After leaving the Grand Canyon and the Flagstaff area we headed for my hubby's brother Mike's house. Things were going well, we are busy listening to our Henty cd about the crusades and are just cruising along. Suddenly, the van just stops running and we begin to loose speed. I begin to feel the need for a small amount of panic and walkie-talkie hubby in the other vehicle that the van has stopped and I am pulling over. Hubby disappears into the canyon pass we were coming up to and I wonder if he even received the message. I do make it to the side of the road and hubby did receive my message and about 5 minutes later he shows up. The van starts but immediately dies, over and over again! We are stuck! I am becoming a bit ruffled, not irate but definitely not happy, after all we just put $1500 worth of maintenance into this van before we left to make sure it was road worthy!

God is so good to us though! Many people think that a loving God would not allow bad things to happen, on the contrary, going through trials is a way in which God strengthens our faith. He provides for us while in the midst of trials and thus shows us His faithfulness which in turn lends itself to our faith being strengthened all the more.

This is a trial for us along our journey, having a broken down vehicle(the only one we can fit in) in the middle of rattlesnake, scorpion, poisonous insect infested HOT Arizona with eight children and 2 dogs is not my idea of fun! Yet, God is so faithful and His provision is mighty! If this had happened any later we would have been in big trouble! I mentioned this canyon pass we were coming upon, if we had been any closer our walkie-talkies would not have worked, our cell phones would not have worked and I would not have been able to contact my hubby in the other vehicle. Why do I often question God's timing???? It is always perfect! We also broke down, get this, right in front of a rest area with cell towers! A bonus too, this rest area was called the scenic rest stop and the view while we waited for the tow truck was beautiful!!! Here are some of the children in front of the view where we were stranded. It was so vast and beautiful and an awesome reminder of how small we are and how big our God is!

Our wait for the tow truck was only about 45 minutes, that is a miracle all by itself! I know you must be asking yourself, so what does this have to do with the title $400 Bee?????? Bear with me I'm getting there.

Well, the mechanics have No IDEA what is wrong with the van!!! Looks of confusion continue throughout the day. Finally we get the point that we are going to have to stay over night. So in order to save about $250 (extra hotel room and kennels for the dogs) hubby and I decide that I will just push ahead and drive the remaining 3 hours to his brother's house and he will catch up tomorrow. So I pile 9 people and 2 dogs into a 7 passenger jeep for a 3 hour drive, a 3 hour drive! Now it was not a shipwreck but after about 5 minutes on the road I did offer the children the privilege of pulling over and having spankings all around before we began this trek!! We did make it in one piece and all in all it was not a bad ride just very cramped! Hubby pulled in the next morning.

Finally, the problem was detected! Our air filter had begun to separate and there was a small gap through which was sucked one very small bee. This bee landed on the intake sensor and the bee fried! Well the sensor couldn't "read" things with a toasted bee on it and it keep killing the engine! They cleaned the BBQed bee off the little sensor with some Windex and the the van started right up and kept running. I kid you not!! So with the hotel room for hubby and the replacement air filter and the cleaning off of the little bee we paid approximately $400!

God does have a sense of humor doesn't He! But He provided for us in amazing ways as well including financially and He made a desolate part of our trip an adventure to remember!

Labels: Christianity, Encouragement, journal