Alright- I guess it's time for a real update! I guess I haven't been updating much because the beginning of this year so far has been quite stressful and depressing, and I just don't feel like writing or sharing when all that is going on. I suppose I will start with a little story that happened around Christmas time that I meant to write about. This story isn't depressing, so I think it's a good reminder for me to start with. (** this post turned out too long, so the rest of the update is in a new post which will be up above this one... I know... confusing).
My understanding and knowledge of God's love for me grew so much over the Christmas season, and not just because of all the lovely Christmas reminders. During most of 2011 my Grandma Dinnell was in the hospital for complications from heart surgery. I had very early on mentally prepared myself for the fact that she might not live much longer. She was a bit lonely as my grandpa had passed away in spring of 2004. I tried to keep up with her progress and situation throughout the year, but I have to admit I did not do nearly as good of job at keeping up with her and sending her cards as I should have. At the beginning of December I felt really strongly that I needed to try and go see her sometime soon. I asked my dad of her progress and he informed me she was ready to go and see her husband again. She was tired of fighting, miserable, and all she wanted for Christmas was to get to see her love, my Grandpa Dinnell. My dad informed me that if I wanted to go see her, I had better do it soon. Unfortunately, at this time I had absolutely NO money and had yet to finish up Christmas so Dirk and I talked about it and we decided we would save up money from his paychecks for me to make the trip either a couple weeks before Christmas or just after Christmas. By the time I had the money saved up, it was a week and a half before Christmas and I fought with myself over the idea of whether or not I should spend the money to fly out to Denver at this time. It would have been incredibly difficult for my family as it was right before Christmas, Dirk was doing his finals in school and was getting lots of hours at work and Hayden was still in school. After thinking and praying about it, I decided it wasn't right, and I should save that money to go after Christmas, and the money I had was just enough to do that.
Tuesday morning before Christmas, I got the phone call that my grandma had passed away. I was quite distraught as I really wanted to go see her one last time. When my grandpa had died I wasn't able to go see him and I didn't want that to happen again, but it did. Just an hour or so after I had heard the news of Grandma, a good friend called me. She needed some help at the temple that night with the youth and was going to call someone else to help, but just had this feeling she needed to call me. The timing couldn't have been better. It was so comforting to talk to a friend who had recently lost a grandparent and I could really use the peaceful evening in the temple that night. As I was in the temple that evening I had a wonderful experience and felt very comforted that it was all going to work out and I need not worry or feel bad that I was not able to go visit one last time. They were going to do a memorial in the spring and I would just go then.
A day or so later the family changed their minds and decided to go ahead with a funeral just days after Christmas. By this time, I had waited too long and plain tickets had doubled in price from my airport, but I could still afford to go from Sacramento or San Francisco airports which are about 5-6hrs away. We had plans to head down to California right after Christmas anyway, to visit my friend Julie, so I tried to work this out in any direction I could to see if I could make it happen. No matter what I tried, I couldn't figure it out to work with Julie's schedule to be able to see her and I was always an hundred or so dollars short, considering we would have to throw in a hotel room, or Dirk would have to make the drive back by himself with the kids. I was also trying to plan out, if I went, somehow to be able to fit in seeing my brother Nick, before he left on his mission. It just wasn't working and it was a lot of stress to try and figure this all out just days before Christmas. I decided I wasn't going to be able to go and life would go on. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but I didn't have much choice and I kept trying to remember the comfort I was given when I visited the temple earlier that week.
So Christmas came and during that time we received wonderful blessings from a Secret Santa and a Christmas Sunday filled with the spirit, which I wrote about in my Christmas update here.
After Christmas, as I said earlier, we were planning to head down to California to visit Julie. Since we had a little extra cash that was supposed to go toward visiting my Grandma, we made plans to visit Julie then spend a day or two in Sacramento visiting the train museum and Old Town Sacramento. We made reservations at a Steam Boat Hotel and were ready to go. We packed up everything and started our 5hr drive.
Twenty minutes down the road our car would not make it up the mountain pass. We had absolutely no acceleration so we pulled over as soon as we could and made some phone calls and decided our clutch was shot. A few people stopped to see if we needed help, but we thought we had it under control so thanked them, then sent them on their way. Then a nice guy, driving a Subaru stopped. Since we drive a Subaru, I had a feeling I should just talk to him for a bit (all Subaru owners have a connection that you wouldn't understand unless you are one). So I told him our problem, and was about to send him on his way when I had a really strong feeling to ask him for a recommendation on a mechanic, even though we had already called one and had plans already made. He quickly gave me very high recommendations for a mechanic near-bye, and since he was a fellow Subaru owner, I trusted him and quickly gave the mechanic a call. The mechanic was also a Subrau owner and seemed very honest and understanding on the phone so we decided we would go to him. The added bonus of this new mechanic was we could just coast downhill all the way to him, and wouldn't need a tow truck.
So when we started the day I had exactly $400 in my wallet, but after filling up with gas I had $363. The mechanic told us it would cost over $1,300 to fix then chatted with me a bit and helped me get quotes from other places. I went back out to the car to talk to Dirk and our friend Michael who had met us there, and while we were out there, the mechanic told me not to make a decision yet, because he had an idea. He seemed very kind and excited about this idea, and we still had to transfer both kids' car seats and all our stuff in to the other car, so we weren't going anywhere, anytime soon. We were still there at the shop when the mechanic called me (he had to run and help his daughter with something). He told me he had felt an impression that we were good people and he needed to help us, so he spoke with his wife/business partner and decided they would do it all for free, all we had to do was pay the cost of the clutch (what he as a mechanic would pay). He said it's around $350 dollars but he wasn't sure. He was having his friend at the dealership pick it up for him and he would find out the exact cost then. (Subaru parts are not cheap and since my clutch had been recalled, it wouldn't be worth salvaging one). I had my money in twenties, so decided to just leave $360 with the girl at the desk.
We left our car and it was done the next day, but the clutch actually cost a little bit more than what I left. The exact cost of the clutch was $363. The exact amount of money I had in my wallet when I entered his shop. The money that I would NOT have, had I gone to visit my grandma or figured a way to go to her funeral. It was all too perfect. I spent the night he was fixing our car and the entire next week feeling so confused with emotions. It was such a stressful event, yet we were so incredibly blessed to be led to this complete stranger who felt compelled to help us. When I went to pick up the car, the mechanic was gone again, but the girl at the desk told me I had just received the biggest Christmas gift he's ever given. She's worked for him for years and never seen him give anything for free more than just a windshield wiper or an oil change. She didn't know what I did, but she thought it was just amazing. She continued to chat with me about what an amazing guy he is and how great it is to work for him, and how honest he is and holds all his employees to the highest standards. She talked very highly of him, and I can see why. I left a thank you note for him and his wife. It didn't feel adequate enough, but I didn't know what else to do besides promise to bring all our future car problems to him!
I feel it was truly a miracle and a blessing. Me not being able to visit my grandma and having the exact amount of money to fix the car, but only because I felt prompted to ask the Subaru owner on the mountain for his mechanic recommendation... It all fit together just too perfectly. I felt the love of my Father in Heaven so strongly, it far out-weighed all the stress and sadness that I was also feeling. I can tell you all the events, but I really can not express in words just how I felt at this time.
** Okay, so this turned out to be WAY longer than I planned/imagined.... sorry for the lack of pictures...
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