God is teaching us to see His light even in the midst of dark situations! God is so faithful...He hasn't left our side....21 hours of driving so far and only 4 more to go!
We are in Dayton, Ohio only about 4 hours from our destination. We were only miles from our regular stop (Starbucks of course...) when our accelerator kept getting stuck. We made it to Starbucks at 9pm and they had just switched their closing hours from 10pm to open 24 hours! Even if we got stranded we still had hope...at least we would be warm for the night! As Larry was laying on the cold pavement frozen to the bone he realized he wouldn't be able to fix the bus in the dark cold night.
We found refuge in the toasty warm Starbucks with a "free because we had to wait" hot coffee warming our hands and noticed a hotel tucked away in the distance only a few blocks away. The timing was perfect...hotel staff circumstances created only a small window between 10:45 and 11pm that they would be able to check us in, which is exactly when we arrived.
We got to our room and ordered a pizza from Dominoes but they took our pizza to the wrong hotel. God multiplied our food...they gave us a free pizza! We got a free coffee and a free pizza because we had to wait. God reminded me that as we wait on Him he also rewards us with restoration and strength.
We got lots of restoration in our comfy hotel room (complete with fridge, stove, and desk!) and after patient searching we found a U-Haul place only a mile down the road that had an auto trailer and 14' truck. They even offered to come and get us because they didn't want us to have to walk in the cold icy weather. Larry just got back so now we can get on the road and make it to our destination before the night is over. (By the way...God blessed us with the grant money to backpay Larry's salary for the last couple months without pay on the day that we left! So thankfully we have some funds to get us home!!!)
We praise God that He has provided for all our needs and we will arrive only a day behind schedule. God has given us lots of rest and time together before a potentially crazy week of wedding prep and Christmas and Averi's birthday!
Please pray that God will give Larry wisdom of how to fix the bus once we get to our destination. We will try to give you an update later this week. Thanks for your prayers!
