One Year Ago Today: Broken Axle Thank Yous

One year ago May 12th was a Sunday, Mother's Day. We went to church, worked on packing and finally left for our graduation in NY/ family reunion in WY trip sometime late in the evening.

We made it about an hour down the road when the rear axle on our minivan, Winnie, broke. We sat in the van waiting to be rescued wondering what we were going to do, if we were going to be able to make it to Glenn's graduation or the family reunion, how that was all going to play out, etc.

As is often our custom when trials come into our lives we decided to pass time by sharing and writing down things that we were thankful for. The following list was found in the first few pages of our current, almost full, thank you book. I never took the chance to record them on our blog so I decided to do that today, one year after the incident:

- we were only an hour from home
- Caleb heard it so we didn't have a major accident on I-30
- we stayed safe on the side of crazy I-30
- 2 nice police men ferried the kids and I to the next exit to Denny's
- the kids could use the bathroom at Sonic
- We didn't buy a house so we have cash available to buy a new to us car
- Geico is paying at least part of the tow fee
- Melissa could come get us so we could sleep at her house and since we wouldn't all fit in the tow truck.
- God is in control
- the tire didn't pop
- the axle didn't break catastrophically (the recall "fix" did help with that)
- I was able to get the tires onto the pavement
- the tire didn't pop moving onto and off of the truck
- Geico covered the entire tow
- the security guard is willing to let me stay here this evening
- all the help that Hayley from Geico was
- Glenn has internet on his phone
- Number 5 is with Amber and TJ and not with us
- that sign was down so we could walk on it
- we were packed in 2 TMI bags and really didn't have that much stuff in the car
- our car didn't catch on fire
- we could go to the monthly medical missions Monday
- we got to try a peanut butter fudge shake at Sonic
- I could sing praises in the middle of it - God working through me
- the tow truck guy gave me his card and a recommendation of a junk yard and a mechanic
- God's safety and watch care over us

Over the next few days we looked at vans, were ferried back to Fort Worth by the Phillips and were lent Kris's car, didn't get any answers. Glenn's grandparents gave us a generous gift that enabled us to rent a minivan and then headed to NY for graduation after saying a tearful goodbye to Winnie, still not sure of what we were going to do with her or if Ford would claim responsibility for the broken axle. We ended up deciding to get her "fixed" while we were gone because she would still be of value to someone even if we wanted to sell her with a fixed axle she'd get more than a junk yard would give us for her.

Our "So Long Winnie" picture

A year ago I would be shocked to know that in a year we would still have Winnie today but we do. Something in her frame still doesn't sound right after being "fixed" but we pretty much trust her to get us around the Metroplex and we have taken her all the way to Lake Charles once. We've decided that for longer trips we'll just rent a van for now because it puts less wear and tear on a vehicle we own and a rental van is less likely to break down when we go on long distance adventures.

I am so thankful that God has enabled our family to look for the good in our trials. The very first thing the kids started doing when we pulled off to the side of the road was start spouting off things that they could see that they were thankful for in our situation. I am grateful for this. I know that this will help them throughout their lives. God is so good to us.