Wednesday, January 10, 2007

The Master Of Understatement!

Hello All,

The words, "just a little dust" reverberate through my skull to this moment. Carlos is preparing to move into my house. Today we went all over the city, updating accounts, taking our names of off this and that. It was arduous, but always a pleasure to hang with Carlos. He is the man when it comes to awesome ministry experiences. It blows my mind what he has gone through in the 20 years plus years that he has been on the mission field. And while one never looks forward to standing in bank lines, with Carlos, it's never boring!

But it was Tuesday night that was exciting in our house. Up on the
third floor, Carlos replicated a storage area in the wall that he has in his present house. He started cutting away and at first did not seem like dust was going to be a problem. I got closer to the saw and all of a sudden a huge cloud of orange dust enveloped my face. At that point, we did not have masks on, and we were soon out on the terrace of the third floor, gasping for air! It's a that point that Carlos said, "I might have underestimated how messy this is going to be!" Yeah, I hear you there brother!

Of course, the kids were so excited about the whole process. To keep them off the third floor, we told them that a bear was likely behind the wall and that we would have to "shoe it" away. (I know, what great Pastors we are!) At one point, Renae, ever the curious one came up when all the noise and dust was at it's most dense. I'm
sure that in her very active imagination, the noise of the saw and the dust were all indicative of bear activity. So she came sneaking up. About this same time, overwhelmed with dust, I half lunged over the top of the separator between the floor and the stairwell, coughing and convulsing. Renae saw me, probably thought I was the deposed bear, and screamed to high heaven! It was classic! If I wasn't inhaling a ton of dust at the time, I would have been laughing my head off!

The other memorable thing for the kids was the masks. They were immediately impressed with our masks, Renae the vocal leader of the "Can we wear the masks?" coalition! Of course, ours were absolutely disgusting, so that was out of the question. But I did promise to get some for them today. After our business was completed this morning, we went over to Valenzuela's to buy some masks. "And for only a euro, you too can please your children!"




Of course, I couldn't let this opportunity pass without getting matching "Mommy/Daddy" models! I think I might use this for our next family portrait!

Blessings To The Friends Of Spain,
Frank Sanchez

9 comments:

Verhoeven5 said...

Now that is an incredible memory. Thanks for sharing. I giggled out loud!
Melanie

Frank And Lela said...

Thanks for checking with us Melanie! When I wrote it I was laughing thinking of Renae's face coming up those stairs! It was hilarious!

Anonymous said...

Hi Lela and Frank. We were just reading up on your blog. We will be praying for you tonight.

EJ and Manie Lease

Anonymous said...

we wish we could be there at the airport to see you all come in, but we'll see you for our mock-christmas. As i was reading this blog mom was laughing at me b/c she thought i was just laughing for no reason but i was laughing at renae...and the bear. see you soon, love and miss you guys.
lenna and richie

Frank And Lela said...

Hey Ej & Manie, Rich & Lenna,

Thanks for checking in. We appreciate the prayers. Especially for our health. We need to be at full strength for our big day+ of travel coming up Wednesday.

Rich & Lenna, the kids can't wait to have Christmas at the Sanchez house! We'll look forward to seeing you there. For me, it's just been the longest Christmas season in my life!! Just promise me: No Christmas Carols.

Blessings,
F.S.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I think that pic would make a great Christmas card! You know Frankie, maybe the Lord is making you celebrate Christmas until you like it. This could be a Bill Murray experience for you.

Only 4 more days! Are you ready? Are you excited? We are. I wrote a song for you. "We wish you a merry trip-mas. We wish you a merry trip-mas. We wish you a merry trip-mas and a happy flight home."

See you soon!
love, patty

Frank And Lela said...

Patty,

That sounds a lot like...ARGH! A CHRISTMAS CAROL!!! And if that's true, then we are in for a LONG FEW DOZEN YEARS!

I did get a sense of groundhog day when on January 5th, the Mercadonna brought out the special cakes of the Three Kings and a Kenny G Christmas song was playing over the P.A. That was a surreal moment!

See you soon.

Blessings,
F.S.

Anonymous said...

oh believe me there will be christmas carols, and if that means that i am the only person singing them, then so be it! hahahahaha!(evil laugh)
lenna

Frank And Lela said...

Lenna,

You better be talking about your friends named "Carol" who you always see during Christmas time from Murrieta, or else there's going to be trouble! I have three kids Lenna! Work that one out!!! MUHUHA HAHAHA! (EVILER LAUGH!)

See you soon...if we can ever get our luggage packed and under 23 kilos!

Blessings,
F.S.