Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Next Time It Might Be More Relaxing To Stay Home!!!

Hello All,

Well, it's that time of the year again and Lela is at the Pastor's Wives' retreat in Murrieta. That means that I am playing the part of Mr. Mom at home. Oh, I can almost hear it in the air. Insert high pitched female voice, in the throes of sadistic delight: "Oh now he'll really see how hard it is to be a Mom!" Let me let some air out of your proverbial tires: This guy isn't too bad off! Laundry is DONE AND FOLDED, dishes are out of the sink, the floor is cleaned, the kids have had a balanced day's nutrition and they were to bed ON TIME! Now, that being said, let me also say that it's difficult work to be sure. I would not trade with Lela for a million bucks! She does her part not only well, but in an excellent way! As a result, I am grateful for the opportunity that she has to get in a well deserved, relaxing getaway. Unfortunately, this one did not really fit the bill.

It all started Sunday with a request from Tatum that the girls take our #2 car over the Norman #2 car. Out 97 Corolla barely outclasses their #2 car, in terms of comfort, gas mileage, etc. But there was a little, I thought, insignificant matter to attend to. For these last weeks, a "Check Engine" light has been plaguing me. The car was running fine, the fluids were normal, so I did not worry much about it. However, when the prospect of my wife and Chris' wife driving that car to Murrieta came up, it caused me to get to the bottom of that light.

So Monday...ah, Monday! My former "day off," now a day dedicated to the fine art of mechanic work, also a day for me to part with large sums of money! This check engine light was just a sensor...a $200 sensor...but just a sensor nonetheless. "We'll wait on that," I told Sam the front office man, thinking, "Wow, at least we don't need to make a repair today." Almost as quickly as I thought that wonderful thought, Sam dropped the chalupa on me when he said, "But, your motor mounts are bad and need to be replaced."

Motor mounts? Hmmm...let me search the database...Driving toward Victorville...taking Lela to an inservice...Tercel motor fell out of the car...AH YES! MOTOR MOUNTS! Now, this was about 10 years ago and because of very helpful shock therapy, I was able to forget the cost.

THANK YOU SAM FOR REMINDING ME that motor mounts run about $600.00!!!!! Ah, what a joy!

Now, this is important information because my wife used her debit card to pay for this. She was already leaving an hour late and now she was going to use her debit card to deal with this expenditure.

Meanwhile, back on the home front, I was picking up Renae from school, navigating through the sea of humanity, looking for my daughter's class. Thankfully, Caleb "Human GPS" Sanchez has his mother's gift of directional wisdom and we found it on time. After getting home, I received a call from our bank, informing me that there was some "suspicious" activity involving Lela's card. "Suspicious" to the tune of a certain percentage over our daily limit.

I tried to call and run interception, but Lela would have to deal with this from her end, this after being stopped from attempting to purchase a Starbucks drink. If you know us, then you know that not being able to get a Starbucks is a MAJOR TRIAL!!! :) I figured: "Poor girl! She has not had a moment of peace." Unfortunately for her, that's not where it ended.

Because I teach a very early Bible study on Tuesday morning, I enlisted the help of my sister Leah for the morning. I asked her to take Renae to school this morning, which meant that she needed to traverse the labyrinth that is Ladera Ranch. As noble as the effort was, Leah got lost and needed help to get Renae to school. She called our cell phone...Lela has the cell phone...in Murrieta...on retreat...uh...let me see if I can paint the picture:

Lela and Tatum probably stayed up late, reviewing the retreat or talking about their loser husbands..."Imagine them, trying to dress the kids. I bet Caleb is wearing Renae's clothes!! Well, hey, at least we don't have to get up early!"

7:45 in the AM is early for Lela, who is renowned for her love of sleep. She was awakened by my sister who was wandering the streets of Ladera, desperately trying to get Renae to school. I'm just glad that I was not making the call! Leah, you are so brave! I would probably have just kept Renae from school, rather than wake Lela up for directions!

Of course, at that time, I was enjoying a great Morning Fill, where we took communion, prayed for one another and re-covered some material from our first 3 sessions of our new study. It was an awesome and refreshing morning...at least for me...

Looking back, I at least have had a great laugh over these events. My time with the kids has been pretty uneventful. I went to the library with the kids and said "shh" a record 4 million times! I jumped in the pool with the kids because it was 95 degrees about an hour later. Let me tell you that there is a HUGE difference between a heated pool and a 95 degree day in August and a non-heated pool and a 95 degree day in October!

The classic though was reading the Bible last night with the kids and talking about Philip's power to heal in Acts chapter 8. Caleb is all about powers right now and can't wait to watch Iron Man or Batman. When I mentioned that the gift of healing was "a power to heal," Caleb perked up and said, "Power!?" This led to a classic conversation about the "powers" that the kids had that could be used for Jesus!

Yeah, I think that I had a much more relaxing and fun retreat! Prayerfully, tomorrow, Lela will have an uneventful final day of the retreat. Maybe you could pray that we would both enjoy this last day of three. Yeah, alright: Pray for my wife more! I'll have you save mine for this weekend, when I lead the Kingsfield Men's Retreat. Lord have mercy!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

4 comments:

April said...

sounds like you did a great job...and don't you just miss her? :)

Frank And Lela said...

April,

I truly did miss Lela. Times like these last few days remind me of the fact that God has done a wonderful thing in meeting the needs of my heart with the wife that he has chosen for me. While I can certainly do all the things necessary for a short time, I imagine that I would eventually tire out and feel utterly lost without her. But the short times are pretty easy to survive.

"Sounds like you did a great job..."

How can I have made it so that there was more certainty in that statement? :) Next time, I'll provide pictures...

Blessings,
Frank

Cowen Family said...

At least you were humble enough to admit your faults...one not many are willing to admit! Good job:)

Frank And Lela said...

Uh...wait a minute...What "faults?"