Journaling Furlough

July 28-29, 2011-

Long day of driving!  We left about 5 am  Lockwood Time :-)...that translates to about 8:47 am real time.  It took Daniel until around 3 am to get everything ready the night before,  and so we thought it would be best if he got more than 2 hours of sleep before making such a long trip.  He is the driver.  And by God’s grace, He does very well! 

We drove all day finally pulling over about 1:00 am to sleep for the night.  The roads were torn up all over due to construction, so while we drove for over 15 hours, we only made it about 500 miles.   The older boys camped out in the trailer and the rest of us found a spot on the van seats or floor, pulled out our pillows and blankets, and slept until around 6:00 am.  We drove to the next town and I bought some juice and rolls for breakfast. Daniel slept for another hour while I fed everyone,  had everyone wash hands/faces, comb hair, and straighten up the van a bit.  While Daniel ate, we all had our quiet time in the van together and then took off to hopefully get to the border this afternoon. 

Daniel was witnessing to a young woman while he ate.  She is completely lost and nobody there is preaching God’s Word.  As we left, she said to Daniel, “How will I ever come to know the truth.  You are leaving and there is nobody here.”  So much need!

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10:00 am

Thanking the Lord for His protection once again.  We are about 5 1/2 hours south of the border….about 20 miles from the next town.  While passing a semi on  the highway, Daniel noticed a tire on the trailer was wobbling significantly.  The roads here have no shoulder and  often it is difficult to find a place to pull over.  Once off the road, he knelt down by the tire shocked at what he saw.  The lug nuts had all come loose., cutting through completely or into  the bolts and  we  had been within seconds of loosing the entire tire. 

With 2 bolts broken completely off and most all the nuts stripped, there is no way to  pull the trailer.  Daniel and the boys are disconnecting it right now so we can drive the van into town and see if they have parts there

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So much for which to be thankful!  Who knows how long those lug nuts had been loose like that.  Yet the Lord kept us safe all day yesterday even late into the night as well as this morning.  Daniel has just found the parts needed and is pounding away at the broken studs right now.  The children are getting fussy as we sit here in the van waiting, but I’m so thankful that these crying little ones are safe and sound.  We are near the Pacific coast and the weather is cool  Such a blessing as we wait!  The autoparts store just gave Daniel, Timothy, and Elijah free t-shirts. :-)  This is such good experience for them as they help/watch Daniel work. 

My computer battery is about dead.  Hopefully, we’ll be heading back to the trailer soon.

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What a trip!  We are only on day 2 and so much has happened!  We finally got to the US border around 7:30 pm or so.  The line was moving quickly and wasn’t too long.  We were almost to the front when several US border patrol agents began running  through the many lanes to one area.  They suddenly ordered everyone in the area out of their cars, drew their guns and one of them began yelling.  The border shut down and we watched as they continued shouting commands guns pointed in he direction of which they were shouting.  Finally, after several minutes, three people, one by one, came out with their hands up and were taken away.  The border re-opened, and we were back on our way.

As we crossed the border, the kiddos all cheered and then, we headed over to what is almost always our first and most requested food stop after arriving in the USA.  Are you ready for this?  Taco Bell!  Really :)  Of course, to us, it is a lot different than real Mexican food, but we just love it and mmmmmmm ...those bean burritos were sooo good!

After eating, we were looking forward to getting into our hotel after another very long day of driving.  We were in our same clothes from the day before, hadn’t showered, and everyone was looking forward to cleaning up , having Bible time/sing time with Daddy, and getting to bed at a decent hour.   But what we didn’t anticipate is that not only the hotel we usually stay in, but every hotel in the entire area had no vacancy!  As we wandered from hotel to hotel, I thought of how there was no room in the inn when Mary was to give birth to Jesus.  

 We decided we’d start heading towards Nevada where the church is where we’ll be Sunday.  After about 70 miles, we found a hotel with just one room, but it was a suite! Oh, the Lord takes such good care of us!   And it cost us less that our normal hotel charges us!  We were so thankful!  The older 3 boys helped Daddy bring in all the blankets/pillows, I pulled out the hide a bed and set up bedding around the room and everyone fell right to sleep.  We have a free breakfast and a late check out so we’ll sleep in, have everyone shower in the morning, and hopefully make a stop at Wal—mart before heading the rest of the way to Boulder City. 

 Good Night