Of Marriage Enrichment, Remodeling, and Snakes...Oh the Irony!

This last weekend, our state Fellowship of Christian Athletes offered a coaches' marriage enrichment weekend.  We are not all that connected with FCA even though D is a coach and a full time teacher.  But we do see his coaching position as a ministry and really try to teach the boys he coaches about more than just how to be better soccer players.  Another coach invited us about 4 years ago and we've gone every year since.  No kids, have all your meals prepared for you, worship, guest speakers, fellowship with other coaches and their wives... I always enjoy going.  It always seems to refocus my heart as a wife and also inspires us as a coaching couple, to remind us that we can make a difference in the hearts of kids.  Les Steckel (a former NFL coach) and his wife were the main speakers which is right up D's alley.  Listening to stories of how Coach Steckel coached Shannon Sharpe, coached in a Super Bowl, worked with Tony Dungy, all of those stories captured D's attention.


This year, my kids went to my mom's while we were gone.  So on Sunday, we drove for about 3 hours to pick them back up.  We knew my mom had a bit of a project planned for us:  putting in new flooring in her bathroom.  That meant taking out the washed, dryer, sink and toilet, putting in the new floor, adding a new vanity, and putting the sink and toilet back in.  (She's getting a new washer and dryer so we didn't have to put the old one back in.)  D had to be back to our house by Tuesday night for summer soccer so we had one day to get this all done.  Are you already appreciating how ironic is is that we would come off of a marriage enrichment weekend only to do plumbing and floor installation at my mom's?  D had to run to the store for parts twice on Monday which when you live in the Sandhills of Nebraska means driving 30 miles one way.  (Insert groan.)  And while he was gone my mom decided to try to remove the residue left over from the wax seal after D had taken out the toilet.  Basically she thought she could use a screwdriver over a large hole in the floor, a large hole which connects to their septic system.  So yes, the screwdriver did go down the hole and yes, we had to use a magnet on a wire to get it back out and yes, we confessed our misdeed to my husband.


Of course as we were driving to my mom's, she calls and says something like "I think I have a snake in my basement."  Which she did.  Thankfully it was not nearly as bad as I had thought it might be.  She thought it was a bull snake, which it was.  But bull snakes can be pretty big.  Like 4-5 feet long.  The 4-5 feet long part was what was most concerning.  It was kind of sitting on the stairwell wall and was maybe 3 foot long and an 1 1/2 inches around.  D put on his super hero cape and used a handy dandy shovel to dispatch of the little guy while Mom and I barricaded ourselves on the other side of the room with Rubbermaid totes (mop and broom in hand).  For the record, there was no screaming like girls...at least not that I can recall.


So long, fun (and funny) weekend...very blessed by husband who had a great attitude the entire time even while working his tail off and wrangling a snake.