Last week we moved from Moline, IL to Fuquay-Varina, NC for Ryan's job. He wanted to gain some more factory experience while working for Deere and when this job in North Carolina popped up, he applied and was offered the position. We've been here for exactly one week and it is fun to see how the area has changed. For those of you who don't know, Ryan's first internship with John Deere was at this factory. That was 8 years ago. The then little town has doubled in population during that time adding many new conveniences to the area. It's fun to see how the town has grown.
For the past 6 weeks there was the usual stress of preparing for a move as well as prepping our home to be listed for sale. However, this move was sprinkled with unforeseen obstacles and a downpour of blessings. This is not meant to be a time for us to toot our horn but rather a reflection of the blessings we have have had and to acknowledge how we have seen Heavenly Father's hand in our lives.
To begin with I have to back up to about two months before our move when Ryan was offered the position at Turf Care. We knew that moving would be difficult and we'd be further away from our family in Utah, though much closer to my sister living in Delaware. The very same day Ryan was offered his new position my younger brother was accepted into Duke's MBA program, which means he and his family would be living about 45 minutes away from where we would be. I cannot tell you how excited we were when we heard this. We haven't lived closer than 10 hours away from family since we moved to California in 2011.
Ryan had a few training trips down to Fuquay-Varina before his official start date. We decided to take advantage of these trips and have him choose a home for us. He was able to find our home on his first day of looking with our realtor. Considering it took us months to find our home in Moline, we felt like this was a huge blessing. Not only did we find our home quickly, but the previous owners accepted our offer with no countering. We felt like we got a really good deal on it. It was a stress-free process. As it turns out NC has an average of 45 days to close rather than the typical 30 days. This would have been a big deal had we not found our home as soon as we did since it would mean that Ryan would have to find alternate living arrangements after moving officially until closing could happen. That could have been extremely expensive or inconvenient, but as it turns out closing occurred on the day Ryan officially started so he had a place to stay for the 2 weeks before the rest of the family moved down.
While Ryan was on his training trips and then after his official start date, I was tasked with preparing our home to sell. It was an extremely stressful thing to do. It was our first time ever prepping a home to sell, and we learned oh so many things. I am extremely grateful for all the help that I received from friends and neighbors who invited my kids over to play or helped me to deep clean my house, various babysitters who entertained and kept my kids happy and safe, and my dad who came out for an entire week to help me with tons of painting and handyman jobs. I would not have been able to get our house ready to sell and keep my sanity without all of them. As a result of all our hard work, Ryan and I received an offer on our home less than 48 hours after it was listed on the market. I can't tell you how blessed we feel.
Our actual move was where we saw most of the blessings and miracles. Our plan was to leave Friday evening and make it to Indianapolis for the night then continue onto North Carolina on Saturday. As it happened our air conditioning in our van went out on Thursday. Friday, Ryan filled the coolant fluids to see if that would solve the problem. It didn't. Ryan then took it to our mechanic to see if there was a quick fix. There wasn't. He said that the air compressor was going bad, but didn't give Ryan any reason to be concerned. We figured we'd drive with the windows down and either get the van fixed in North Carolina or start the shopping process.
Friday night we were loading up the van getting ready to go, granted, several hours after we were anticipating so it was quite dark. Ryan started driving around to get the kids to sleep while I finished with a few things. He came back pretty quickly and pointed out that there was smoke coming from the engine. We figured it was excess coolant that was burning off, but felt it would safer and better to wait till morning and proceed early the next morning. It would be much hotter in the van, but we wanted the visibility. So early the next morning we loaded the kids back up, said good bye to our home of three years, the longest we had ever lived anywhere in our marriage, and left.
We noticed right off a difference while driving with how our van handled and the speed that we could go, but attributed it to our excess load behind our van on the hitch and the van top carrier. We were pleased to see that there was no smoke coming from the engine and figured all was well. About 45 minutes into our drive, Ryan pulled back the sun roof to check to see where the van top carrier was so we could keep taps on it while we drove to see if it moved. After seeing it I immediately felt uncomfortable with its position and thought it had slipped back, however Ryan convinced me to continue driving and we'd check to see if it moved after another hour. After about 15 minutes I couldn't push the feeling back and check on it again. Not only did it look like it had slipped back some but I could see that the air pressure was visibly lifting the front part of the carrier. There was an off ramp about a mile ahead of where were were and we pulled off immediately. Ryan and I both got out of the van and confirmed that not only had our carrier had slipped back quiet a bit, but that the back strap had slipped off completely. You see, while installing the carrier late the previous night, we had missed threading the straps through the proper slits and had only tightened the carrier down to our van. It had obviously been a long time since we had used it. Regardless, we felt super blessed that we had decided to wait till morning to go rather than drive through the night and potentially loose all our belongings on top.
