~Our "Mississippi Angel" named David!~

 ~After our service in PA on Sunday, July 14th, we were driving toward LA and decided to stop by and see my Grandmother (GG) and Aunt Carole in TN.  We also got to see my wonderful cousin Esther and her Alyssa, but those pics are on my Phillip's phone and he's not here right now. =( ~

 ~It was so fun to see GG and our family in TN.   We ate at Chick-fil-a and had a fun time visiting and laughing...and of course taking pictures!~

 ~Then we went out for breakfast the next morning with Uncle Dan and Aunt Carole...before we hit the road again for LA. (It was a 19 hour drive from PA to LA! =) ~

 ~Then we headed toward Ponchatoula, LA.  Well as we are going down the road I saw the sign for Birmingham, AL.  I said, "Hey, Brittany and David told us that if we were going to be back through Birmingham, we should call them, and they might be able to meet us there at a restaurant.  So, I quickly texted Brittany from Painted Parsonage and told her I had no clue if they could meet us, but we were coming through Birmingham in about 2 hours.  She texted me back saying that they were actually at camp in Pell City, AL.  So, we decided to stop by and see them and our dear friends the Shirks at Pell City.  We were excited to meet the Shirks new baby (that was born 2 days after we saw them in March.)  He's such a cutie!~

 ~We had a nice 40 min. or so visit together, before we hit the road again!~

 ~Melinda, Me, and Brittany!~

 ~And Connie came over for a few minutes too!~

 ~Sarah, Kimberly holding Riley, and Bryanna visiting together.~

 ~Kimberly got Riley to sleep and then Sarah got to hold him while he was asleep!~

 ~Donald and Phillip visiting!~

~Then we said our goodbyes in Pell City, and hit the road again toward LA! 
Last night we were driving down the interstate in Mississippi heading to Ponchatoula, LA...when we started loosing our dash lights and then we lost our HEADLIGHTS! 
So, here we were driving down the interstate in the DARK with NO LIGHTS!
(We had our flashers on, but they were so WEAK that I don't think they were doing much good.)
So, we prayed that God would protect us and help us to get to an exit safely where there was a gas station or something where we could get help.  God did help us to get to a gas station, and we started looking at what was the problem.  Phillip was needing to get the battery cover off to find out if it was the alternator or if it was the battery itself.  I asked him if he wanted me to ask someone to come help him and to jump our van, but he said that he didn't feel clear in asking anyone to help, that he was PRAYING that God would send someone that would just volunteer to help us.  So, I joined him in PRAYING that God would PLEASE send us someone soon...before the gas station closed and we were stuck there all night!!~

 

 ~A few minutes past and people would come and people would GO from the gas station and NO ONE offered to help!  All the while I'm still PRAYING!!!  About 20 minutes later Phillip went into the gas station and I saw a red truck pull up to gas tanks and then a man got out of his truck....NEVER EVEN LOOKED AT THE GAS TANK....and headed straight to our van calling out, "Do y'all need help?"  I said, "Yes Sir we DO!!"  

So, I began to explain what Phillip was thinking and he started shaking his head, "Yes!"  I also told him that our van needed jumped.  Phillip came out of the gas station right then and the guy told him that he was going to get his truck to come and help us!!!

  THANK THE LORD!  

He was a true mechanic with the whole headband light thingy, and lots of years of experience!! =)

 He charged our battery all the while he and Phillip were trying to find the problem.  ~

 

~ They worked for about 45 minutes and then they decided that he would help us LIMP back to the nearest town (12 miles away) so we could get a motel for the night and get a new alternator put in the mission helps van tomorrow.  

So, we followed him down the DARK interstate with some rather WEAK flashers as our lights...and got safely to a hotel around 11:10 P.M.  

He then told us that he was going to run home and get a plug-in battery charger to charge our van's battery all night long and then he would pick it up at 7:30 this morning and then our battery would last for Phillip to drive it the 1/2 mile down the road to the shop.  He did run home and got that charger and charged our battery all night.  What a BLESSING He was to us!!~

 ~So, we are VERY THANKFUL to our DEAR Jesus for protecting us as we drove down the interstate at night with no lights, for sending us our "Angel" named David, and for a nice hotel to stay in all night.  It had a wonderful breakfast for us this morning and check-out isn't until noon, so hopefully our van will be ready by then!!  Isn't God awesome?!!!  Yea!!!  I think so too!
Here's Elijah and his BUDDY ~GEORGE~ sleeping in this morning!~

P.S. Phillip just came back to the hotel and our van is ready...and so we're ON OUR WAY TO LA!  =) THANK YOU, JESUS!