The Long Way Home
As soon as I realized that the Indianapolis temple open house would correspond with the Jerdon family reunion, it was our plan to take the long way home through Indiana.
The last open house we attended as a family was the Newport Beach, California one back in 2005. Brendan was a baby and we were over from England for my brother, Ben's missionary farewell.
Needless to say, Caleb and Brendan don't remember that one. And with this one relatively close, we knew that it would be a wonderful opportunity for our boys to be inside the temple and see all the beauty that is the House of the Lord.
I arranged for us to get our tickets to attend the Friday night that we were leaving Branson. The plan was to leave in the morning and arrive in Indianapolis in time to attend the open house, then stay the night before going the rest of the way home.
Unfortunately, it didn't end up to be quite as simple as that. The long way home took a bit longer than planned. But, the entire time I felt that the Lord was watching out for us and blessing us in our trial.
This was the scene upon departure from Branson, Missouri. It seemed like a great way to start the morning and the long drive, right? We couldn't think of the last time that we had seen a Krispy Kreme shop.
A dozen donuts and we were gone. Listening to Harry Potter on CD and enjoying the scenery all the way to St. Louis, everything was going great. We saw the St. Louis arch pass by and were on our way out of Missouri when Jacob realized that we needed some gas. So, we stopped at a random gas station along the freeway. He fueled the car. I grabbed a few convenience store snacks. A quick potty break later, and we were buckled ready to go.
Or not.
Jacob turned the ignition key and...nothing. No revving, no clicking, no nothing. The only thing was that the dashboard lights turned on. He tried again...nothing. It wasn't even trying to start. It was just dead, except that the battery was working. Weird. We tried to think of what it could be. Jake called his dad. I called our car insurance roadside assistance. No, we didn't need a jump, but we WERE stranded. We couldn't even get the car into neutral to roll it anywhere. We were stuck.
I had just made arrangements for the tow truck to come take us away somewhere to figure out what was wrong, but Jake tried the key again and the van sprang to life. Hwhat?! I had to call the company back again to say, "Just kidding! Our car JUST started. Not sure what was wrong, but it seems ok now. Sorry to sound like total crazies!"
We were pretty paranoid after that and had a hunch that it was our starter that was dying, so we resolved to go straight through to Indianapolis without any stops or turning off the car. Fingers crossed we could get ourselves home, but I had started to write off the temple at that point. The delay had put us way behind schedule and there was no way that we would get there in time for our reservations.
I tried phoning the number on the reservation ticket in the hopes of pushing our reservation back, but apparently it was a holiday and the lines were closed. A holiday? Really? We didn't think of it until later, but it was Friday, July 24th. So, if you live in Utah it IS a holiday...Pioneer Day. Of all the luck.
So, with some frustration and, I'll be honest, some bitterness at the Jerdon curse in action again, we made our way to Indianapolis, straight to the temple, in the hopes of at least seeing it before checking into our hotel. The car seemed to be otherwise working alright.
We pulled into the temple parking lot and I told Jake to keep the engine running while I went in with our story to see if they would still let us have a tour. Much to my relief and joy, the volunteers were more than understanding and insisted that we come right in, no problem. So, I told Jake and the boys to come on in, car be darned, and we would go inside the temple.
Because we hadn't stopped to change or anything, the boys were just in their street clothes, which had not been part of the plan (we had their church clothes ready to change into the entire trip), but now with time of the essence we just went with it. The open house closed for the day at 9pm and we were among the last groups to go through for the day.
The temple was gorgeous and the tour very nice. I think all the boys liked getting to see a sealing room and the celestial room. We were in a group with non-members, so I was able to tell them some things here and there.
Here is our ragtag group. Just happy to have seen the temple.
Then came that dreaded moment when we climbed back into the car to try to start it and get to our hotel. Jake turned the key, and nothing. Our hearts began to sink again. Tried again...nothing.
OK, I thought, we've made it to the temple. That was the first most important thing. We are all safe. Now, we just need to make it to the hotel so that we can all rest, and then we can tackle this car trouble thing in the morning after we get some food in us. I said a prayer. The car started.
We were able to roll through the drive-thru for some dinner and then Jake kept the car running while I checked into our hotel. He finally parked it and then we headed up to our room, relieved to have made it as far as we did.
The next morning, we had some breakfast (thankfully, I had booked a hotel with the hot breakfast included) and then got ready and packed up. The boys enjoyed watching cartoons in the air conditioned room, while we adults talked strategy. We had until 11am to check out, so we needed to figure out the car situation before then. I waited in the room with the boys, while Jacob went to try the car, but it was no use. It was not starting this time.
