Broken Cars and Thankful Hearts...

We love our '97 Mercury.  It safely delivered us to our new home in Florida.  I was hoping it would keep driving our family around for at least a few more months, but perhaps that is not to be...

Today it died.

I was driving the kids back from a church moms group activity.  We had about 15 miles to go.  All of a sudden, the power steering went out.  The car was still running, but the battery light had turned on. 

Rob was in Greek class.  I texted him to let him know that the car might be dying (don't worry - I was at a red light while texting).  I had a decision to make - should I pull over on the side of the road or keep going?  I decided that I was more afraid of being stuck on the side of the road in the Florida sun/humidity with my kids than breaking the car even more.  I kept driving and I started praying.

I called my mom to tell her the news.  I knew she couldn't do anything, but it felt good to share my nervousness.

We made it to within a mile of our home.  That's when the real fun started.  The car started smoking, a lot.  I couldn't tell if it was just overheating or if the car was on fire.  Apparently other cars couldn't tell either, because multiple people called 911 saying my car was on fire.

The smoke was pouring into the drivers seat, passenger seat and across 4 lanes of traffic.  I quickly pulled over, slammed the car into park, shut off the engine, jumped out of the car and started getting the kids.  I always wondered if something like this happens - which kid do you grab first?  I grabbed Cosi first, mostly due to proximity and the thought that she might be relied upon to stay in one place in the grass while I grabbed Trey.     

By this time, a middle-aged man had stopped to help.  I handed the kids off to him and went back to get my purse and the stroller.  Maybe this was dumb.  I guess it worked out okay, seeing as how the car didn't blow up.

My whole body was shaking.  I called Rob, but I could barely hold the phone.

Then the fire trucks and police cars showed up.  They were really nice.  How cool that they drive out to help you when you're in trouble!  The fireman opened the hood and looked inside.  He told me that I was lucky to stop when I did, because the brakes were 3-4 pumps from being gone.  I would have been driving with no steering and no brakes - not a good combination.

The car is now at a shop.  We'll see what they say and if it's worth fixing.  Mostly, we're just thankful to be safe at home.  It was a good reminder of how often God takes care of us, even when we're unaware.  

Anyhow, thanks for checking in as I process my afternoon.  I'm off to take care of the kids while Rob studies Greek.  I might even ride Rob's bike to the grocery store later :)  Life goes on...

**Update - The car is dead.  They repaired part of it (enough to charge us $250) and then said it would cost another $1,200 to repair.  This is more than the value of the car, so we have now gone from a 1 car family to a 0 car family**