family reunion kick off

Mark received his mission call in record time to Durban South Africa. We were hurrying to get all his documents in process so he could leave at the called time. One of the requirements were FBI background check and fingerprints. This service is offered in Boise. A sweet friend shared this information with me and we decided to consolidate trips by adding that to the beginning of our trip to the family reunion. While Mark and I did the fingerprints the other kids went with Greg to get ice cream. Lots of ice cream. I think they all had to eat three. There were no complaints from any of them. 

A few hours later something felt weird in the van Greg pulled over and found a flat rear tire. He and the guys changed it quickly on a very very busy freeway. I was so thankful they weren't smooshed. I walked a fence line getting some movement for my pregnant body. Merle and Bruce accompanied me. Again I was thankful it was only in the high 80's not 100 degrees. 

About 45 minutes later the van suddenly lost the ability to pull hills and we were reduced to 55 then 45 then 35 miles an hour on the freeway. This was odd. We pulled into an O'reilly's parts store and greg bought tools and parts. He finished the repair just as the store closed. We were thankful for the use of their bathrooms and to refill our waters. The kids were mostly good playing in the parking lot on the shady part of the building. 

 We finally got to Wyoming about 11:30 at night. It was so good to be there and to see our big kids. The van again had trouble maintaining speed. It felt like driving an old fully loaded farm truck I think we were about 10 mph on the pulls up the high mountains into Wyoming. What usually takes about 20 minutes took over an hour. But we made it. 

And so the next day Greg a brother in-law and Mark and HArold worked on the van so we could cruise comfortably home. All was well until we got to Parma which is close enough to call for help. Greg checked things and we continued till we finally pulled in to our driveway. Thankfully the van has been repaired as it is much more economical to drive together hopefully it will function just fine as we head out again soon for a quick trip away from home. 

The O'Reilly parts guy was skeptical Greg could fix the car, in my head I thought if Greg, Mark, and Reed, and Livy now too some what can't figure this out we are sunk. These guys are all good and thorough and do whatever it takes to keep people moving where they need to go. We are very blessed.