The Next Step

If you read my blog two weeks ago, then you probably remember me mentioning that the timing belt on my daughter's car tore. Actually, it didn't tear. A bearing on the tightener pulley went out, which threw everything out of time, and it messed up the heads. Of course I was feeling a little bummed because just when it felt like I was starting to catch up on things, all of a sudden, right in front of me was this big mountain of a thing that I had to deal with. 

Changing a head is one thing, but on a Subaru you pretty much have to pull the engine out to change the heads, and new heads aren't cheap. Getting a used engine would be cheaper and faster than rebuilding the original motor. Since I'm a do-it-yourself kinda person and it would cost a good bit to have someone else repair it, I  decided that I would do the work myself. Swapping the engine was something I really didn't want to do, but I figured it would be the right path to take, since rebuilding the motor would take a while and probably cost more than the car was worth.

To top it off, we were in the middle of the fall festival time. We had just finished the Springs Folk Festival and the very next weekend would be Autumn Glory. It's one of the busiest times of the year for us and right after that, from mid October through the end of November, is my favorite time of the year. I was really hoping to get a lot of hunting in this year. I knew that I would be busy making glass right after the festivals as Christmas is coming, but I thought that I'd have time to squeeze in a good many morning and evening hunts. Being able to schedule your hunting/work hours is one of the better perks of having our own business. But now I was feeling like the next month would be more of a make a living/work on the car type of balance. So I was feeling a little bummed. It reminded me a little of how I had felt  a couple of years ago, when I was working too much at my job and feeling overwhelmed. So I dug into a book that had a big impact on me during that time. It's called Get Your Life Back by John Eldridge. A pretty simple book really, but it helps you to get through the tough times by doing simple things like pausing for a couple minutes between tasks and recognizing the beauty around you, or instead of stressing about everything, letting God be in charge and just think about the next step that needs to be done and do that. Then pay attention to how God provides and gets you through things.

 So the next day I did the  next step. I stopped at the junkyard to ask about a motor. They had a car that was a year newer with the same motor in it, but since it was an older car it was parked way out back. They told me to come back the next Tuesday and they would have it in the shop and I could listen to it run. 

Great! I was free to make glass and to focus on Autumn Glory without worrying about the car. Autumn Glory went great and then Tuesday rolled around. I worked my part-time job and then stopped at the junkyard after work. In my mind I was hoping it would be a great motor that purred like a kitten, but really, in my heart I was thinking, "God, I really wish I didn't have to deal with this motor! Another car would be nice!"  But another car would be a lot of money for Aiyana and she was learning all about budgeting money and we've really been wanting our kids to learn to get by without the burden of loans or debt.

Well, the wiring harness in Aiyana’s car wouldn't match up with the newer motor. It just wouldn’t work without some major ingenuity. And they didn't have anything at all that would work. And everything that I had seen online was triple the price of the junkyard. Oh well. I was bummed again. Sometimes it feels like that's just the way things go. 

"You guys don't do any R-titled stuff do you? You know, fixed-up wrecked cars?" I asked.

"We do it occasionally, especially if a nice car comes in from the insurance company and we have spare time on our hands, we’ll fix it up instead of selling the parts off of it. Actually, we have a Subaru here…..”

To jump ahead a little, Aiyana test drove the much newer version of her old car and we looked it over as best as we could. She had enough money in her bank account to cover it. On Wednesday we put some money down on it. On Friday evening after work we picked it up. Aiyana and I were all smiles!

On Thursday morning I took Blake out for the first morning of early muzzleloader season. It was a picture perfect morning. A deer saw us before we saw it and took off running and snorting. At 9:30 I took Blake home because he had a piano lesson and school work to do. After that I hiked into one of my favorite places for a few more hours. I didn't get a deer but the day was absolutely gorgeous! Funny how only a week ago I was feeling bummed and thinking that I wouldn't be hunting today. 

But here I was, feeling totally blessed!

There's something good about letting God be in charge. I guess I'll just keep focusing on that next step.