We had one adventurous trip to Colorado. I thought I would share it with you, so you will see how God was with us the whole way. This story is kind of long, so I will be splitting it up into several posts.
Jeremiah 29:11
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
We have been in Colorado for 2 weeks now and I can tell you that it is only by the grace of God and many prayers that were lifted on our behalf, that we are here. Our goal was to leave our home in North Carolina was August 1st. My husband didn’t have to be at work until August 6th, so that gave us plenty of time to even do a little site seeing on our way west.
August 1st approaches and we find ourselves a little behind schedule. We still had to take the beds apart, pack a couple of dressers in the PODs, as well as the kitchen. We had window a/c units and had taken them out. It was 90+ degrees that day. My husband, oldest daughter and myself missed breakfast because we were trying to get everything packed. We figured we could pack quickly and get something to eat in the road. By the time we got everything packed, it was around 1:00pm. We were all hot, hungry and a little cranky. So the first problem was being behind schedule and leaving about 5-6 hours later than we had planned.
Then the second problem happened. As my husband was turning off the water at the main valve outside the house, the handle broke off in his hand. Water started pouring out of the ground. We went to our neighbor to see if we could find the other cut off valve, that was just up the hill. My husband found it. Along with a poison ivy plant. (more on that in a few). My husband got the water cut off and our very gracious neighbor said he would fix the broke valve so we could get on the road.
As were were loading everyone up in the van, we had a dead battery. Yes, someone {ahem, me} left the ignition on with the lights as we were trying to get the water fixed. So then we had to dig for the jumper cables in the bottom of the loaded van. Remember, it is 90+ degrees, we have no air (van had dead battery and wouldn’t crank), and the vehicle is loaded down. We finally (meaning husband and son), get the van cranked and we go to load up again, only for my husband to get extremely sick. Why? He got over heated trying to finish up last minute details. It didn’t help that we hadn’t had breakfast or lunch yet. He gets very sick. He finally gets to where he is feeling better and we are able to get on the road. It is already 2:00pm, by this time. While everyone was a little discourage, I knew we would be okay. This move was planned by God and He would continue to take care of us.
Not only did all of that happen, we were also dealing with two sick children. Both of our daughters were sick with colds. Our oldest was the worse of the two. Her cough was horrible. Our first destination for the evening was a hotel in Indiana, just across the border of Kentucky, where her best friend moved last year. Our oldest daughter had plans of spending the night with her. While she enjoyed the very short visit with her friend, she ended up throwing up most of the night. So our plans of taking it easy the next day and visiting with the family, we decided to hit the road. After I got some gatorade in her, she fell asleep very quickly. It was at that time I sent out a prayer request to many friends. By the many prayers being lifted for her and the grace of God, she woke up about an hour later feeling better.
Yes, we were off to a rough start, but God was with us. He was watching out for us every step of the way. He would continue to prove this over the next several days.
Join me on Wednesday for part 2.