if the devil were ever a true part of halloween, it was today.

it started off great...the boys awoke in good moods and we were dressed and out the door by 9:30. we drove to Lowe's to pick up kenny's birthday present (which would still be a surprise had it not been for the rest of the days' events). the boys were excited talking about and planning his birthday events...but to them, it's all about the cake.

when we got home, kenny had an errand to run, and i jumped at the chance to run it for him. adam and i took off around noon to a Kinkos (the closest one is 45 minutes away!) to pick up a poster for something i'll blog about in the future...but it was important that we pick it up today. adam fell asleep about 20 minutes into the drive. i noticed that we were getting low on gas, but wondered whether or not i should just fill the tank once i reached the Kinkos since it was around more gas stations. at the very last minute before passing up the last gas station before getting onto the highway, i decided to fill the tank then. so i get out quietly (as not to wake a just-fallen-asleep-adam) and start to fill the tank. around $5.45, i noticed something leaking from under our car. i peer underneath and surely, a pinkish liquid was POURING out of the front section of the car. i stopped pumping immediately and got back into the car and pulled it around to the station. i checked again under the car and it was still pouring out. in fact, i noticed that there was a line of liquid on the ground from the road and into the gas station, so it had started to leak before i actually got to the station.

to make a long story semi-short, i had a guy from within the shell station look at the car and he said that it seems one of my heating lines rusted through and anti-freeze and water was draining out of the engine. he recommended not driving it. i called AAA, and told them i was stranded with a 16-monht-old (by the way...if you are ever stranded with young children, you should mention that to the AAA folks as they make an extra effort to get their faster. apparently.). they were there within 40 minutes.

the tow-truck driver was a hoot. he had a double cab, so i felt comfortable putting adam face-front for this one trip (even though he's just over 20#, he's still rear-facing and i'm not really in a hurry to switch him around yet). adam had a great time watching out the windows all around him and sitting next to me. we had the van towed to the neighborhood mechanic: you gotta love the country. this guy lives next ot his garage and has a few goats penned up in a small shed a few feet away...and it's not junky. he's in an "upscale" section of the neighborhood - a newer build area (well, newer-build as in 1970s instead of 1890s!) who fixed the line for us in less than two hours. i think he heard kenny and i trying to figure out how to get the kids trick or treating tonight without the family car (and three car seats!). once again, gotta love the country - you have to drive to get anywhere to trick or treat!). i had to pull kenny's gift out of the back of the van and put it in the truck to take home - so he got his brithday present early!

all in all, it was a HUGE pain in the butt, but we see God's hand of protection in so many parts of the day:

1. i thank God i stopped when i did, otherwise the car could have overheated and done more damage.
2. i considered canceling our AAA membership back in april. thank God i didn't.
3. the mechanic is usually backed up with a lot of work (we recently waited over two weeks for our truck to be inspected). today, he turned our van around in a few hours.
4. adam, who has been on the cranky side lately, was a pure delight to hang out with at a gas station today. he laughed, played with my cell phone, said "hi" to strangers and didn't fuss once.
5. the boys didn't miss out on trick or treating - something they've been talking about since last january (they still talk about how fun it was to trick or treat with uncle wayne and aunt amanda last year!)
6. when we got home from dropping the van off at the mechanic, i was able to run back out in kenny's car to pick up the much-needed poster while adam napped the entire time i was gone.

i'll post pictures and a play-by-play of our trick or treating events later.

tomorrow is the start of National Blog Posting Month. see you back here tomorrow!