A Little Southern Comfort Day 1

I decided to title this vacation's posts something that would encompass our trip as a whole, although you'll soon see that it wasn't all sweet and that we had to sometimes be intentional in looking for the silver linings. I have so much to cover from this trip that I decided to break it down into several posts over the next few days.

I'll begin with just trying to get to our destination. I've been planning this trip to visit my mom in Georgia for about a month now. We made plans to stay over in Tennessee to break up the drive for G. I had my lists written, my budget planned, tickets pre-purchased, and a couple little surprises lined up.

We left bright and early on Tuesday morning.  We had packed the majority of our things in the vehicle the night before and morning went by smoothly.  Apparently too smoothly...

G has Bella and is ready to go!

About 2.5 hours into our trip our vehicle began to overheat...no good. We quickly pulled off on the next exit and made our way into a gas station parking lot. Upon parking and turning off the vehicle white smoke was pouring out everywhere.

FYI:We're still not exactly sure what went wrong but it's being looked into...We made multiple calls to family members and car rental businesses with no luck. My husband finally found a car rental company within "safe" driving distance (we prayed the whole 8 minutes it took us to get there.) C went in and came out with his head hung low. Despite the company's online site indicating available rentals, truth was, they would have none available until sometime the next day. I admit I got a bit weepy. I was hot, tired and the baby was done with her car seat. After a brief pity party I got my head together and we began calling other rental locations and finally found one promising they could get us taken care of. We prayed for another 15 miles to reach this beacon of hope. They had made a promise...that resulted in a vehicle not being available for what would be another 6 hours.

Not knowing when they would call with a vehicle we went about 5 minutes down the road and grabbed lunch. Afterwards we pulled into a park where we hung out the remainder of the afternoon.

Her first time in a swing! She loved it!

Snacking on some grapes

Side note: Let me just say that our baby is a trooper. No real naps were allotted and our circumstances were less than ideal and through it all she remained in pretty good spirits.

Around 4 PM that afternoon we were blessed to find ourselves in a reliable rental.

Our vehicle was left at the place of business to be picked up by my in - laws at some point in the week. We had a lot of things go poorly...

Breaking down (in front of a dealership that sells our type of vehicle nonetheless)...

The driving weather...

But through it all we were reminded of God's goodness and grace. We were granted beautiful weather while waiting at the park.

We were graced to have the financial provisions to pay for such a large unexpected cost. We were able to make some first time memories and through it all we remained thankful. My husband and I caught one another giving thanks for the good when it would have been so easy to become bitter and complain. I feel this situation shows not only how we've grown as a couple but as individuals in the Lord.

We finally made it to our hotel, and despite needing a bathroom remodel, we were pleased with our stay. Many fun things to come...be looking for a little more southern comfort to come...

Sneak Peek!