So... Why were we in Florida for 18 hours?

We are Traveling tons lately- after Dan thought June was going to be a lazy month to recuperate!! 

We sold our van to a church in CT (that we LoVe!!) and the Lord had THEM call US to tell us they wanted it! We didnt even "know" it was for sale...!! 

We knew the van didn't like towing the trailer. Even with it having a new transmission just in January, already it was showing signs that it would do the job of towing but it wouldn't be too happy.  ANd when we were all done, we would likely have nothing left of it to sell or even give away at that point! 

Well after we sold our van we began looking for a truck that was diesel.


We found one! :)


It was in FLORIDA!!  :/


** Please realize that in between those two tiny little sentences belongs many paragraphs detailing hours of prayer, searching on Cr@igslist, Cr@zedlist, eB@y, and DoZeNs of phone calls to friends, mechanics, and pastors for advice and council and still more prayer!! I will not give you a minute by minute play by play, but I had to mention that! **


 SO... we (Dan and I aLoNe!!) drove the sold van to Connecticut to the church that bought it... they drove us to LaGuardia where we caught a plane to Florida... then we drove the new truck home! ANd this ALL transpired within TWO WEEKS!!!! 


Selling the van, finding a truck on eB@y, bidding for three days and winning the auction, arranging flight plans, getting the cashiers check for the guy in florida, driving to CT, flying to Florida, getting temp plates from the FL DMV (they are very nice BTW!!) and driving the two days home!  Amazing!


And Here It IS!!  

The guy we bought it from picked us up at the Airport in Ft Myers with the (unregistered and slightly illegal at the time) truck. 

(It was all good... he works for Law Enforcement. He is laid off....!!) 

Anyhow!! 

We were able to make the decision to buy it based ONLY on phone conversations, pictures, the eB@y vehicle report, and the Leading of the Holy Spirit! ( !! ) When we saw it for the first time, we were a little disappointed at how WoRN out it looked! It has 152K miles on it, but this was extreme! The leather seats were beyond dirty. They were disgusting! Like someone took chocolate mudpies and dirt and grease and smeared it all over them! Look!! 

Center seat Half Cleaned... 

THANKFULLY, we were given advice to use the cleaner in the following picture to clean them. I already posted on this, I know, but can you understand my excitement here?! 

Center Seat Fully Cleaned!
Let me tell you that was icing on the cake! I know a 7.3 liter turbo charged diesel engine should make my blood sing, but it just doesn't have the same effect on me as it does Dan. Now some clean leather seats, you are talking my language!! 

Whoever had the truck must have been a little conscious of the grime they would subject it to, because there is plastic covering all of the carpet. Look here... 

 This is the back bed of the truck. This grey vinyl is pretty thick. I hope it isn't covering anything terrible. I don't have the courage to look underneath it!

This is the plastic behind the drivers seats in front of the middle bench. It at least is clear, and I can see what is underneath. Makes me think Old Gramma but... 

Here is the plastic in the front, this is the drivers seat area. There is a pretty big cracked area and Dan was wondering if we should keep it or get regular carpeted and rubber mats.

Then we went through a dunkin donuts drive through. 


It started out great...  the lady so sweetly said, "I am sorry could you repeat that? I couldn't hear you over the engine!" Dan just grinned that man grin thinking "Oh YEAH!! This is a TRUCK!!" (Insert the Tim Allen "Man Grunt" here!) 

THEN... We pulled out of the dunkin donuts, and the g-force of said truck launched his LaRGe 

1/2-coconut-1/2 blueberry-flavored-cream-and-sugar-iced coffee all over the front floor!! Did I mention it was a LARGE?! But thankfully the floor was covered in a plastic runner so no harm done, except now I had to share 1/2 of MY coffee with him!! (I still didn't finish what I had!) Also note the paper towel under the mat soaking up what went through the little hole! I think we are getting more plastic runner! 

All in all we think this will be an answer to our prayers, and give us much less stress towing into headwinds, hills, and heavy weather! Thank you Lord! He certainly is interested in His Children!