Problems after timing belt replacement

Regarding a 1993 Mercury Villager with 204k miles, 6cyl. About 5 weeks ago I had the broken timing belt on my van replaced. Driving home from the shop it sputtered when I made a slow sharp turn. Gas was about 1/4 tank and I just didn't think much about it since it had not been driven for 2 months prior to the repair. The 'sputtering' has continued even when on a full tank, but only seems to happen when I'm going really slow. Last Thursday as I went to get my children from school the battery had 'died'. I was about to call someone else to pick them up, but tried to start it again, it cranked right up! Coming home from ball practice the same night, after cranking the van up and driving a very short distance, the rpm gauge started going haywire, the engine was making a choking sound and the anti lock brake light came on and stayed on all the way home (7mi). Since then I've been afraid to drive the thing, but have driven it a little the past couple of days, still with the sputtering though. Yesterday I had to jump start my husband's car, after I did that and moved my van back to it's spot and turned it off, it would not crank up again, completely dead. My father in law came by last night to jump start me and it cranked fine. Until I turned it off, then it was dead again. So, the problem is twofold here, the crazy sputtering like it wants to shut off, and the fact that the battery is apparently not charging properly. Could these be some result of the timing belt not being "timed" properly or another issue? We have maintained the van and it has a new battery (2 mos), new contol module, new distributor/rotor (?) Replaced when the timing belt went because we hoped that would be the problem. Any help or advice you can give that would at least steer me in the right direction, would be greatly appreciated. We absolutely can't afford another $500 repair bill this soon after shelling out that same amount for the timing belt replacement. Thanks again!