Teamwork

Especially since our family does not have a lot of females (yet), I like that the ones we do have work so well together.

Kylee, Stephanie and I share a lot of the same goals and interests. For instance, love of God and family, service to the church, keeping our guys out of trouble ... you know, the usual things.

We help out with each others' children--I change the occasional diaper or snuggle one or more of the grandkids until they fall asleep, and Steph and Kylee keep me informed if one of my guys is doing something they shouldn't or has posted something stupid on Facebook.

Both of them have helped me with advice on decorating my home, and they've both made wreaths and/or decorations for me because they're both very crafty and creative. I return the favor by not making something for them because I'm not crafty at all.

We also work well together at planning family activities and get-togethers. There's a lot of us when we're all together and it sometimes takes a lot of planning to have everything go smoothly and everyone be entertained.

Our ability to work well together came in very handy a couple of years ago when we took a day trip to a nearby city to do some shopping. Navigating kids and strollers and shopping bags and diaper bags and lunch times and nap times--not to mention actually shopping at stores--took all three of us.

At one point we were getting ready to leave Hobby Lobby when a full-blown snowstorm suddenly came up. No snow had been predicted for the day, and actually, it wasn't all that cold. We were wearing light jackets and not heavy coats. I was the driver that day, so I volunteered to go get the van and bring it up to the door. The snow was really heavy and the wind whipped all around me ... until I got to the van (it was a big van, so it was parked in the back of the parking lot). As soon as I started the van, the snow let up and by the time I got up to the door, the sun had come out again. Guess we should have waited a few minutes, but when you have crying kids and full diapers, waiting isn't always an option.

At any rate, Kylee and Stephanie quickly loaded up and buckled the kids into their carseats and then settled in themselves. I headed toward the exit where there were several cars lined up, waiting to turn out into traffic. I pulled up to the line of cars, and at that moment our brakes quit working.

"The brakes are out!" I shouted in my best imitation of the heroine in an action movie.

"Honk your horn!" Kylee advised immediately while leaning over to make sure the kids were secure.

"There's room to pull over there!" Stephanie pointed as she watched for openings and helped me navigate into the traffic coming into the parking lot, past the line of waiting cars, and out into the street where I continued honking and driving and pumping useless brakes until I was able to steer into an empty parking lot that allowed the van to roll to a stop.

There was a sudden moment of complete silence as I put the van in park and we all drew shaky breaths of relief and prayers of thanks.

Then out came the cellphones as we called husbands and sons and brothers and arranged a couple of cars to come up and take us home. Then I made more calls to get a tow truck for the van while Kylee and Stephanie made a quick run to a nearby convenience store for snacks and beverages as we were going to have several hours to wait before tow truck and rescue drivers could reach us.

All in all, other than the very real danger of crashing into oncoming vehicles and the threat of imminent death (not that I'm dramatic at all), we had a nice little time of snacks and Pinterest and chatting and laughing while waiting to be rescued. The kids even cooperated by taking naps almost the entire time we were stuck in the parking lot. It's not an event I want to repeat any time soon, but it does make for some good laughs and memories now and that's partly because of the way we work together and the way we get along.

I wouldn't trade that for anything. Well, maybe for working brakes, but other than that--nothing!