Heavy Heart Tonight...

     Hello Blog Readers. What do YOU do when things fall apart and "your plan" is no longer an option!?! It seems as though, I cry. And yes, I have cried lots of tears today. As you may remember, my VW was parked on the street at the garage sale (about a month ago) when the neighbor kid backed into the drivers side door and crunched it. While I was in Cali over Thanksgiving the VW was in the shop being repaired. After I returned, I picked it up and the door looked as good as new. On my way home though, the oil light started blinking and beeping again! Ugh.
     There aren't many auto repair shops that work on VW's here, but the guy at the body shop told me about one that did. I took my car to them and they said they would need a day to look at it. REALLY nice people! The gal in the office drove me home since they weren't going to be able to look at it right away.
     First bit of bad news, it was a defective oil screen that needed replaced but the part needed to be ordered. Part arrived, replaced, tested and all looked good. Until I drove the car home. The oil light started flashing and beeping again. Back to the shop. The mechanic told me the car was probably not well-maintained before I got it, and the oil was in really bad shape. This time they told me the oil pump was faulty and needed replaced. Part ordered. VW should have been ready today. Bad news arrives this afternoon. From just the short drive (repair shop to my apartment), the oil looked like jello sludge again and it seems to look that way throughout the engine. Mr. Mechanic did some research with other VW mechanics on cars with similar problems and found out that they tried to run "engine cleaner" through them and only 1 out of 20 was restored to good health after the engine cleaner treatment. Not very good odds. :-(

    So, I asked him, "If this was your mom or sister - what would you recommend?" He said, "Well - someone would probably need to take apart or replace the engine so I would not recommend repairing it (unless I didn't have to pay for labor). I would probably clean out the oil screen again and drive it right to a dealership and trade it in. I'm so sorry. I know that is not what you want to hear and the news couldn't be worse, but I would NOT let my mom or my sister drive it back to California, that's for sure."
     So, it looks like I will be flying back to Cali on Wednesday, 12/22. I'll get rid of as much "stuff" as I can before I leave and I'll ship a few boxes back as well. I'm even more bummed because my sister had generously made arrangements to fly my youngest daughter Angie out to Texas so she could drive back to Cali with me! We changed the reservation from Angie to me; instead of SFO to DFW it's DFW to SFO. Sigh.
     I know God has a plan, and I will continue to trust that He knows what he's doing. I'm not sure what to do with my 2004 VW Convertible that I still owe money on (it's a 2004 which I've had for 1.5 years) which is now worthless ... and I'm also unsure what I'll do about "wheels" once I return to Cali. Maybe I will soon become a bus and light rail expert!! Only time will tell. For now, I will pray and trust God will provide for my needs (not wants or desires).
     On a happier note, we have performed "A Christmas Tale" three times and each time, we got better! There were a few glitches in the beginning (cast as well as sound & mics) but we ironed them all out by the third performance. Today in Spin Class a few gals were chatting with me before class started. They said they saw the show and they were quite impressed. One of the ladies said she brought her sons who were home from college and after the show they said, "Are you SURE all those people go to Sherman Bible? It was SO professionally done!" Music to the Director's ears (Frank, are you listening)!?! To God be the Glory! I can't wait for the next 3 performances!
     TTFN. (I tried for an hour to upload a photo from the show but for some reason it's not working. Ugh. Kinda goes along with this crappy day. I'll try again tomorrow).