cars because my son had requested it once again, I was quickly reminded of something I had set out earlier this trip to do that I had not been doing. The character Sally in that movie says, "Back then, people didn't drive to make good time, they drove to have a good time." Such a silly little line. But truly quite profound. I knew from the very start of this long trip that it would be hard but that if we made a plan to have a good time and enjoy our trip out there, that it would make it worth it.

We had planned everything out so well this time. It was easy to fall into the "What did we do wrong?" train of thought. Our previous moves hadn't been as well thought out. But for some reason, everything we had carefully planned was not going according to plans. I guess it just makes you question yourself a lot. And the Lord definitely finds ways of testing your resolve when you've tried your hardest to do everything right. I am now surprised we didn't come across some of the difficulties we did this trip on previous ones, as we were no where near as prepared. We always made long trips to places with barely enough money to get by and somehow, we had some to spare this time because of our good planning ahead of time. Funny how that all happens isn't it?

In the morning, Alex took the car to a mechanic first thing to see if it was something small enough that we could get fixed quick and be on our way out. Luckily it was. It only cost $85 to repair. We had been anticipating the worst and it wasn't. So we thought, GREAT! Now we can finally leave. It's about 10:00am or so on Monday morning when Gio thinks that maybe she should get her car's oil changed after all. She was thinking she would do it after getting to South Carolina but perhaps it was better to do it now while our car was getting fixed and just about ready. So she heads out and soon enough, her car dies. No joke. I'll let her blog about that one.

To make an already really long story shorter, the entire day was spent fixing cars. We doddled around with the kids, again, waiting and praying. There was something to be learned of all this. What exactly? I'm still not sure. Maybe it was to plan better. Maybe it was to pray often. Maybe it was simply to test our patience. Or maybe we avoided some terrible accident that took place and will never know. You hear stories like that all the time. If we had been driving a day earlier, who knows what might have happened. Maybe the Lord was just watching over us. Actually, there is no maybe about that. Whatever it was, we've definitely learned a few things from this experience. Maybe sometimes, you just need a good story like this to tell so that years down the road, you can literally tell your kids about how you spend hours driving through the snow and crossing the country and let hindsight show you the humor in it all.

After getting both cars fixed, it was about 4:00pm when we were heading out again. Surprisingly, our super patient mechanic was able to take care of both cars all in one day. That rarely happens. But we were finally on the road again. Sadly, we had to cancel meeting up with Grandma Cheryl because we had planned on being in Nebraska by Monday and that obviously wasn't going to happen anymore with all that had taken place. She had to work, so ended up not driving down from Sioux Falls to meet up with us as had been previously planned. I know Orion really wanted to see her. But there will be future opportunities I'm sure. Another thing we had planned was taking a break at the Groff's house in Nebraska but we hadn't realized that Jen was having her baby that week and that having a newborn and hosting a bunch of guests all at once was going to be extra stressful on her. And we definitely didn't want to inconvenience anyone. We love you Jen and wish you the best with baby number three. Maybe we can finally meet baby on our way back. But I guess the moral of the story here is always plan for a rainy day. We'd reserved a hotel in a casino in Nebraska that we ended up losing money on because we couldn't figure out how to change our reservation. Go figure. And so in an attempt to save some money, Alex tried to find a really cheap motel to stay in that he later described as the kind of motel you'd imagine a guy taking a cheap hooker to. I should have taken pictures. There was mold literally all around the bathtub. So gross. We're never going cheap on motels again. It's just not worth it with a family of 4 with Aunt Gio and pregnant me. For just a few bucks more you could get a pack-and-play set up at a Super 8 with a fairly decent continental breakfast served.

And then we reached Nauvoo. Without any sarcasm, this was definitely the highlight of our entire trip. I'd never been and had been dying to visit. We didn't get to see everything but it really was quite an experience. So much history and such a strong spirit definitely present throughout. I loved it. It was just what this very frustrated and fatigued family needed to keep pushing through to the end. Stay tuned.