As we were adjusting and re-strapping the van top carrier our cat, Jet, snuck out of our van and walked into the shoulder length grass on the shoulder of the road. We watched as the grass swayed down towards the ravine and ultimately lost track of any movement, all while the kids frantically called his name. He didn't come back. Ryan and I finished adjusting and re-strapping the van top carrier before I ventured down into the grass to call and look for our cat. He was gone. While I was gone our 5 year old Lillian unprompted said a sweet and sincere prayer almost commanding Heavenly Father to help Jet find his way back to us. As I made my way up the hill I was thinking of ways to break the news to our children that our cat was simply gone and there was no way that we were going to get him back. My suspicions were correct. When we broke the news our girls broke down into tears. After some discussion about how Jet was a smart cat and would be able to find a new home we turned towards the ravine and called our good bye. I gave a sigh and opened the door to help get the kids buckled again when Ryan said, "Do you hear that?"
"No."
"It sounded like a cat meowing in distress."
I listened harder. "I still don't hear it." We all sat in silence until a faint sound found its way up to us. "Okay, I heard it but it sounded more like a birds cry."
"No, I think it was Jet. Call for him. He always came to you."
So I began calling for him and to my surprise and delight the grass began to sway down towards the ravine and slowly moved as Jet made his way up and out of the grass back to our van. There he was, completely disoriented and covered in burrs as an answer to a 5 year old's prayer.
My dad later half joked that her faith must be much stronger than his because he was praying we'd lose the cat along the way. From then on we were smart enough to put him in his little kennel before opening any more doors when stopped.
Back on the road again we made our way towards Florence KY where Jenni, a good friend of mine from college lives. We'd arranged to meet for late lunch turned early dinner due to the delay of finding Jet. We had an awesome time catching up and my heart was full as we pulled out of town.
Ryan had been driving all day so naturally I volunteered to take a shift as we made our way down Kentucky. It was a beautiful drive as we began our accent up the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. We were coming up towards the town of Maysville we were driving through a construction zone when the van lurched. Ryan wondered if I had run over anything. I exclaimed that I hadn't hit a thing or gone over a pot hole when the van lurched again. I quickly scanned the surrounding and saw an empty parking lot about a quarter of a mile up a hill that was bit off from the highway. That was as good as it was going to get and I said a silent prayer in my heart that we'd make it. I could feel the van quickly loosing power as I turned into the entry way and with some great difficulty pulled the van around to face back outwards. That was when our van lurched one last time and then ultimately died.
I want to point out here that I believe that there were angles holding our van together and keeping it going until this time. Had our van died 15 minutes earlier, we would have been on the side of the highway, nowhere. Had our van died 15 minutes later, same story. Our van died in the right spot for us to be safely away from traffic and close to a town. I do not believe that this was coniencidence but more like divine intervention.
I tried turning it back on with no luck whatsoever. I popped the lid for Ryan, and after looking in for about 10 seconds he pulls out a snapped serpentine belt. "We aren't going anywhere." At this time it was 8:15 on a Saturday night. The store where we pulled in was closed. It looked like we were about 5 miles out of Maysville. We figured we let the kids out to run around and not feel so hot in the van. After an initial brainstorming session we gathered the kids around for a family prayer, then immediately started to act. I was out of data and minutes on my phone, and Ryan's phone had approximately 20% power, so we frantically started searching and calling any auto shop that came up on our internet search. No luck. We called a tow company to see if they knew of any that were open. They confirmed we were in a small town and that practically everything would be closed until Monday.
