To Pennsylvania

We're going to Pennsylvania! God (with help from some friends) has cleared the way! Thank you so much for all your prayers! . We're planning on leaving around 9am this morning so I'll try to type fast. Yesterday was an incredible day. It's amazing how much stress is shed when you let go and let God do what he needs to. . The weather appears to be ok for travel for the next two days. Thank you God in advance for safe travel. * The van - Steve called the car parts places here and just one fuel injector was going to be $135.00, so we knew right away that replacing all 4 was going to be out of our price range. But we thought that if we replaced just the bad one it would last us for a little while longer and we could replace the other 3 later. Steve called around in Sioux Falls and was able to find the part for $98, quite a savings. Then the issue was if we could justify going that far for the part. Steve was working all day yesterday at Daktronics and I had all the younger kids (Brit was at gymnastics) Steve called our friend Allen to check on the tire issue and his wife Jen was in Sioux Falls and he said she could pick up what we needed. Al also had her pick up two winter tires for our van. And she did, with two kids in tow. Thank you God, Allen and Jen! * My dad found out that we were only replacing one fuel injector and he said that it wouldn't be good for the van to drive without replacing all of the fuel injectors. So we paid for the one we could and he paid for the rest. Thanks God and the most amazing Dad ever! * Steve picked up his friend Kendal after work and they drove out to Allen's shop. Al replaced the front tires and Kendal replaced the fuel injectors. Thank you God, Kendal and Allen! * Later that night, they had the van put back together and Kendal was checking to make sure everything was running well. He noticed that the spark plug wires were sparking against some metal. I don't know a lot about cars, but even I'm pretty sure that anything sparking where it shouldn't isn't good. They called me, I called around to local automotive places and one place had what I needed. Thank you God for providing the necessary part locally. * But it was one minute to 9pm when I called the store and they close at 9pm. The guy volunteered to stay open if we could get there in a couple minutes. Thankfully, Steve's sister and mom were already on their way to Walmart, so I called and had them stop at the car place. They were able to purchase the needed part. Thank you God for providing the part and thank you to the good employee at Advanced Autoparts. * Steve and Kendal went back to the shop and installed the spark plug wires. Kendal was supposed to go coyote hunting that night because there was a full moon, or close anyway. Which apparently makes for good hunting because he can see better at night. It turned out that he didn't want to go because of the cloud cover making it difficult to see to hunt. Thank you God for the clouds last night. * Jen and Allen gave us a Christmas gift last night. I got Jane! I can't remember if I've mentioned Jane before, but we became very close on the Tennessee trip. Other than God and my husband, Jane is my new best friend. She's a GPS navigational system. She helped David and I traverse Memphis and never steered us wrong. David even learned to say her name on the trip. We'd be driving along and his little voice would pop up from the car seat in the back, "Jane, Jane, Jane," and then he'd giggle like crazy! Thank you God and Al and Jen for helping us navigate on this trip. * We are able to stay with my cousin Kerry in the Chicago area, which is just a bit farther than halfway. It will save us money that would have had to be spent on a hotel and gives us time to see family. They moved there last year for her husband's new job. Thank you God for placing family in the right place for the trip. And thank you Luke & Kerry for opening your home to seven of us. * In Pennsylvania, we are able to stay in Grandma Lewis's trailer that is parked right next to Aunt Carol's house. So we have a place to stay once we get there! Thank you God for providing a place for us to stay and thanks Aunt Carol for looking out for us. * The funeral will be on Saturday at 11am. We should have plenty of time to get there. Thank you God for your sovereign timing. * Steve already had Friday off as a holiday and he also gets a day off for the funeral, so because of the timing, he will officially only need to take 2 days off for a six day trip. Thank you God again for your sovereign timing. * Steve's boss is allowing him to take a laptop and work when and if he is able, so he might not even have to "take" the 2 days off. Thank you God for an understanding supervisor and thanks Adrian for making the trip easier. * I'm packing sandwich stuff and snacks that we had in the house so we won't have to eat out on the trip. Thank you God for your provisions. * We will be using a gift card we received for Christmas and money from Steve's job at Swiftel to pay for our gas. Thank you God for providing gas money and thank you Mike & Glenda for the Christmas gift card. I guess our weekend away will include 5 kids! : ) * Those were the biggest hurdles and God cleared them with plenty of space to spare! Thank you God for allowing us to go on this trip. ... I'm taking the computer so I'll be posting along the way. Keep praying! *