we left thessaloniki about 1:30 after very carefully packing the car with the frames, quilts, tools, clothes for the trip, all the "stuff" for the exhibition etc. just about 1/2 hour before we reached larisa the car began to heat up. thomas finally pulled over and checked under the hood to find steam rising form the engine and after checking the water in the radiator found that the water was very low even after filling the tank just before we left. we have a bad water pump so we need to always check the water but nothing like this has ever happened. thomas had water so filled it tank and we got back on the road. but within another 15 minutes the same thing happened. so we just barely limped into town sure that the water pump would probably have to be replaced before returning to thessaloniki.
got to the hotel which was very nice. they even had an elevator for the car which took us down to the parking garage below the hotel???? i have NEVER heard of that before!!! a large flyer taped to the front window of the hotel announced the quilting exhibition and workshop to be given by kristine pappas:) hahahaha. i don't think i have ever seen my name posted anywhere before!! i was feeling rather important and thomas and i got a good laugh:) panos, a craft store owner and the man responsible for arranging this exhibition greeted us with nancy tsitsioni, in tow. nancy was one of the beginner quilters at our conference in september. so panos and nancy helped thomas and i to prepare the exhibition/workshop area which was located in a large conference room in our hotel!! wowsie!! how convenient. it was a great space and we had room to both set up the exhibition and a workshop area in the same room.
after we finished with getting the exhibition and workshop area finished, panos and nancy took us to see his very large 3 story craft shop and we talked at length about the quilting supplies he would need to buy if he were to have everything a quilt group in larisa would need. panos took us all out for dinner at a very nice restaurant where his wife and college aged son soon joined us. we had a really lovely evening and came home full and exhausted:)
our breakfast was on the hotel so we had a nice breakfast and walked over to the workshop area. this was so great to not even have to leave the hotel. once my workshop got going, thomas took our car a couple of miles outside of town to see about the repair. our workshop had 7 women and we taught a beginner 9-patch with one boarder for a pillow project. the women were all so enthusiastic and it was a great group to work with. we stopped for lunch at noon and that is when thomas called with the bad news. he didn't even ask me if i wanted the good news first or the bad news first. that's because there was no good news:) hahahaha. it turned out that the car did not have a bad water pump but instead had blown a gasket on the road. hmmmmm . . . . 300 euro repair. well, we only have about 450 euros in our account for the october tour which just an hour ago seemed like more than enough. interesting how money can just slip through your fingers so quickly:)
thomas considered trying to limp back to thessaloniki with about 10 gallons of water in tow and get his cheap mechanic who lives in our neighborhood to do the repair for only 200 euros but then there would be the bus to get back and bring the car home which would make the cost just about the same. so i guess we are getting a new gasket -- i guess you have to take the entire engine out to do this job:((( so i finished my workshop about 5 pm and was exhausted and thomas was still with the mechanic. i came back to the room for a nap and it is now 8:00 pm and i have not heard a word from thomas since. the mechanic asked him to stay during the repair and since there is no way back to town i guess he is a captive audience:) hahahaha.
so we will just have to trust God for how the rest of this month will go. i am pretty sure that we are supposed to go to athens and sparti. there was word from ada, the quilter there who is arranging that exhibition, that possibly the american ambassador's office would pay for our gas to sparti and back and that would be a great help on our expenses but we don't know for sure. so we will be praying to see how the Lord provides. it is always a surprise when things like this happen and i am getting used to anticipating with wonder what He will do. so pray with us and stay posted. we will close our exhibition tomorrow evening, pack up and head next to katerini. we have a meeting there with the girls to get them ready for the lessons they will be teaching in november and also we will meet with the factory owner who is going to employ their work for the quilt shop she will be opening in thessaloniki early next year. i am really excited about that meeting!! pray with us. i have enclosed some photos of our exhibition below:
thomas called