a bad day

We should be in UT right now, but we are at home. Let me tell you why.

Over the weekend Matt started working on the car to get it ready for our trip. He needed to replace a universal joint that makes the rear axel work properly. When he got to the parts store for the new part, the guy said it would be Monday before they could have the right part ready. Monday Matt worked on the car all evening and stayed up until 1:30 AM trying to get it ready. But then he had to quit. We were planning on leaving at 4:00 AM Tuesday morning, however it quickly became obvious that it was not going to happen like we planned.

The next morning (Tues) he resumed working on the car. The kids were not cooperating and wouldn’t get the things done that they needed to in order to be ready, and the parents were getting exasperated. Finally, at 2:00 PM Matt finished the car and said, “Let’s go.” THEN the kids decided to start being helpful. They worked hard, but it was 5:30 by the time the car was loaded. At that point we decided it was not worth driving for only a few hours and hitting Seattle rush hour traffic and then having to pay for a hotel only 4 or 5 hours down the road. So we went to bed at 6:30 and determined to get up at 3:00AM and hit the road.

This morning we got up on time and were happily out of the house at 4:15. We drove the 30 min to the freeway in relieved excitement to finally be on our way. As soon as we got up to “freeway speed” the car started some heavy vibrations. Something just didn’t seem right. So we stopped and prayed to know if we should continue. Matt felt nervous about it so we went back home. As we drove, we talked about what the problem could be. It was either an insufficient repair on the axle, or it was that the snow tires that Matt had just put on the car were out of balance.

Arriving home at 5:30, we decided to put the other tires back on and see if that was a simple fix to the problem. So Kaylee and Dallin immediately set to work in the garage helping Matt change out the whole set of tires. At least they had fun with the new air compressor that we had just bought. It made changing the tires go so much faster. Faster, until one of the lug nuts flew off and hit the long wall of shelves that was covered with garage type stuff. We spent the next 20 minutes looking for the missing lug nut. After several silent prayers from all of us, we found the dang thing. We were all wondering if this was all a sign from God that we should give up and quit trying to leave, or if it was “the adversary” trying to mess us up so we’d get discouraged and not complete our goal of being with family for Thanksgiving.

As soon as the car was ready, we piled back in, and drove off. This time in nervous anticipation. Matt tried to push the speed on the 55mph road that was close to home so we could tell if it was going to be ok or not. He hit about 65 and the car seemed fine. “Hooray!” We said, and relaxed a little. Then we got to the freeway. As soon as he was going 70 the vibrations started again. We got off at the next exit and headed back home. We had now been in the car for 2 hours, and were right back where we started. It was 7:30 AM. (We volunteered to drop Kaylee off at school before we stopped at home, but she didn't think that was funny.) Dejected, everyone piled out and went back to bed.

Matt called his family to tell them we weren’t coming, took a nap and then decided to make the best of things. He started working on various repair projects that had been on his “to do” list for several months. I went to the grocery store and bought all the required food items so that we could cook our own Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. The day progressed slowly and with a cloud of gloom. The kids laid around and read the books that they had picked out for the trip. We also processed about 30 pounds of apples that our home teacher had given us off his tree. We made a lot of applesauce. It was good to have them out of the fridge and off my “to do list” before they rotted. After realizing that we were short a few ingredients for dinner tomorrow, Kaylee and I went back out to the store and to the library. When we left, Matt had just worked up the courage to go back out to the car to trouble shoot the axel problem.

When Kaylee and I got home, I pulled into the driveway and noticed light streaming out from the side of the garage door. Then I noticed the door looked a little curved in one spot by the ground. Then I noticed the whole front had some crinkly looking shadows. It was dark out, so I hopefully assumed it was just the shadows. But then as we were still staring in wonder, Dallin came running out. “What happened to the garage door?!” Kaylee asked. Dallin quickly explained in a quiet voice, “Dad had the car up on ramps, and it rolled off and hit the garage door. He’s really sad, and so don’t freak out about it and get mad at him. OK?” We went in to see it. It turns out that Matt was under the car at the time. He stopped the car with his legs too. Luckily he and the garage door helped each other stop the momentum – otherwise one of them would have been much more damaged. (Matt is fine. Not even a bruise.) Whew! Now Matt is really sad. As you can imagine, the cost (and mental anguish) of this whole fiasco would have been less if he had just taken it to the shop. We have been trying to find the positive things to think about. One is that even though we can’t get the garage door up, the car that works is on the outside. We can’t decide whether to laugh it off or cry. We know that everyone has trials and it would be silly of us to think that we shouldn’t have anything bad happen to us. On the other hand, it seems like things are really piling up. I keep wondering what is going to happen next.

Well, I’d better go. Matt wants to use the computer to look up the company that makes garage doors, and see how soon we can get a replacement.

I hope everyone has a happy and trial free Thanksgiving day!