Patience

We were blessed to get a new used van a month or so ago. It is great to have a safer way to transport our kids and adults when we do an event. Yeah, we already have a big van that can hold 20 and a truck that can fit that many in the back. So getting our used van has been a blessing. What hasn’t been a blessing has been waiting for a part over the last 2 weeks.

I’m blessed to have a great friend who is also my mechanic. He is great at helping out and figuring out what is wrong and then is always so willing to do what has to be done. I know that when I dropped the van off to get an oil change I was a little surprised when he told me what was really wrong with it, like there was fluid leaking that was anti-freeze which was caused by a bad seal in the AC condenser core.

The challenge now comes when the parts store my mechanic uses isn’t able to get the part. So we have to resort to using a different parts store. They go online and find the correct part and assure me that it will be in on Christmas Eve. I’m so hoping that the van can be done so we can take it on our San Diego trip. Yeah, I’ll admit that I wanted to show off the van and be able to use it with doing family outings. The sad news was that the part didn’t come in on Christmas Eve. I really shouldn’t have expected my mechanic to work on Christmas Eve. God threw a monkey wrench and there wasn’t a part so he couldn’t fix it.

I am promised by the manager that she would order another part just incase this other part was lost on a Fed Ex truck. She did admit that there were other parts that were missing and it was most likely a different driver because of the holiday and the part would show up. We leave for our little vacation in San Diego and I let go of whether the part will show up or not.

I am hoping that my mechanic has gotten the part and after we return there will be a call saying it is done come and get it. Yet, the sad truth was there wasn’t a call and the part hadn’t come in yet and the van was still stripped and unable to do much of anything. So I decide to go in and get my money back and go to a different parts supply place. I call the dealer and discover the part would cost over $400 if I bought it through them and it would still have to be special ordered. This last place I was going to at least see if they could rebuild the part and found out they could actually get the right one in just a day and it was still around a $100.

So I’m now waiting again for the part, which is promised to come in today. So I’ll see if I have patience when I’m told the part isn’t available later today.