Too purty to live in town.....

2/6/08

It's been a rough couple of days, and I think I can understand why. I call it a "fuse test." You see, just recently I started attending a different church and feel myself growing spiritually. What happens when someone begins to grow spiritually? Yep, tests and trials. Seems it's my turn in the barrel.

It started Monday morning when Joe got sick. No problem. I can take a couple of days off and take care of him. That's one of the many reasons I took a government job, so I could have leave time and job security when I need to use it.

Next, I get a phone call that my insurance declined my son's speech therapy. No big problem really. The school offers speech therapy, and the plan all along was to begin the therapy at the rehab place until the school got him approved. Then I'd terminate with the rehab place and continue with the school. So, I felt ok about it because I already had a plan B in place. I talked to the powers that be at the school, and we have an appointment next week to get the process started.

After that, my cell phone died. Well, it didn't die completely, I guess a better way to say it is that it malfunctioned. I could receive a call, but the screen on my razor phone does not work. This means that I can't access my phone directory or see who's calling. I spent some time on the phone with my carrier, and since I got the insurance, they are sending me a replacement for no charge. It will get here this weekend or on Monday, so that's solved.

This morning, the check engine light on my car came on. My first thought was that something didn't get connected correctly or got disconnected when I had the oil changed and the tranny serviced. So I called Troy, the man who did it, and explained what was happening and that I did have a service agreement on the car, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't something real basic before I took it to the dealership.

Troy told me to bring it to him and he'd check it out. Their diagnostic test showed that it was a malfunctioning cam sensor. He told his tech to not erase the error, so I could take it to the dealer. I get to the dealer and asked if it was covered under the agreement. At first they said no, then they wanted to know what kind of agreement I had. I told them that I had bought the car there and they should already have that information because they had done work under the agreement there before. Then they said that they'd have to run their own diagnostic, and if it was a covered item, they'd fix it free. However if it was not a covered item, I'd have to pay them $81 for the diagnostic.

I told them that I wanted to know if it was covered before the diagnostic, because I was not going to pay them $81 to tell me what I already knew. The service manager got involved and said that they had to have the diagnostic error first, and then they could call it in to the service agreement company to get approval for the repair and that I wouldn't have to worry about the $81 fee for right now.

So I go do the paperwork to get the free loaner vehicle, and am about ready to leave when they come to me and said that there was no error codes showing when the diagnostic was run and the check engine light had gone off, so evidently the tech cleared the error code even though Troy had told them not to. With no symptoms and no error codes, there was nothing for them to get approval for. So, I loaded all my stuff back into my car, with the instruction that when the light comes on again, to bring it to them directly for further diagnostic tests. They said that the check engine light would come on again if the problem persisted. They just didn't know if it would happen in an hour, a week or a month, but when it happened, to bring it back to them straight away. So, for now, problem solved, sorta.

I'm feeling incredibly stressed and frustrated, but yet, glad because every issue had been solved, and without huge financial, emotional or spiritual drain. Throughout these problems, God has been with me and blessed me. I'm tired and drained, but I'm doing ok anyway. It's a real pain in the ass to have to deal with all these things all at once, but ya know what?? I did!!

I didn't blow up or melt down, didn't make any trips to Sonic for onion rings, and didn't take multiple shots of liquor to cope with it. I just kept praying and trusting that God would take care of me, and He did. Works for me!!