Joshua in school ... and master brake cylinder cut out of van.

Joshua has been doing relatively well in school. He definitely NEEDED to get back into it. The summer break tends to bore him a lot, and he tends to have more problems. But this is the 4th day he's been back and he's doing mostly well. At home, he tends to be more relaxed and less apt to meltdown. It's been a pretty good week for him.

And then today, the rest of the family decided to get into the van to go to the store. It was fine, until I put on the brakes to get ready to back up. Or tried to. They went all the way to the floor. I went to pull the hood latch, and it had already been pulled. I lifted the hood...and the air filter and a hose were laying on the engine. Then I looked down farther, and the brake lines were cut and the master brake cylinder was surgically removed. It's obvious someone with a vehicle that uses the same parts as mine, removed it so that they could use it on their own vehicle.

I mean, hell, it's only a $40 part. The problem is, I'm no mechanic. I can't repair the break line, replace the master cylinder, bleed the fluid, or whatever else has to be done. It'll cost $200 to $300 to get it fixed, and I can't really afford to when the van is already in pretty bad shape and probably not worth fixing.

There is a special place in hell for people that strand a family with 2 autistic children by stealing from them and disabling their only means of transportation.