my trip to cincy..

good morning,
big z and i were to go to cincy for her soccer tournament this weekend. well following is a short summary of our trip...

.... our trip to cincy started out very nice then.... shortly after our first rest area stop our precious van started doing something funny... and that funny thing kept getting worse... Lord, please let me get to an exit.... we get to an exit and pull into the parking lot of a gas station and the van stops and i mean stops - the engine sounds beautiful - BUT it will not go forward or backward.....

after calling p we go inside and there are three customers at the register - young guys - one dressed as an elf, yes i said an elf with elf ears and all - i am not kidding! on is dressed liked a pirate and the other is dressed like robin hood's cronies - no lie- (z was a bit nervous "mom they are weird") well the one (the pirate) knows about cars and offers to check our transmission fluid and low and behold it is empty, so he goes back into the station with us and shows us what to get and where to put it... by the way they were dressed for a Renaissance reenactment....

well that did not do the trick although it would go forward and backward a little bit.... but it sounded like it had rubber or stones stuck somewhere and it was jerking quite badly.... we called and cancelled the hotel in cincy and check into the hotel next to the gas station... yes they had a room (thank you Lord!) and an indoor pool so zoe was happy once again..... and the price was much cheaper that cincy...

well we have very helpful people at the hotel and they google toyota dealerships and of course the service center was closed until saturday morning at 8:00.... we walked to big boy for supper and the other gas station has their own tow service and they have towed my baby to the toyota dealership in ann arbor....

we saw five cardinals no lie.... 3 last night in front of the tree that was in front of our broken down van... just sitting there watching us.... and saturday morning as we were looking out our window watching for the tow truck.... yes our window overlooked the parking lot where our van sat under the big night light all night...

so we were stranded in little milan, michigan off US23, 20 miles south of the dealership off 94.... p rented a car and picked us up, we had a yummy breakfast saturday morining with a cycling team from colombia, kentucky and z is go to go swimming... so all was well and the Lord let us breakdown at a small hick town with an all service exit....

this morning i got a call from the dealership and we need a new transmission, he tells me a new one would cost $4500 (WHAT?!) then he proceeds to tell me that a used one can be shipped from the toyota plant and parts and labor and 1 year warranty would be $2795 (huh?) seems a little high so i call the guy who did work on our rodeo over the years and he said those prices are bit excessive (thank you)... he is currently calling around for a part and our little adventure still continues.... we will have to get our van back to gr... somehow.. we are thinking renting a uhaul and bringing it back ourselves... but we will see....

so, that is our cincy trip saga and it still continues... the kids and i are driving around in p's omni this week... a bit crowed... but it is wheels...

this morning i have one daughter who said she was not going to school and can not seem to get herself dressed for school, but does not have any trouble getting outfits and dressed for church, shopping and everywhere else... and the other who wants her hair straightened 15 minutes before we have to leave for school (not happening)... we get to pile into the car and i mean pile in and head for school... boy am i looking forward to hearts alive tomorrow... so i can learn how God uses change in our lives.... hmmmm He must be using me alot!!

my report on tru.... i have been using the body wash and cream on my face and i am liking the results... i think there has been a reduction of wrinkles around the eyes... which is one of the benefits of the ingredients... the website will have to be on hold for a minute or two till this van thing is worked out.... i have gotten 2 more orders this week!!! way cool....

i may have a solution for mineral make-up costs been doing research and will keep you posted... am very excited about it...

well time to wrap things up... i just want to say God is good even though my circumstances may not seem so... But He took care of us this weekend and He continues to do so .... so even though i do not know what is ahead i know He is already there and has paved the way for me....

have a great day!! i am going to try to!!!