What a week!

This week was quite eventful. Actually that's kind of a lame way of putting it. I really didn't know how I would get through this week. But here I am, on Saturday morning, listening to my kids (well, two of them) interact with their cousins at breakfast time.

The craziness started out when I first made plans to come to Tillamook for a dear friends wedding. She's getting married tomorrow, and Mom was gracious enough to fly us over. Chris decided to stay home with Andrew, since we weren't sure if his job would have him on call or not. So we bought tickets for me and Kadee Joy to fly over, and of course I would just bring Jeffy as a lap child.

We got a call on Sunday night from Chris' dad, and sadly had to inform Chris that his grandpa, a wonderful man in all respects, had passed away. Chris was obviously upset over it, and we kept his whole family in our prayers.

The next day, Chris let me know that he really felt that he wanted to go to Texas for the funeral. While I certainly wanted Chris to go, I had parent teacher conferences this week, and the flight he would take wouldn't get him back until two days after I left for Tillamook. Problem? Child care during the day, and a place for Andrew to go for two nights. Me taking Andrew just wasn't an option...Andrew freaks out on plane rides, and I knew that if he decided to run in the airport, I would have to ditch the other two to chase after him. This wouldn't be safe for anyone.

Well, God was very gracious in allowing two places for Andrew to go while we were gone. Chris flew out for Texas on Tuesday. That was Election Day, and I still have my Washington license. So, wanting to make sure I would be able to vote in Idaho, I went to the DMV to change my driver's license to an Idaho one. I thought it would just be a matter of giving them my old license, showing proof of address, and paying a fee, since it had only been two years since I'd had an Idaho license. But oh, no...I had to take the written test. So, I arrogantly set off to take the test, thinking I'd pass it with flying colors.

The Idaho test is taken on a touch screen with ANCIENT computers. You were supposed to touch the answer, and then click on a confirmation button. Problem? The touch screens were TERRIBLE. Each answer had to be clicked, I kid you not, at least 20 times before it would go on to the confirmation part. I took me an hour to take a 40 minute test. And not because I needed that long to answer the questions. It was just that slow.

So, as my anxiety built (I had to get back to teach), my confidence started to shake. I ended up FAILING the freaking test by ONE answer. I felt so dumb...So I have to go back next week and take it. I missed all the questions that were like, "If there is a car coming towards you with its' headlights on, do you dim your headlights at 100 feet, 200 feet, 300 feet, or 500 feet?"...all feet questions. Like I can actually tell the exact number of feet I am away from a vehicle. DUMB. So my head was hung low as I left with my driver's manual, told to return after three days.

Luckily it didn't impair my ability to vote. Chris voted before he left, and I voted before I went and picked up the kids from the babysitters house. I felt good about my votes, and watched the elections later that night with my kids.

On Tuesday night, I received a visit from a man dressed as a police officer (I'm still a little suspicious as to whether or not he was actually a police officer) who informed me that there had been a string of burglaries in the neighborhood, and that the suspect had been seen hanging out right in front of our house. I was to call if I saw anything or anyone suspicious. Awesome. Naturally I slept well that night. :)

So, the kids went to a babysitter during the next day, we snuggled at night, and then on Thursday Jeffy, Kadee Joy, and I flew out, while Andrew stayed behind. And it was Andrew's third birthday. :( He SCREAMED, when I took the other two to the car. I came back in and he came up, bawling, and wrapped his arms around me, saying "Bye-bye? Bye-bye?", indicating that he wanted to go with us. It was AWFUL.

So we left for the airport, and right before we were supposed to fly out, I got a call from Chris. He had lost his wallet and its' entire contents in Texas. Credit cards, driver's license, SOCIAL SECURITY CARD (which of course you are NEVER supposed to carry around), everything. He'd lost it and he couldn't find it. Apparently he had put it on top of the rental car, got distracted, and then drove off.

So, I was supposed to go and get the rental car in Portland without a valid credit card (when Chris canceled his, it automatically canceled mine). I was a little unhappy. However, I kept together my desire to freak out, and told him that I would pray for him and that somehow he would be able to get back home (ever tried to fly without ID?...we know of one person who was able to do it...).

So, I ended up flying over without problems (Jeffy was VEEERY good on the plane and Kadee Joy was pretty good...she kind of freaked out the girl sitting next to us by asking her to say and spell her first, middle, and last names), and then got our luggage and went to the car rental place. My debit card still worked, so they took that gladly...and tacked on an extra 20%. Great.

So we drove it horrifically stormy weather across the Wilson River highway, which is a ridiculously curvy road, and of course Kadee Joy threw up. Finally we arrived at Mom's house, and everyone was very happy.

Then, yesterday afternoon, I got another call from Chris. In a last ditch effort he had called the Corpus Christi police again and asked if they'd found a wallet. They asked his name, which he gave, and said "Oh yeah, it's here. Would you like to come get it? We tried to contact Northwest Nazarene University but they had no current record of you." Real quick thought...Chris is a current STUDENT at NNU...why the heck wouldn't they have any info on him?

ANYWAY, so he went and claimed it, and everything except for 10 dollars was in there. So Chris can come home, and still has his Social Security card. :)

We've been having a fantastic time at Mom's house, and Andrew slept through the night while visiting the first house he stayed at. Chris is on his way back to Nampa today, and hopefully will have a great reunion with Andrew. I got to have a very fun night last night at the "groom's dinner" of my friend, and I get to go to the wedding today. I'm getting to see my family, enjoying Starbucks and non-casein, gluten free food.

Life is good...and hopefully will stay uneventful for the next few days. :)