christmas eve in the ion

Well, the car does have over 200,000 miles on it. So we weren't completely surprised when Leah's Saturn Ion had some problems on the way to the Hoskins' Christmas in Le Grande, Iowa, about a 70 minute drive from Pella. It had been a whirlwind few days for our girls, but we were looking forward to spending some time with this side of our family.

Christmas Eve. Let's call it 5:45 pm. We are running late. Not unusual for us. A few miles into the trip and the service engine light comes on. A little while later the cruise control dies and the car starts to slow down. The power steering goes out next, but I manage to crank the wheel enough to get us off the road. We are afraid to turn the car off completely in case it won't start again, so we let it sit in park under a light while we decide what to do next. After checking the oil, we look at our options. We can turn around and head home. If the car dies at least we are closer to Pella and people who could come help us. Or we can keep moving on and hope for the best.

We call and let my parents know we aren't going to make it. But somehow after hanging up and before we had driven out of the gas station, Leah decides she had channeled her inner Indiana Jones (cheesy adventure reference alert). She now wants to give it a try after all. I concur, and the good ship Garland turns north instead of south. The vehicle seems to be back in better spirits and we drive with no further problems. Well, unless you consider the battery and engine lights, which are are lit up rather seasonally in Christmas colors, green and red respectively.

To move the story along, we have a fantastic time with family in Le Grande. The girls have a blast playing with cousins and new presents and the time flies. It is nearly 9:30 when things wind down and we apprehensively load up the girls and prepare to start the car. Leah had left behind an ominous statement: "Hope we make it home!" It was half-joking. (But if only half of it was in jest that means the other half was serious). We are pleased when the car starts up with no problem. However, the festive battery and engine lights greet us immediately. We give a brief thought to staying at my Dad's house in Marshalltown overnight in case something happens on the way home. We choose adventure.

All is well until we get close to that same gas station. Less than a mile before it, I feel the cruise control give out again and now a random seat belt light joins the party. A seat belt light? Leah notices this and says, "uh oh," or something to that effect. NOW you're saying 'uh oh'? Not until a random seat belt light comes on?!? Sure enough, just as we reach the gas station, the power steering goes and the 200,000-mile beast gives up. I manage again to steer us to the same spot under the same light. De ja vu? This time, after putting the Saturn in park, the engine dies. And it won't start again. We have lights but no engine. This is not good.

It's 10:10 on Christmas Eve and around zero degrees. There is nobody else at the gas station. The heat we have inside the vehicle is going fast. I look under the hood with my limited car knowledge and fail to find something I can fix to get us home. I decide to see if anybody in the gas station can help, only to find it had closed at 10. The advertisement on the outside of the building--"Iowa's best burgers!"--is no longer endearing.  Then why isn't there ever a waiting line?

I get back to the car to find the girls still doing well. Neither Cayla nor Ana had gone to sleep yet, and it is about 3 hours past their bedtime, so this is a nice surprise; I had expected crying by this point. Leah had called her step-dad Roger (she thought he might be able to tow us) while I was staring at the CLOSED sign and he mentioned calling State Farm for roadside assistance. The State Farm lady is the first stranger who helps us this night, getting all of the key details from us and calling a tow truck.

At this point, the car is starting to get colder and we realize we are going to be here for a while. It was a strange feeling to know we were completely stuck (without heat) until somebody came to help. And here I have to brag on my wife a little bit--she never allowed us to be pessimistic or even sad for one second. She actually seemed to be liking this! She starts singing Christmas carols and is just generally acting like this is a normal predicament for us to be in. One thing I've learned: it's hard to be pessimistic around her! So I start to goof around with the girls, who are cracking up whenever I pop my head up. It is at this time that Leah decides to take the first video from her iPhone.

Shortly after this, State Farm calls back to say a tow truck is on the way but it doesn't have room for the girls. It will be about an hour, though. Leah calls Roger back and he have an official plan: Roger will take the girls home and I will stay with the car. It gives us a little boost of hope as the car continues to get colder. Blessing #1: we had decided to put on the girls' pajamas back at the Christmas party. And by we, I mean Leah. This was definitely helpful in keeping the girls warmer than they could've been. We also put on their coats by this point and hats, although Ana kept taking hers off.

