We were moving to a new state after my husband had been out of work for many months and we had no money. In fact, we had to borrow money to reach our destination town. Anyway, it was my husband, two boys aged four and two, and myself, seven months pregnant  , in an old Volvo station wagon. We had been driving for two days in the middle of winter (that car's heater didn't work), and we had taken a route that was very _ . There was nothing around for miles-no cars, buildings or signs of civilization. Suddenly, our car started losing power and the gauges  went all out of order. We saw a light in the distance and managed to roll to a stop in front of this property that looked like a small simple house. Our cell phones had not gotten reception for many miles, and it was freezing outside, so I didn't know if we were going to make it out of this situation alive. My husband got out of the car to see if there was something he could do to get us rolling again, but it was not looking good. A short while later, a man came out of the house and spoke with my husband a bit before inviting us all into his home. He and his wife took us in, fed us, and made us feel at home as we struggled to find some way to get to our destination, which was still a few hours' drive away. We were able to call a friend and get a ride, leaving our broken car behind, but not before the couple gave us food and water for our journey. One week later, this dear sweet couple pulled our car all the way to our place and refused to take anything in return, except for us to pay it forward-and we have, and will continue to do it forever. We can learn from the text that the family  _  .
had a hopeless future was in financial difficulty suffered from a company crash wanted to turn to their relatives for help