Grand Canyon

We drove 5 hours from Vegas to see the Grand Canyon the first weekend in February. It was Mike and the kids first time seeing it. We stayed at the Maswik lodge at the park then drove first to Bright Angel to see the trail Amy hiked in high school. The view was amazing. Sven said it gave him a headache just looking at the enormity of the canyon. We hiked down bright angel trail just less than a quarter of a mile just for fun. It was icy and slippery for part of the trail. We made the mistake of trying to take Allison’s stroller down the trail. We eventually ditched it along the side of the trail and carried her. We wanted to keep going but didn’t want to go down farther than we thought the little ones could walk back up. Then we drove to some other places along the rim trail to take pictures. Adam and Sven almost gave Amy a heart attack getting near the edge to take pictures, she had to look away. It was a nice quick adventure but after the 5^th lookout along the rim trail the kids were getting bored of staring at a bunch of rock. As amazing as it is, after a while it does get a bit old. It was fun just doing something together as a family.

 

Mike's car

It was just before we left on our trip to California. Mike was staying home and his car had been at the dealership all week long with his wheel all banged up. We looked at buying  a new car and felt that it was out of our price range, so we looked at used cars. We found one for 4,000 that we thought we liked but couldn’t find the time to buy it before our trip to California. So I dropped him off at the dealership to get his old car. It didn’t drive very well anymore but at least he would have some transportation while we were gone. When he first wrecked it I knew we needed to get Mike’s car running again and I prayed many times that we would find a way to get it fixed within our budget. After the dealer called and told us it would be 3,00 dollars to fix it I gave up on that idea and thought the car was totaled. We left it at the dealer as we spent our time looking for a replacement. We did not want to rush into buying a car so we were forced to drive the wrecked car again. After Mike paid the inspection fee the manager came out and explained to us that most of the damage was in the rim and  that the car would still be safe to drive if we replaced it. He recommended we go to a discount tire store.  He paid 79 dollars to get a new rim and his car runs fine again.  I know that the Lord is aware of our needs and answers our sincere prayers. Yet, he couldn’t answer our prayer until we got on our feet and picked up the car from the dealer and gave him the chance. Sometimes our most sincere prayers are for naught unless we do something. The Lord helps those who help themselves and is just waiting to bless us.  The Lord is standing at the door knocking but will not come in unless WE open the door and let him in.