Well, time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking, and still no tow truck or Roger. Close to an hour has passed now since we called Roger, so something is not right--it should only take about 30 minutes to get to us. We call his phone. Tina (Leah's mom) answers instead of Roger. Not good. He forgot to take his phone and now Tina is freaking out because he left an hour ago. We're hoping he's not going to need a tow truck, too.

While we're waiting and wondering about Roger, a trucker pulls in to the gas station to wait for a buddy. He sees our car (hood was still up) and wanders over. He asks what is wrong and I tell him about the car. Before I was done with the sentence, he is already pulling on things by the engine. After a couple of minutes of tinkering (his gloveless hands had to have been freezing), he thinks it is either the starter or alternator. In either case, there wasn't much he could do. He offers to drive us somewhere along the interstate (not the direction we need) and apologizes that he has to keep moving and can't stay to help. "Get in and get your wife warm," he says as he leaves. But when I open the door he notices Ana in the front seat with Leah. "You've got a baby in there?!?" He can't believe it. Blessing #2: trucker gets an old sleeping bag from his truck and gives it to me. This would be stranger number two that came up big for us.

So our current status: both girls in the front seats of the car, which is getting colder and colder. A trucker's sleeping bag is keeping us warm, and we still haven't heard from Roger. Somehow--and this may sound crazy--it was kind of fun. Leah is singing, Ana is drawing on post-it notes and having a blast, and Cayla is trying to keep up with Mom but fading fast. We get a call from our tow guy who says he'll be there soon--good news! A few minutes later he's backing toward the car, ready to get it loaded. The only problem is we can't go yet since there is no room for the girls in his truck.

The phone rings a few minutes later and it's from Roger's cell phone. We didn't expect Roger's voice, considering he left his phone at home when he took off an hour ago. Turns out Roger had gotten stuck in snow on his way to help us! Poor guy had to walk nearly a mile to the closest house to ask for help. Eventually, he got out of the snow and came back home thinking we had found another ride home. Sorry, still need ya, Roger! The good news: Roger was okay. The bad news: we were looking at another 30 minute wait. At this point, Leah takes iPhone video number two:

Kenny from KEM trucking was great all night, and didn't seem too upset to hear that he would be waiting with us at midnight on Christmas Eve for another 30 minutes. Or at least he hid it well. At this point we decided to bring the girls into his heated truck since we would be waiting a while yet. It was now Christmas day, our girls had hardly cried at all, and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Leah took another video, which ended up being our final one, thankfully:

This account is already incredibly long (if you're still reading you have a lot of time on your hands and you are probably close family :) ) so we'll make the final chapter read quickly. We stayed warm in Kenny's truck and enjoyed talking to him. Cayla finally fell asleep on Leah while Ana played with chapstick. Roger arrived, making all 5 of us happy. The girls rode back with Roger and I hung out with Kenny some more talking about his recent tows while we drove back. Kenny would be stranger #3 who played a key role in our Christmas Eve.

By 1:15, we were safe and sound in our houses, two and a half hours later than what we expected. A little tired, but with a sense of coming through on the right side of an unexpected adventure. We are pleased to announce that the Ion is already back and running after a new alternator (good call, trucker) was added thanks to our good friends at Pella Car Care! Our girls won't remember this night, but we will. It will stay in our minds for a long time. We talked later that the car could've died at any point along the trip home: up a hill, at a place with no lights, around a curve, at a place with no shoulders, etc.  But we thank God that it happened at a well-lit gas station just off the interstate where we met a kind trucker who gave us a sleeping bad with no second thought.

There was something faith-building about this Christmas Eve. We kept the sleeping bag.  It's a reminder that God was with us that night and knew what we needed. We hope your days will be filled with random adventures and may you notice the ways God is taking care of you.