We didn't plan to have an adventure, but it happened anyway. It all started out on April Fool's Day when Steven got a phone call from Lilly that went like this:
Steven: "Hello?"
Lilly: "Um, Dad, I hit a deer coming home from the church, and it really messed up the van."
Steven: "Oh no! Is everyone ok?"
Lilly: "April Fools!"
Steven: "Oh good! That scared me!"
Lilly: "Just kidding, I really did hit a deer."
And she did. And it was bad.
Bad enough to total the beloved Sienna.
And thus started the "adventure."
After searching for a new-to-us vehicle, we finally found THE truck he'd been wanting for about 10 years. The only problem was that it was in Oklahoma!
So three one-way plane tickets, (Ethan's first time)
an 'awesome' rental car
and a hotel later, Steven, Ethan and I found ourselves staring at the most misrepresented truck we had ever seen. Within 15 seconds, Steven said, "I am not buying this truck. It is a bucket of bolts. And it was. The local Toyota dealership deemed it dangerous to drive as the cross member of the frame had been cut and then welded back together improperly. As they put it, the welds could fail at any time as we were driving down the road. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. That.truck. What a disappointment!
Here we were in Tulsa, OK with the tiniest rental car ever and 900 miles from our car at the airport, which was another 120 miles from home. We found out then that there was no Alamo return at the Grand Forks airport, so we couldn't just drive the rental back.
So Steven started silently praying and I started scouring the web for a suitable replacement for the truck as we started driving towards home, via Kansas City, MO. Meanwhile, Ethan was having the best.vacation.ever. He loved the plane rides. They were the "best ever", and he even saw a very large forest fire from above. He said it looked like lava at first. He loved sleeping in his own bed in the hotel because "no one kicked me or stole all my covers!" He loved the Fiat 500 we rented and wanted to keep it. Basically, he was enjoying being an only child for a few days.
After finding a couple of trucks that might do, I came across THE ONE. Funny thing was, it was the exact same truck, make, model, year, color and body style as the bucket of bolts one. But this one was in terrific shape! And it was on our way home. And the price was right. And we weren't the only ones interested in it. After a test drive to cement the deal, we had just walked in to start the paperwork when another guy came in to buy it. 5 minutes longer and it wouldn't be sitting in our driveway.
Of course the adventure wasn't done until after an all-night 13 hour drive home, during which Ethan had the whole backseat to himself.
Our adventure taught us that our Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways to bless us, and he really does hear and answer our prayers, even about something as seemingly minute as a truck. We are blessed!
