The joys of a VW bus

It wasn't too bad of a night sleeping in the bus last night. It wasn't as comfortable as our queen size bed that we used to have, but it did the trick. We were parked in front of a restaurant that had timed parking, so we had to move our bus by 845am if we didn't want a parking ticket. Across the street and down a little ways was a park that had a 48hr limit on parking. Alex started up the engine and drove about 100ft and then we hear this really weird noise coming from the engine. If you have ever seen the movie "Chitty, Chitty, Bang Bang" then that is what it sounded like, minus the bang bang. So, you know that is not normal. Alex looks into the diver's side window and says "Oh no. This is not good. Oil is leaking everywhere." He turns off the engine and I just start praying. It's only the second day of our trip and we are having car problems? Are you serious? We had such a good day yesterday and now the first start of our day is not starting off too well. Alex figures out that the oil filter is leaking and we find the closest auto part store to buy some stuff to fix it. It wasn't too far of a walk, so that was good.
We get what we need to get and Alex begins fixing what he thinks needs fixing. I'm sitting at a park bench with my Experiencing God Day by Day book in my lap and I pray that God gives Alex the wisdom and guidance to fix what needs to be fixed. I open up the devotional book to November 9th. The title of the devotional was "New Strength"and the Bible verse was Isaiah 40:31 "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Seriously, that is exactly what I needed to read. God provides everything for me and I need to rely on him to give me strength. This car problem is not too big for the Lord to fix. After reading that verse and the rest of the devotional I felt a sense of peace. I knew no matter what happens the Lord will provide and take care of us.

Alex thinks he fixed the car problem for now. We lost a lot of oil and basically gave our van an entire new oil change. You can see in this photo some of the oil we lost.