Of Miracles and Motors

Dec 30^th,

Today found me driving to Mexico City. I have made this trip many times over the past 6 years and know the road well. I have never had any problems at all. This was to be a very different trip indeed.

When you leave Monterrey on the way to Mexico City the first hundred miles or so are mountainous. Today it just happens to be raining making the roads even more hazardous then normal.

9:20 AM

At one point in the mountains I had been having silent prayer vigil and was reminded of a story I was told the morning before when I had left the home in Texas about how the Lord had protected one of the teams that had been driving home in the rain a few days earlier and had skidded on the road and done a few 360’s but with nothing happening to them. I remember praising the Lord with them for His miraculous protection.

So when thinking about this story I was praying for our protection and rounding a curve in the mountain I felt the back end of the truck start skidding, then the whole truck headed towards the edge of the cliff. I felt completely powerless and knew that to come out of this would only have to be the Lord.

People have said that in those few moments’ everything goes into slow motion and your life flashes before your eyes, well I can’t say that happened to me, nothing seemed to slow down and only two things went through my head.

One, was my desire to not have anything happen to us due to those I had in the vehicle with me, since they were traveling in my vehicle I felt the responsibility for their safety.

And the second thought was of my kids, and how very much I loved them. I hoped that should anything happen now that they would take it well.

I know for a fact that the Lord was protecting us and I had spirit helpers there with us, I started to feel my body react before I even had time to formulate in my mind and then tell my body what to do. I turned the wheel away from the cliff that we were careening towards and pumped the brakes, this sent us into a spin which took us back across the three lanes of road we were on and heading right into the concrete divider from on coming traffic.

Another stand on the brake and all of a sudden we stopped one inch from the divider without having touched anything or getting a scratch on us. I sat there with goose bumps on every inch of my body realizing what the Lord had just done for us.

He had given us another chance at life.

A couple miles down the road I found a safe place to pull off the road and just walked around for about 20 minutes to get my shakes out. I was so thankful for what the Lord had done, I couldn’t stop telling Him.

12:30 PM

We have been on the road for a few hours now and are making good time and progress. My battery indicator light starts going on and off. After an hour or so the battery light is on all the time.

2:00 PM

We stopped for gas and the truck won’t start again. I think the battery is dead which can only mean the alternator is out. Andy and I pushed the truck to an out of the way place in the parking lot and then I head off to find a mechanic. Finding one wasn’t hard since they sit around like vultures waiting for someone to break down and which they can prey upon.

I explained the problem and about our work letting him know we don’t really have money to work with, he assures me it’s no problem that he can get it fixed cheaply. He took the battery and alternator off and I jump into his car with him to go to his shop. Upon arrival about 6 people went to work, one charging the battery the others taking the alternator apart and each cleaning a different piece, a couple of them were running errands and getting new parts for the alternator.

To me it looked like they were doing a lot, being that I don't know anything about alternators. So within an hour the alternator was all back together and we were headed back to the truck. After reinstalling it and hooking the battery back up the truck started right away. I was relieved and paid for the work and we loaded up and were back on the road.

4:00 PM

We are still four hours away from Mexico City and back on the road, it seems like the alternator is working fine, the battery light is out and I am thanking the Lord it didn’t take more then two hours.

6:30 PM

It’s dark now and I am using the lights, my battery light is back on and it looks like the alternator isn’t working after all. The lights are starting to dim and we are barely making progress.

7:30 PM

The truck finally dies on the side of the road just 15 miles north of the entrance to Mexico City. I am so ready to get there. Another mechanic pulls up and after telling him my story he tells me the other guys didn’t know what they were doing and he can fix it no problem. (Didn’t I hear this once before today?)

So he takes the alternator off and we go to another shop to get it fixed. There they tell me the regulator on the alternator is bad and since it’s a Japanese truck you can’t get that regulator here in Mexico. So they gladly tell me to have the truck towed to the shop and they will put in a new one for me and only charge me $300 USD.

I walk out of the shop in dismay and start counseling with Mel about calling someone from Mexico City to come pick her and Andy up and I would sleep in the truck and try to get it worked on the next day.

