starter does not disengage

I just finished cleaning up from my most recent mechanic experience with our van. My friend Wade graciously took me step by step through this relatively simple process and also let me use some of his conveniences, like the jack and the thing you lie down on to roll under the engine (can someone tell me what that's called?)...

The starter, I learned, has two main functions 1) it starts the engine and 2) once the engine starts it disengages and gets ready for next time. For some reason, our starter was forgetting to do the second part. The van will work like that, but eventually, the starter will burn out. So it needs to disengage. I bought a replacement, took out the old one, put in the new one and it worked! Thanks again Wade!

This whole past week we have all been packing into our 2-door Saturn and it's been a tighter than usual ride around town, but we have also grown closer. Samuel remembered to pray almost every day for "Doc" (That's what Samuel calls our '98 Dodge Caravan - I believe because of how it reminds him of that character in the animated Disney movie "Cars"). We also prayed a prayer a thanksgiving to thank God for helping Doc get better.

Our plan is to take this van down to Mexico as our primary mode of transportation. Fixing this starter was just one recent item that popped up. Please join us in prayer to have the finances needed for two other major things: The left strut tower is quite rusted and we need to get that fixed before travelling, we also are still paying off the van. Currently this is a significant portion (one third) of the finances we need as a part of our transition to Mexico.

Based on the frequency and rate we have seen support and commitments come in, we anticipate that our departure which we had hoped for August or the fall, will more likely be next spring or summer. We are doing our part and trust that God will continue to guide us to the right people who He prepared to back us up in this meaningful way. Please pray with us that this be a reality in His timing.