Sunday morning we knew that the Sprinter Van would not start because it had been so cold for so long.  No big deal, we thought, because we can use the minivan because the girls were coming home later that night.  4 boys, mom, dad and a college student to pick up along the way.  Carl had the boys loaded to go, and then door to the minivan would not close.  Nothing. All the pulling, poking, prodding and it would not budge.

Ok. Plan C

We had friends who had spent the weekend with us, who were going to church as well.  They took Carl and SiTi over to Grandpa and Grandma’s house to pick up the 4-Runner.  After waiting for 15 minutes, I knew something wasn’t right.  I called and the battery was dead.  They tried jumping it. Dead Dead!

At this point, the boys were begging for home church.  But I NEEDED to go to church!  I wasn’t going to let the devil win, gosh darn it.

I called a neighbor. No answer.  I knew they were already at church. I called her husband and he answered.  Bless their souls, they let us borrow a car.  So, with a minus burr burr burr windchill, I run down to their house, grab the car, threw Jack and Max in (carseats of course) and head over to SCSU to pick up David.

I felt a little African walking into church 10 minutes late. It was a good thing that I started the “going to church” process 50 minutes before we needed to be there.

Sunday prepared me for Monday.

Knowing that we had to be at co-op by 9:00 am, I called the tow truck guys right away at 7 am on Monday to come over and get the van started.  I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off  trying to get 7 children out the door.  The triplets reminded me that we never made their mouth guards for class.  I pulled out a pot and started the water to boil. Titus couldn’t find his backpack, snack or book he was supposed to bring.  At 8:25, the tow truck man came in and said it was a, “No go!” on the van.  What??? My brain wanted to explode.  I still had three nonworking vehicles. And my friend reminded me that I had agreed to host a meeting right after co-op.  (Insert a little hyperventilation.)

My in-laws just happened to stop over for coffee before they were going to fly back to WY.  The plan was that my father-in-law  offered to take 4 kids to co-op while I drove the still borrowed car from the neighbor.  He loaded the kids and left. I politely asked my sweet mother-in-law if she could at least empty and load the dishwasher for me because I was having company as soon as I arrived home. I swooped up Jack, Max and Titus and proceeded to wrestle three carseats with two screaming boys  into the back of the car.  It was so crazy insane that I started laughing while trying to strap them in.  If I didn’t start laughing, I surely would have cried.

We arrived at Uplift, which is the co-op, at 8:50 with 10 minutes to spare.  Whew!

I grabbed pizza for lunch and came home to a very clean house that I didn’t clean – for which I am very grateful.

I found out that the 4-runner received a new battery thanks to my in-laws.  Carl drove all the way to St. Joe to Tiremaxx with the van door open to get it repaired.  They weren’t able to repair it, but were able to shut the door.  It will be fixed on Friday.  The Sprinter miraculously started yesterday afternoon, after we thought we would have to have it towed to a heated garage to let it warm up.

So, now I have three working vehicles and tomorrow I can return the car to the neighbors.

And now I am more santicfied than I was when I woke up on Sunday morning.