Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We had a "planes, trains and automobiles" Christmas. We traveled early on Dec 23rd expecting to arrive at our destination that evening, after a 14 hour drive. HOWEVER, a monkey wrench was thrown into our plans. We had our van in the shop for over a week before the holidays and everything was fixed. As we were traveling through North Carolina, it was dark and cold, the van began making an awful sound. We immediately pulled over. As we got off the exit, I noticed a Days Inn. As we pulled into the gas station, the van sputtered and stalled! Oh, no. As hubby tried to restart it, to no avail the first attempt, my heart sank. Fast forward....we got the van started, and prayed as we traveled the .3 mile to the Days Inn. We ended up being so blessed in our situation. We were able to secure warm lodging overnight at a reasonable rate. We noted there was an Autozone down the street, got the name of a mechanic and also located an Enterprise Rent a Car office locally. We were able to secure a rental that night on the phone with the 800# (we thought). There was not one complaint from the kids. They were on an adventure as they checked out the hotel room. They were pleased to find some Christmas cartoons on the TV. They easily settled in. As we snuggled in our warm bed that night, I reminded them of Mary and Joseph traveling and how they were unable to find a warm room in the inn. Instead they slept in the stable. How fortunate we are - imagine on this cold night if we were sleeping in a stable!We all fell asleep with grateful and peaceful hearts.
In the morning, we spoke to the mechanic, who was open and could take us, however let us know he couldn't work on it that day. The rental didn't quite turn out the way we expected. We were suppose to pick it up (call them at 8 am and ask them to pick us up), turns out the local office did not have a vehicle for us. *slight panic* After working on it, we were able to secure a vehicle from them 2 hours later. They picked hubby up (a nice perk especially when you have no vehicle). Now began the shuffling of all of our luggage and gifts from our van to a much smaller Sebring. We condensed and left some things behind in the van. Thanked AAA. Left a nice tip for our maid and the tow truck driver and were back off on the journey!Yes, it cost us some extra money for hotel and rental and the upcoming expense of another repair! *Our family rocked it!* Our attitudes were positive and amazing! There were no melt downs. =)My heart was grateful...is grateful. Experiences like these really show you what is important - attitude, teamwork, warm shelter and family. We were resourceful and met up with some kind strangers. It could have so easily gone a different way....we were not stranded on the side of the road. There are a lot of exits off of the main road that do not have anything there! It turned out we stayed at the only hotel in that town.....and we got a vehicle on Christmas Eve!
Hope you are having a wonderful week enjoying family, friends and the holidays. Remember how blessed you are!
