All In the Last Few Days

 Josiah and Anna finished school a day early which allowed us to enjoy an afternoon together enjoying the new Unity Square in downtown Salisbury. Isaiah and Aliza had discovered the splash pad earlier and Isaiah could hardly wait to go again. Cookout shakes on the way home and ramen bowls for supper with friends made out first day of summer vacation perfect.

Sisters and friends.

 Saturday we traveled to Pennsylvania for my aunt and uncle's 40th wedding anniversary party. Aliza had one more choir concert over the weekend so she waved good bye to us and spent the weekend with friends. That was a weird feeling...our first family trip without her. 

I didn't take many pictures but it was a full weekend of visiting with extended family that I don't see very often. I got to help my cousin with the party setup and clean up. Anna and Isaiah particularly loved where we stayed at the retreat center and wished they had more time to explore. Anna shares my love for the mountains.

During the 6 hour drive home Jeremy and I noticed that the steering wheel was vibrating quite a bit at highway speed and the vibration could be felt on the passenger side too. I started getting nervous so Jeremy started researching and watching videos. 

After a while Jeremy said that he was pretty sure that the front wheel axels were worn out...and he could save himself $1000 by doing it himself. And so he proceeded to watch some more videos and figured out that all of the parts he needed were at the Auto Zone in Easton. We stopped in Easton, got the parts, drove the last hour home, unloaded the van and Jeremy got to work. 

The driver's side went smoothly and he took it out to test it. Jeremy turned out of our driveway and got a couple hundred feet from out house when the passenger side axel broke completely. Was that really how close we were to breaking down on the road? Jeremy and Josiah pushed the van back to our house. 

Removing the axel from the passenger side was no easy task.

And so the van sat like this until Jeremy came home from work last night. He worked for several hours trying to remove the broken piece. Then he went to a friend's house to get a tool that was supposed to remove it for sure. I kept checking on him and he was starting to say that he was afraid he was going to have to get the van towed to a garage just to get that piece taken out which sounded like a big hassle. I told Jeremy I was just praying.

It was right about 9:30 when I was praying and I told the girls we needed to pray that Dad could get this piece removed. Aliza started praying with Anna. I kid you not at 9:30 Jeremy sent me the picture and "Thanks for praying". It was his last try and it came out.

At 10:30 he had the new axel in and took it for a test drive. I drove it this morning and all is well. 

And so I will continue to tell the stories of how Jeremy keeps our 2009 Honda Odyssey with 315,000 miles running. lol

Also this weekend...our porches were stained. One of my ESL students stopped by on Mother's Day with flowers for me. I've known him for a couple years now and he is a painter. He asked if I wanted my decks stained. It's been on the "some day" list since the house was finished and "some day" just hasn't happened yet. My student said he would do it..for the cost of supplies. We argued a bit using google translate and he only sortof won. 

Yesterday he put the second coat of stain on and I am just thrilled with how they look and humbled by his generosity.