Throughout all of this we tried our very best to keep the attitude light and jovial so that our kids would not feel the full amount of trouble we were in. I smiled as they explored a near hill, pulled out huge weeds to use as a way to signal to passing cars that we needed help, listened to the bullfrogs, and balanced on the cement blocks in the parking lot. My favorite was when Eliza created this elaborate plan of how to get the driver's attention, got her siblings to follow and then cried out with delight, "Mom! I think it's working. One guy waved back at us....though I think he thought we were just waving to say hello."
As the sun began to lower and the percentage of power on Ryan's phone got ever smaller I felt that we had done all we could to take care of the problem ourselves. We knew that we could not possibly stay the night in our van and we were out of water and by morning both our phones would be dead with no way to power them. I suggested we look up online to see if there was any church membership in the surrounding area. I was pleased to see that there was indeed a Maysville branch. I called the branch president. His wife answered the phone since her husband was coming back into town from being in the mountains and had no reception where he was. She said that the 1st councilor in the branch presidency lived in Maysville and that she'd call him. I gave her our contact info and we hung up. About 5 minutes later we got a phone call from Alex Smith, the 1st councilor. He figured out exactly where we were, since I really had no idea other than coming from Florence and about 5 miles from town. He asked how many of us there were and if there was anything we immediately needed. I replied that my kids were complaining of thirst by that time and that we just needed a ride to a motel until we could figure out what to do.
The sun was beginning to set and get chilly as I was frantically opening up suitcases and gathering just the bare essentials to get us through Sunday. I felt a wave of gratitude as I pulled out the jackets for the kids to put on over their jammies. I never would have packed jackets when I knew the weather was going to be in the 90's that whole week, had it not been for an impression to pack them. I'm so grateful that I followed that prompting so my kids were warm while we waited.
Alex arrived, along with his sister and his parents driving their truck. Since none of their vehicles would fit all of us, they had to bring two. Beth, his sister held Norah and kept her happy while I finished gathering items. Gail, his mother, gave my kids snacks and water and was completely enthralled by their stories. And Chuck, his dad, looked under the hood with Ryan, using the flashlight I was also prompted to pack. Chuck felt that he and his other son, Adam, would be able to help Ryan replace the belt the next day and we made a plan to fix it after church the next day. They drove us to a nearby motel and made sure we were set for the night.
The next morning they all picked us up bright and early to go to church. We stopped by our van in order to get Jet and bring with us so he would not get too hot and continued on. It was lovely drive to church, one of those drives down beautiful country lanes with white fences along the rolling hill, ranches and farms along the way, clean and well taken care of. It was exactly what I had always imagined small town America to be like, but I didn't think it actually existed since I had never seen it. It was absolutely beautiful! I was at total peace with the whole situation.
After sacrament meeting, Ryan left with Chuck and Adam while the kids and I got to attend this awesome branch. I cannot tell you how many people reached out to us. There was a sister who let Oliver color on her notebook since we had nothing to entertain the kids with, the primary teachers who gladly accepted our kids into their classes, the countless people who offered to help us in any way, to feed us, or just listen to our story. We had a wonderful time with the people in the Maysville branch and felt so very touched by their generosity, charity, and love for us, even though they'd never met us before. Chrystal was one of these to come up and offer help. She invited us to stay at their house for the night if we needed it. She assured me that they had plenty of space and her three kids' age matched perfectly with my 3 oldest. We exchanged numbers and I told her we'd be in touch.
We went to the Smith's after church for lunch and to meet up with Ryan. The good news is that they were able to replace the serpentine belt during the time the kids and I were at church. The bad news was that the van was not going to make it to North Carolina. Remember how the mechanic back in Illinois said that the compressor was going bad? Well, it was also moving around and shaking a lot which caused excess friction and heat to build up which then snapped the serpentine belt. Chuck estimated we'd get about 3 hours along before it happened again. So again, we were stuck.
