safari awd trans problem

Hi,
Any diagnosis help on this would be greatly appreciated. I have a 2000 safari awd with 119K miles that suddenly developed a trans problem today.
The vehicle has been driving fine until today. The van had been driven earlier and was warm. When pulling away from a stop sign the van bucked a couple times and then ceased to engage in drive. My wife said there was no real grinding noted, just acted like in neutral. She was able to drive it home in 2nd gear. On testing this evening, no gear will engage in either drive or 3rd. When shifted into 1st it will engage with a small clunk, then pull off normally. If manually shifted up it will shift fine into 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, once rpms are high enough. The trans will deliver power but will slip out of gear if in 3rd or 4th and rpms drop. Also, when pulling away from a stop in first and second if the wheel is turned while accelerating there is a noticeable growl. One last bit of info, but possibly unrelated, is the tendency to feel what seems like a slip then engage when starting from a stop, engine cold, and wheels turned sharply...I figure this is a transfer case issue but bring it up just in case...it has been intermittently doing this for several months.

Thanks in advance!
Larry D.