UPDATE ON THE RV for those of you who have been asking…

In case it’s news to you, we left Murietta, CA for our 9 month long tour and an hour down the road-in Banning, CA-our engine died…like completely blown! We unhitched our tow vehicle and continued down the road, leaving the motorhome behind to have a new engine installed at a local repair shop. 

 We are into our third week of tour now and just got word that the new motor arrived this past Thursday at the shop in Banning. The mechanic will try to remove the old motor this week, then next week he will work on installing the new one. Once they are finished we need to find a gap in our schedule with enough days to fly Allen back to California so he can drive the motorhome back to where we will continue our tour-right now that’s looking like it will be Houston, TX, two weeks out-about a 25 hour drive.

 We’ve managed well in host homes and hotels for the first two weeks of tour and are so thankful for the warm welcome we’ve received from our hosts, some offering to cover an extra day or two of our hotel stays so our expenses don’t continue to grow. Not many people would be thrilled to have three people and their tiny dog move into their home for several days at a time, but the hospitality we’ve experienced has been amazing.  Through all of this the trip has been really, really fun and although we miss our home on wheels-as well as the semblance of normalcy it provides us-we are excited about how God has taken care of us.  

Adding to our mechanical adventures, we spent a good chunk of change getting the kia’s AC serviced and oil changed before leaving California, only to discover that we were leaking oil because they forgot to tighten the drain plug! We drove all the way to Lake Havasu City, AZ with our oil dripping out! Thankfully a nice mechanic from Redemption Hill came over and spotted the problem. Since then we’ve noticed the AC is still not cooling down and now the kia is running hot.  

At the moment we are homeschooling/working at a hotel in the Abuquerque area while some very kind mechanics at a local shop work to repair the kia after discovering that the AC compressor needs to be replaced. We are currently approaching $8000 in vehicle repairs this month, yowzers! BUT!!! Thank goodness we are not in the hot southwest desert baking in the sun next to our broken down vehicles!!!

People ask me how I can stand being on the road and when will I tire of it? I have to say I love every part of it-especially the story that I have to tell of what God has brought me through-and yes, even the breakdowns. It’s an adventure everyday and we get to see in a very tangible way how God provides for us. In a world where so much of the ugly side of humanity stands out in our media, entertainment, social media…I can attest that there are some pretty amazing people across this country-some total strangers-who have shown us incredible kindness, going above and beyond to help us in our times of need. As you move throughout your day maybe you can keep in mind that the person you see broken down on the side of the road is just like us…(odds are they may very well BE us! HA!).  

Now if only Starbucks delivered!