TODAY...and boy, was it a doozy!

We started out the day today leaving Big Sky and headed to Bozeman. We had seen a couple of antique stores we wanted to check out and an off-road shop that of course needed to be part of our itinerary. We then planned for a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings, because it. is. amazing.

Well right after the off-road shop and on our way to our 2nd antique shop, a light came on on the dashboard. It said "check charging system". Well for those of you in the know, you understand what that means. We however needed a little guidance. We decided to finish up the antiques, and then head to the local Ford dealership to have a diagnostic test run. The Ford shop was not interested in helping us, because of course they were "slammed". So with some prayer, we headed to lunch before the kids had a serious meltdown.

After lunch and a LOT MORE PRAYER, we made it to a local O'Reilly Auto Parts store. The FANTASTIC gentleman that worked there came out and our car wouldn't even start! Praise the Lord we made it to that store before our car died! This guy (whose name we didn't get, we'll call him Joe) told us we needed the battery charged to be able to run the diagnostics. So Tim went to remove the battery and the bolt holding it in is stripped!!! Well Joe was SO HELPFUL to us. He loaned us a bunch of tools, and together they were able to get the battery out.

Now I know you are all thinking...dead battery. Easy fix. Well not so my friends! The battery gets charged the test is run, and the alternator is not working. Now you can ask my husband what an alternator is, because I have no idea. We were able to purchase one, and Tim was able to install it in the parking lot.

The kids entertaining themselves for the 2 hours we were hanging out at O'Reilly's.
I hope to write a very nice letter to this company and tell them about Joe and what a blessing he was to us! I also would like to write a tersely worded letter to Ford, but God is sovereign and had they not turned us away, we would not have found Joe! Nor would Tim have done the alternator himself, but probably would have paid double to have them fix it! Location of the battery! I wish I would have taken a picture of where the alternator is....then at least I would know its location! The book I got from the library that I was able to partially enjoy while the kids were entertained. My sweet, brilliant, smart, handy, mechanically minded husband who saved the day, and proved himself my hero once again!

So if every you find yourself stranded with a broken alternator, my husband can help you out!

We head "home" tomorrow, as we don't have a home, we will be shacking up with the folks for a bit.

Praise the Lord for his many, many blessings in this unexpected day!