The mechanic comes out and tells me they can rig the alternator to bypass the regulator and I would have to attach a cable to the battery directly for it to charge, but only for 20 minutes at a time as anymore then that would overheat the alternator and nothing would work. This jimmy-rigging would at least get us to the home that night and I could then work on it in Mexico City.

9:30 PM

So given the go ahead work begins again on the alternator I am watching but am not learning anything since they are not fixing the alternator but are rigging it. PTL at least something is happening.

12:15 AM

By the time that was done and we had the alternator back on the truck we are all so tired and thankful to be back on the road that the stopping every 20 minutes to connect or disconnect the alternator didn’t seem bad at all. We knew we were getting closer to our destination.

1:30 AM

We arrived at the home so thankful to be there. We made it safe and though we had to spend quite a bit of time and money on just getting there, having had that miracle of protection early that morning made it all seem like nothing. Thank you Jesus for Your Love!!

Magic...

...at John and Sara's Christmas dinner.

Back to Mexico

Today I headed back to Mexico and will be making stops in two different cities before making it back to Veracruz. The Lord has been so faithful to provide me with traveling partners for each leg of my journey.

So I have the pleasure of traveling down to Monterrey with Joe and Ambie. The trip was great and we had lots of fun. Thanks guys for traveling with me.

Tomorrow I will be going to Mexico City and Andy, Mel and her son Julian are catching a ride down with me! Thanks for your prayers for our travels!

(Click on the names to see thier blogs.)

Gift Received

I got a couple gifts this Christmas, but by far the best was being able to have Christmas with my kids.

More Food....

Adrian and I were out today doing some business and getting some thing done before I head back to Mexico in a couple days. I have wanted to go over and see my good friends John and Sara. So I called them up and they say; “Come on over!!! We are having some people over and our kids are coming for Christmas Dinner!” So Adrian and I are here having a 4^th Christmas dinner.

It was an amazing meal with everything being hand made traditional German and Lebanese foods and desserts. I don’t remember the names of half the things we had and I wouldn’t even be able to spell them if I did, so just check the pics below for examples.

Christmas Meals

Food is always a big highlight at Christmas time.

For me, most of the month of December didn’t feel like Christmas but on the 22^nd I was invited to my first Christmas dinner. It was with some friends of mine and with my brother, which was nice since I hadn’t had Christmas with him in 14 years.

Then on the 25^th I had Christmas brunch at 11:00 am and dinner at 5:30 pm with the kids and their home.

Today found us with relatives to enjoy yet another great meal. I won’t bore you with to much dialogue so here’s some pics.

Merry Christmas...

Christmas for me always meant so much, not just because it is the celebration of Jesus birth and the great gift of Salvation and life eternal that we get in return for His coming to earth.

It’s also about home, family and the heart. Where is home? Many say it’s where the heart is, others say it’s where you reside. I think it’s both! My kids are my heart, so I consider home with them and am so glad that the Lord gave me the gift of being with them this year for Christmas.

I also consider my home in Mexico my home as it’s more then just where I reside; it is my friends and my Family. And I miss you guys! I am glad to have a home where I am loved and accepted.

So where ever you are and with whom ever your with, may you have a Merry Christmas!

Smile...

I got a camera. Here are some samples of my very amateur photography!

Innocuous

I was just told that I am innocuous.

Although I don't’ see that at all, maybe that’s what I am striving for.

Thank you Jesus for helping me make changes in my life.

Click 2

After my first Click post I got comments about my “fantasies” (LOL) and about “being a sexist” (ROFL).

I give you my reply….enjoy!

Happy Birthday Dad

Every child thinks that their parents are the best, and rightly so. I share the same feelings for mine. Dad, I am hoping and praying that you have a great new year.

I think the biggest thing I learned from my dad was to be giving. I never saw him hold anything back if there was someone in need. He was always there to help out and give a helping hand.

If I have ever helped you or done you a favor it was due to the sample I saw in my dad and the way he taught me to be!

A request to my readers

My dad doesn’t have internet but I will be showing him this post so if you know him and have a story about something he has done for you please tell it in the comments section.

Marriage Vows

Although it was HER day in court I am going to tell you about mine.

The other day found me in County Court, my first time ever in a court of law and first time seeing a judge who wasn’t in a movie. Man, did I have different ideas!

Now I know you guys are all wondering what I did to end up in court, well its simple, I’ve always wanted my signature on a marriage license, today that dream came true.