OK, so now what? I started by Googling garages that were open on Saturdays as late as possible (who knew how long any repairs might take and we did not want to have to stay until Monday). I was so grateful for my smart phone at that moment. I found a Midas that was relatively close by. We were in a town just north of Indianapolis where the temple is called Carmel, Luckily, it was clean and safe, so I figured that if we had to hang out at a park all day at least we wouldn't be mugged or killed. Then, feeling like the girl who cried wolf, I called our insurance company again for the tow truck to take us to Midas. They would be at our hotel within the hour. Then, Jacob came back to the room with surprising news.
No, the car hadn't started, but he had just remembered that a good buddy of his from medical school, Christine, was doing her residency in Indianapolis. He still had her old cell number and wasn't sure if she still used it, but had tried it...and she had answered! No only was she doing her residency in Indianapolis, but she was living in Carmel!!! And if we couldn't believe that, she was NOT working that day because she and her husband were preparing for a family trip the following day. Her day was wide open and she would drive over to pick us up and take us to her house to hang out while our car was looked at. Can you say blessings from heaven?!?! What. Are. The. Odds.
Being a resident family, we know just how crazy their work schedules are. We felt so so incredibly blessed that she was so close and so available to come to our aid.
The tow truck picked up our car. Christine picked us up. We got the car checked into an empty Midas (They had tons of empty bays on a Saturday at noon. Seriously?). Then we went over to Christine's house where the boys could watch cartoons and relax. They ordered us all pizza for lunch and we ended up having a very nice visit with her and her husband. She joked that it took our car breaking down to visit her. Ha!
It WAS the starter which had died, and Midas was able to fix it on the spot with the parts in stock within a couple of hours. It was not going to be cheap (is it ever?), but wasn't too bad and by about 1pm we were on our way. Christine took Jacob over to get the car and then we left from her house, ready to be home in just a few more hours. Thank you, thank you, Christine.
So, our long way home was not quite what we had planned. But we all agreed that if we were going to have car trouble, these tender mercies made it the most bearable trial possible, especially for the children.
I am continually amazed by the tender mercies of the Lord. I am so grateful that we can be blessed even in the face of difficulties if we are trying to do His will and live as He would have us live. This was just more proof of His love for us.
The last open house we attended as a family was the Newport Beach, California one back in 2005. Brendan was a baby and we were over from England for my brother, Ben's missionary farewell.
Needless to say, Caleb and Brendan don't remember that one. And with this one relatively close, we knew that it would be a wonderful opportunity for our boys to be inside the temple and see all the beauty that is the House of the Lord.
I arranged for us to get our tickets to attend the Friday night that we were leaving Branson. The plan was to leave in the morning and arrive in Indianapolis in time to attend the open house, then stay the night before going the rest of the way home.
Unfortunately, it didn't end up to be quite as simple as that. The long way home took a bit longer than planned. But, the entire time I felt that the Lord was watching out for us and blessing us in our trial.
This was the scene upon departure from Branson, Missouri. It seemed like a great way to start the morning and the long drive, right? We couldn't think of the last time that we had seen a Krispy Kreme shop.
A dozen donuts and we were gone. Listening to Harry Potter on CD and enjoying the scenery all the way to St. Louis, everything was going great. We saw the St. Louis arch pass by and were on our way out of Missouri when Jacob realized that we needed some gas. So, we stopped at a random gas station along the freeway. He fueled the car. I grabbed a few convenience store snacks. A quick potty break later, and we were buckled ready to go.
Or not.
Jacob turned the ignition key and...nothing. No revving, no clicking, no nothing. The only thing was that the dashboard lights turned on. He tried again...nothing. It wasn't even trying to start. It was just dead, except that the battery was working. Weird. We tried to think of what it could be. Jake called his dad. I called our car insurance roadside assistance. No, we didn't need a jump, but we WERE stranded. We couldn't even get the car into neutral to roll it anywhere. We were stuck.
I had just made arrangements for the tow truck to come take us away somewhere to figure out what was wrong, but Jake tried the key again and the van sprang to life. Hwhat?! I had to call the company back again to say, "Just kidding! Our car JUST started. Not sure what was wrong, but it seems ok now. Sorry to sound like total crazies!"
We were pretty paranoid after that and had a hunch that it was our starter that was dying, so we resolved to go straight through to Indianapolis without any stops or turning off the car. Fingers crossed we could get ourselves home, but I had started to write off the temple at that point. The delay had put us way behind schedule and there was no way that we would get there in time for our reservations.