Ryan and I talked about driving down to Lexington and then renting a van in order to make it down to North Carolina by that night, but that would have been $1200 and our van would be left behind. Or Ryan hitched a ride down to Lexington and rent a car, while the kids and I could stick around town and wait for the van's compressor to be repaired, but that could take several days the the part would most likely have to be ordered in. Or we could stay the night and buy a new to us van the next day. We prayed for guidance in our decision. As we prayed I had the feeling that we needed to make a decision and then pray specifically on one decision. We discussed some more and decided that we would live by the mantra "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" and fix the van and run it to the ground. Ryan asked that I say the prayer since I was the one who convinced him that maybe we should buy a new van but then we had decided to go this way. I laughed and teasingly said that I might change the prayer half way through. However that is exactly what happened. As I was praying I knew exactly what words I wanted to say in regards to our decision of fixing the van, however I could NOT get the words to form in my mouth. My tongue had been bound. I felt an immense about of pressure and anxiety. I sat silent for a good minute or two in the middle of the prayer. What Ryan was thinking I've no idea, but I know that my mind was racing back and forth between the two options. Finally I was able to speak and say that we had decided to buy a new van. I felt an immediate rush of peace and calm and all anxiety was gone. It was in that moment I knew that buying a new van was going to be the right choice and Ryan was 100% behind me. I am so grateful for him and his faith. He called his father who started to do some research or us on vans that were for sale nearby while I got in touch with Chrystal and accepted her offer to stay at their house that night. She also invited us for dinner which we gratefully accepted.
We thanked the Smith's for everything they had done and gathered up our things, got some directions and were off to Chrystal's. Her kids were waiting for us as we pulled into their driveway. The first thing their son said was, "What took you guys so long?" It was adorable. I felt like our kids got along instantly with only the occasional scuffle. Their kids loved our cat and Jet was able to roam free for a bit. We even found a connection between our families through her sister and my sister. We had such a good time with her family and feel like we have become true friends, though I hope to one day make it not so one sided in the service department.
Chrystal shared with me how the night before she was pulling chicken out of the freezer for dinner than night and was going to just pull out the 2 lb bag but instead decided to pull out the 5 lb bag not knowing why since her family wouldn't even use the whole 2 lb bag. She figured she'd prep some sort of other meal with it for that week. But then when she heard about our situation at church she felt like the rest of the chicken was for us and felt prompted to reach out to us. I am so grateful for her following that prompting. As she told me this, I felt so touched and tears came to my eyes because it was a testament that Heavenly Father was looking out for us during this hard time. I felt of His love for my family through the actions of all those in Maysville. I will forever remember Maysville and the good people there with fondness.
Monday morning we loaded up our van and made the trek down to Lexington, which I have to say is a beautiful drive. We passed many horse ranches where they train racing horses. The rock walls and rolling, green hills were picturesque. In Lexington we found a 2009 8 passenger Toyota Sienna for a great price. Once we test drove it Ryan stared the negotiating process while I went with the kids to get lunch. We never got lunch because Lillian accidentally got gum all over the back of her hair and we ended up having to go to the store to buy peanut butter to get it out. I had actually never tried it before and didn't know if it would work, but I'm pleased to report that after a lot of work and patience on her part, we were able to get all of the gum and most of the peanut butter out of her hair. Yay! Nice side story that I want to remember.
By the time we were done with that Ryan was finishing with the dealer and we needed to get back to do the trade in and start moving our belongings into our new van. The kids were total troopers during this entire time. It was extremely hot, they were hungry and tired, and yet there was minimal fighting and even laughing and joking while we repacked our new van. By the way, can I say how much I LOVE our new van? I LOVE our new van. I think the thing I am most excited about is the fact that it has a huge trunk. We were able to get everything on our hitch carrier into our new trunk including the hitch carrier since our new van is not equipped for a hitch. But it ALL fit! No problem! I love it!
We said goodbye to our trusty Kia Sedona of almost 5 years and drove away in our new beautiful van. Later Ryan did some research on what the value of our old van was. It was only worth about $1800 based off of its age and mileage and it's interesting to know that it was going to be about $1500 to fix the AC compressor. Looking back, we made the right choice.
The rest of the trip went without anything even resembling a hiccup. We got lunch/dinner at Zaxby's, and then made our way to Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina where we have begun to start the next chapter in our life. We are excited for new adventures, but even more grateful for the ever watchful eye of our loving Heavenly Father who pours down blessings in countless ways. These tender mercies will forever have changed my life and my relationship with God. I am grateful for the learning opportunities that this whole experience has given me, but I am more grateful for the opportunity to show and recognized God's hand in our lives to my children and that they know that He is always watching out for us and helps us.
