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Saturday, June 18, 2011

An eventful saturday, to say the least...

So this is the first time I've sat down since I woke up at 6:00 this morning. I got up early, because my mom was coming by once she got off her overnight shift at work to give our car a jump. She's so wonderful! It wouldn't start yesterday, and we had a lot of food shopping and other errands to run today. So she gave us a jump, car started, and then we went shopping. First stop: Wal Mart. When the shopping was complete, the car wouldn't start again. Boo...We called our friend Edie, who came to give us another jump. While we were waiting for her to come, Sean and I were discussing how to handle the situation. We had been given the car for a dollar from my stepdad, a couple years ago. It's always had problems, sometimes we thought too many. We need a vehicle though in the meanwhile, until we can get a better one. It's had so many problems lately though, that Sean was of the opinion that if the jump didn't work-just having it towed to the junkyard. The car wasn't even worth the money it would cost to get it fixed. We figured instead of it sitting in the complex for heaven knows how long, to just scrap it like had been suggested to us before. We honestly though there was nothing left to salvage. At this point, Edie arrived, and after about 5 or 10 minutes of seeing if the jump would work; nothin. So, she called AAA; and they sent out a tow truck; along with the news that the service comes with a free diagnostic. (Thank you Edie!!!) However, before the tow truck arrived; a vehicle pulled up next to us, and I heard a familiar voice. I looked to the right, and there was dear friend Mr. Randy Garver. In town, at Wal Mart, on the same day at the same time we were. Coincidence? Nah. Even in the crappiest situation-Randy & Kim always make us smile and laugh. So while Edie and Sean and I were still fiddling with the jumper cables, I was chatting with Randy a bit. All of a sudden, white steam started to rise from the hood of his car, and I saw this greenish fluid GUSHING from the undercarriage of his car! It was like a wave of what I only assumed was anti-freeze coming like an ocean wave crashing and spilling all over the parking lot. Although an unfortunate situation, I don't think I'll ever forget all of our reactions to that. The look on Randy's face was a combination of shock and horror. Randy's kids Lizzie and Kyle were in the backseat, and had no idea what was going on. Honestly-my very first though was "Is his car going to explode?" lol My naive self, I had never seen a vehicle do that; and I had no base of reference for if there was a threat of danger to this or not. The thought that followed immediately after was "grab his babies!" Mom instinct, whatever-I was going to act first and ask questions later. I saw Randy reacting with a calm measured attitude-and get to work checking out what had happened. When he lifted his hood, and didn't panic-I realized there was no present danger. Haha Wow. At this point Kim showed up, with her purchases; and was caught up on both why the Martindales were broken down, and what had happened to her car. Poor woman! The tow truck was due to show up any minute, but when you have three kids (Lizzie Kyle and Tara) who are hungry and restless; "any minute now" means nothing to them. So Sean Randy and Kim took the kids inside for food, while I stayed and waited with Edie for the tow to arrive. A few minutes later it was there, and after a diagnostic on everything, and a clean bill of health for the car; the guy from Ray's explained that the parts of the battery where you attach the jumper cables (excuse my lack of knowledge of anything when it comes to cars) was corroded, and just needed to be cleaned, which he had done. We had told him our plan, that if it was an issue with the battery, to tow it to our apartment. If it was a connectivity issue, however; to tow it to a junkyard. He said "Nothing's wrong with your car, just the corroded area which I cleaned. I wouldn't put your car out to pasture quite yet!" Yay for us!!! Super good news. Anyway, our car was running; and we still had a couple of hours of errands ahead of us, mainly food shopping. At this point, Randy had called his dad and Roy and Susan had showed up. We didn't want to leave until we knew they would be okay. Randy said they were going to take their car to Meineke, and that they'd be okay. So before we left, Randy made sure to thank us for breaking down. haha He was convinced that if he hadn't spotted us, and stopped to spend a few moments with us; the valve in his car would have burst once they were further down the road, making the situation a bit more difficult. Leave it to Randy Garver to see the bright side of a tough situation-he's always been like that! So anyway, off we go to Winco. After an hour or so of food shopping, we get on the beltline to head home. We see a car broken down on the side of the road with it's hazards on. I told Sean we should stop and see if they need help. We pulled over, and these two guys (early twenties, I assumed) had already started walking in the direction of West 11th. We asked if they needed a jump, and they said they were just out of gas. One of the guys said his mom was waiting at the Wal Mart for them, and they just had to get there. We offered them a ride there, and after dropping them off; headed back home. After unloading groceries, dinner, giving Tara a bath and getting her jammies on, and getting some laundry done; I'm relaxing for a few minutes before we get Tara off to bed. So-at the end of the day, we're very grateful for all our blessings. We're grateful for a safe home, the ability to purchase food, our sweet little family, our dear friends and family, the chance we had to help someone else today for all the times we've been helped, and the fact that our car still works and is not sitting in a junkyard quite yet. So yeah...Good day :)

3 comments:

  1. See how God blesses us!! All in one day, God gave you a car that still has life, the opportunity to appreciate family and friends once again, allowed your friends' car to break in a parking lot rather than while driving, AND the chance to pay the love you received this day forward to someone else. Don't we have an awesome God?

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  2. Wow! What a day!

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  3. What a crazy day! Glad your car will survive a bit longer.

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