I tried phoning the number on the reservation ticket in the hopes of pushing our reservation back, but apparently it was a holiday and the lines were closed. A holiday? Really? We didn't think of it until later, but it was Friday, July 24th. So, if you live in Utah it IS a holiday...Pioneer Day. Of all the luck.
So, with some frustration and, I'll be honest, some bitterness at the Jerdon curse in action again, we made our way to Indianapolis, straight to the temple, in the hopes of at least seeing it before checking into our hotel. The car seemed to be otherwise working alright.
We pulled into the temple parking lot and I told Jake to keep the engine running while I went in with our story to see if they would still let us have a tour. Much to my relief and joy, the volunteers were more than understanding and insisted that we come right in, no problem. So, I told Jake and the boys to come on in, car be darned, and we would go inside the temple.
Because we hadn't stopped to change or anything, the boys were just in their street clothes, which had not been part of the plan (we had their church clothes ready to change into the entire trip), but now with time of the essence we just went with it. The open house closed for the day at 9pm and we were among the last groups to go through for the day.
The temple was gorgeous and the tour very nice. I think all the boys liked getting to see a sealing room and the celestial room. We were in a group with non-members, so I was able to tell them some things here and there.
Here is our ragtag group. Just happy to have seen the temple.
Then came that dreaded moment when we climbed back into the car to try to start it and get to our hotel. Jake turned the key, and nothing. Our hearts began to sink again. Tried again...nothing.
OK, I thought, we've made it to the temple. That was the first most important thing. We are all safe. Now, we just need to make it to the hotel so that we can all rest, and then we can tackle this car trouble thing in the morning after we get some food in us. I said a prayer. The car started.
We were able to roll through the drive-thru for some dinner and then Jake kept the car running while I checked into our hotel. He finally parked it and then we headed up to our room, relieved to have made it as far as we did.
The next morning, we had some breakfast (thankfully, I had booked a hotel with the hot breakfast included) and then got ready and packed up. The boys enjoyed watching cartoons in the air conditioned room, while we adults talked strategy. We had until 11am to check out, so we needed to figure out the car situation before then. I waited in the room with the boys, while Jacob went to try the car, but it was no use. It was not starting this time.
OK, so now what? I started by Googling garages that were open on Saturdays as late as possible (who knew how long any repairs might take and we did not want to have to stay until Monday). I was so grateful for my smart phone at that moment. I found a Midas that was relatively close by. We were in a town just north of Indianapolis where the temple is called Carmel, Luckily, it was clean and safe, so I figured that if we had to hang out at a park all day at least we wouldn't be mugged or killed. Then, feeling like the girl who cried wolf, I called our insurance company again for the tow truck to take us to Midas. They would be at our hotel within the hour. Then, Jacob came back to the room with surprising news.
No, the car hadn't started, but he had just remembered that a good buddy of his from medical school, Christine, was doing her residency in Indianapolis. He still had her old cell number and wasn't sure if she still used it, but had tried it...and she had answered! No only was she doing her residency in Indianapolis, but she was living in Carmel!!! And if we couldn't believe that, she was NOT working that day because she and her husband were preparing for a family trip the following day. Her day was wide open and she would drive over to pick us up and take us to her house to hang out while our car was looked at. Can you say blessings from heaven?!?! What. Are. The. Odds.
Being a resident family, we know just how crazy their work schedules are. We felt so so incredibly blessed that she was so close and so available to come to our aid.
The tow truck picked up our car. Christine picked us up. We got the car checked into an empty Midas (They had tons of empty bays on a Saturday at noon. Seriously?). Then we went over to Christine's house where the boys could watch cartoons and relax. They ordered us all pizza for lunch and we ended up having a very nice visit with her and her husband. She joked that it took our car breaking down to visit her. Ha!
It WAS the starter which had died, and Midas was able to fix it on the spot with the parts in stock within a couple of hours. It was not going to be cheap (is it ever?), but wasn't too bad and by about 1pm we were on our way. Christine took Jacob over to get the car and then we left from her house, ready to be home in just a few more hours. Thank you, thank you, Christine.
So, our long way home was not quite what we had planned. But we all agreed that if we were going to have car trouble, these tender mercies made it the most bearable trial possible, especially for the children.
I am continually amazed by the tender mercies of the Lord. I am so grateful that we can be blessed even in the face of difficulties if we are trying to do His will and live as He would have us live. This was just more proof of His love for us.
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