It went something like this,

We walked in took a number and were called a couple minutes later to apply for a marriage license, after verifying identities it took about five minute to have the certificate of marriage in hand with information to head up to the second floor to schedule an appointment with the judge to perform the legalities on Monday after the 72 hour waiting period.

The judge’s clerk informed us that if a waiver was obtained the ceremony could be preformed in half hour (instead of waiting the required 72 hours) as the judge had an opening in his schedule.

So back in the original office, a waiver was immediately given and we were told to go to a second court on yet a different floor and present the case to the judge as to why the ceremony should happen immediately.

Court was in session when we walked in and after we explained to the sheriff why we were there he presented the waiver to the court clerk who slid it in front of the judge as she was hearing a different case…I didn’t even see her look at the waiver but it was handed back to the clerk and in turn to the sheriff and then us with the judges signature on it.

So we made it back to the judge who would perform the ceremony with minutes to spare. When it was our turn we entered his chamber (which is just a fancy term for “office”) and the ceremony took about 10 minutes.

Now it was time for the moment of truth…so I signed the marriage license… AS A WITTNESS!

Congratulations to Arcos and Luchi, the lucky couple. Luchi, I hope that the speed of our county courts efficiency made YOUR day a bit easier to deal with, since we all know what kind of drama can come on a wedding day.

Cheers!

Jade's Take...

Here's a little clip of Jade talking about her birthday!

Jades Party

Haven did an awesome job setting up the party. She outdoes herself every year and gets really into the theme and cake. This year she did little cupcakes that the kids added there own toppings to, so they had a lot of fun decorating them.

I know she wants to post about this so I won’t get into all the details, but will link to her post once it’s up. For now here are a couple pics I took. Ambie was the official photographer for the event, but I am leaving those photos for Haven to use.

The Birthday balloon is out of theme but that was a gift from me to Jade when I arrived a few days early, you tapped the balloon and it actually sings “Happy Birthday”, she loved it and it drove Adrian crazy. He didn’t like hearing happy birthday 30 times a day!

Happy Birthday Jade

My Darling, my Love happy birthday.

Today Jade turned three! We are having the party tomorrow, so today I took the kids to see Happy Feet, which Jade really enjoyed. We then had dinner at a Mexican restaurant that had the biggest play place I have ever seen in a restaurant. It had excellent pricing on food and ice cream. And believe it or not, I forgot to take the camera, yes, I know, I should be flogged. But it’s a happy day so we’ll have none of that.

Dear Hana,

Hana I am sorry that I didn’t put this up earlier, but as they say “better late than never!” I know that’s no excuse. The real reason I didn’t put this birthday post up sooner is because JD’s post went up right away and described in detail about the night and the dancing. Besides I wanted to get those pics of me photoshoped first… (Evil grin)

Anyways, since the party details are already out there I want to tell my friends some details about you. I will never forget the first time I met you and the impressions I had. I was just barely 20 and we were having those meetings in Romania, I was on camp management and was signing everyone in when they arrived. You showed up PG with two other girls and told the testimony how you guys had hitchhiked your way across Eastern Europe wit over 20 different rides to make it to the meetings. You guys were so inspired and full of faith about it made me think I could do it and a month later was in Hungary needing to get back to Romania and the CO’s asked me how I was getting back home, I told them I was going to hitchhike. I was really looking forward to is actually, but I think they figured I hadn’t been in the EE long enough to attempt that on my own. So they paid for my train trip back.

Another first impression I had of you was when you first arrived in Mex. We drove to the store and though I gave you a hard time about how careful a driver you are I really do believe you are one of the best and most prayerful drivers I know. So much so that awhile later after buying my first truck with a clutch, when I was having difficulties getting it out of the driveway in reverse, due to the incline of the drive way and the garage door in front of me, you were the one I asked to help save me in my moment of embarrassment. Thank you for that.

I am glad I have had the chance to live with you again and am touched by your concern for people. Just the other day when you were sick in bed with a fever and could barely move, you went out of your way to see how I was and if I had had a good rest day. Moments like those mean a lot to me.

I am hoping you have a great wonderful New Year!

Here are a couple pics from the other night ballroom dancing... You might make a dancer out of me yet.