Still Waiting

What a weekend. We are stuck in Abbotsford till Monday afternoon. We have not made it to the Island yet and have not moved in and have not yet started at the church. Hopefully we will be heading over Monday afternoon and unloading Monday night or Tuesday morning. It's quite a story. Read on if you want to know all the details.

On Friday I woke up early to get Quin off to school and did the last minute packing. Karissa and Ingrid came over to help clean and we worked hard all morning. I packed the fragile, cumbersome items into our car(which would be put into the moving trailer) and loaded the van with the essentials for a night at my parents' house. We loaded the fish tank (fish inside) and cat (litter and food under the back seat) and loaded up the kids and Oma and Vernon at 2:00. We drove for about an hour and just 10km past west bank the knocking sound that had started last week was getting worse. The mechanic had said it wasn't serious and not to worry about it. Well we should have worried because as I coaxed the van up a hill (tent trailer in tow) the motor blew and we had to pull over. I Jumped out of the van and one of the cars that I saw first stopped to help us. We used his phone and called CAA and they towed us back to West Bank ( I was nervous about letting my kids drive away with a stranger!). The gentleman that stopped took the boys and Oma to McDonalds while I went in the tow truck to Midas. We had to leave the tent trailer on the highway. The tow truck driver waited for me and then took me to McDonalds to meet up with the kids and Mom and I contacted Dad and Tony and Tanya came to pick us up. The Mechanic couldn't look at the van till the next day, so nothing was gonna get fixed Friday.

Tony in the mean time was waiting for our friend Dan to come out with the moving truck and trailer. (we saw him drive by while we sat at McDonalds) He had had a hard time already with his truck and got to Vernon 2 hrs late. The men who had offered to help sat there waiting to load the trailer. They got started at 7:30pm and finished at midnight.

As the loaded the stuff, Mom and the boys and I visited with Tanya and Fam, put the kids to bed, watched a movie, tried to sleep a little and piled into the truck when Tony and Dan arrived in Kelowna at 1:30 am (6 seater truck, Rowan was already in Abb). We drove out to where the van was and loaded the stuff from it into the trailer (cat and all) and headed out. The Truck was having a hard time pulling 1200 pounds of stuff and car and motorbike and the transmission was already acting up again (Dan just had it replaced!) and half way to Merrit it totally died. It was snowing, there was no cell phone reception and there was nothing to do about it. Tony prayed out loud ( we were all praying silently already) that God would provide a way out for us. A little while later the highway patrol came by and said he would send a guy out with transmission fluid for us. That guy came an hour later with one liter. Dan's truck takes 14! We hoped that we could just fill it up and it could go again...no such luck. The guy with the 1 liter kept his liter and gave Dan a ride to a place that he could get cell reception. They called CAA. Dan gave them detailed info about the kind of trailer he has and how many people were there. When the tow trucks (2) came at 6:00am, they weren't told any of the info. They couldn't tow the trailer and had 4 seats available. So they attached a cable to the front of the truck and pulled us to a place to get the trailer off the highway. They unhooked the trailer and left it on the highway, we piled into the tow trucks (kids on laps) and drove the hour to Merrit. We went and had some breakfast and waited to find out what to do next. It turned out that Dan had fried the trany but it was still under warrenty and he had to have it towed to Abb. They went back with the right things for the trailer and towed that to Abb too. We rented a car and were on our way again. We made it to my paretns house at lunch time and were greated by Rowan and Beth (my older sister) I was so happy to have the afternoon with her.

Dan took the truck to find out if they could get it fixed Saturday afternoon, but they couldn't. So it's waiting till Monday. We thought of renting a truck to take the trailer across, and we might do that still if the Truck will take too long tomorrow afternoon and if it doesn't cost too much. If we do that we could get to Courtenay in the afternoon. If not, we will be taking a late ferry and getting there after 10:30pm. We can then stay at our friends' house and unload in the morning. This adventure doesn't seem like it will ever end!

The up side is that we have had the chance to spend extra time with family. Being at the Harnetts Friday was great and then spending the weekend with my family has been so nice. Ingrid has been able to see her dad and Andy and I have been able to hang out with my sisters.

Last night, since we were staying, Julia and Beth took me to Walnut grove to sing Karaoke! It was so fun! We each did about four songs and laughed and had a ball. It's interesting the kind of camaraderie that you build with your fellow singers. We had a few groups of people talking with us, and we backed up a Japanese man in a song he didn't really know with a bunch of other singers. Beth and I ended up singing it for him. His group of old Japanese men bought us a round, and were disappointed when we left. It was hilarious. I hadn't slept since Thursday night, other than nodding off between 4 and 6 am and 11 and 12am Saturday, and then didn't get home till 1 am Sunday. What an adventure! I slept in till 11 this morning and have been feeling pretty good. The boys have had a hard day though. Malachi got the most sleep out of any of us, but he has had a hard time with moving. He has said both nights that he just wants to go home to Vernon. He can't imagine our new house and living in Courtenay. We will get there eventually and then we will start a new adventure!

We are hoping that our friends will come to the island to visit us. If you are thinking about coming, let us know as soon as you can so that we can get you in! Our weekends will fill up fast:) We promise to put you to work...lol! Tony's Mom will be there this week till Friday. My parents are coming the weekend of Easter. The Schmidts will be coming the week after Easter on their way back from Powell River on their Island tour. So we'll see you when you get here:)