ERROR: How small things drastically impact my life.

This could definitely be a lengthy post as I look back at some impossible errors in my life.

Let's start with our most recent phenomenon...

This evening, shortly after 10pm, James and I discovered that the amount deposited into our account from the government did not match what HR Block listed as our refund amount. After some investigation we discovered that the IRS believes that an error was made in our filing. We will be calling our accountant tomorrow morning to learn the pleasantries of this situation. I will, as politely as possible, convince them to honor their guarantee, pay any penalties, and return my funds. I'm sure it will be a lovely conversation and if I'm lucky, the baby won't wake up unexpectedly during what is sure to be a lengthy phone call and Dallin won't scream at me from the bathroom that he wants help wiping. I'm sure that it's probably no big deal. I'm sure everything will work out. I'm sure nothing big will come of it. Right?

Let me share some hilariously impossible situations that ended up being HUGE deals. (Please know as you read this, that despite these ginormous obstacles, I am currently a well adjusted and very happy individual.)

1)
Late in the afternoon on the last Friday in February, I opened a letter in the mail informing me that our health insurance was being canceled as of March 1st (a Sunday). James had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the following Monday. This was an appointment that he made month's in advance. He's been having breathing trouble. His asma is getting worse, and I don't think he has fully recovered from a bronchial infection that he had just before Christmas.

You can imagine that at 4 o'clock in the afternoon on a Friday no one in the office was available to speak with me. I left numerous messages on voice mails frantically hoping someone would return my call and fix this before it was too late. Alas, it was not to be. Our insurance was canceled, James missed his appointment, and we've been told that once coverage ends - it cannot be reactivated. How did this happen? One page of our renewal paperwork was lost by someone in their offices. They are claiming not to have received it. I delivered it in person.

2)
I was a sophomore at Southeast Missouri State University living in the dorms on campus. After completing the fall semester, I returned to St. Louis for Christmas Break. The dorms were closed over break but we were allowed to leave our belongings securely locked inside. I filled out a forwarding address card with the office of Campus Mail.

Upon my return and the start of the Spring semester, I was surprised that none of my instructors had me on their class rosters. A bit alarmed, I head to the registrar for a copy of my schedule. She informed me that my classes were dropped for non-payment and that notices had been mailed to...(any guesses?) that's right! my dorm room.

After 2 days of investigating, I learned that an expected increase in my grant did not come through simply because someone accidentally typed in a zero instead of a three on my transcript. The classes that I had registered for were full and could not be added to because of fire codes. These classes were prerequisites for my program and were only offered in the fall. Even if I could find art classes that had room for me, I would not be able to be back on track for another year. I packed up, moved back to St. Louis, enrolled two weeks late at the community college, and started over.

3) At the community college, I constantly battled the financial aid adviser who repeatedly denied me my grants and scholarships because I had too many credits to be a sophomore at their 2 year college. "Well of course I do ma'am, but someone typed in a zero instead of a three."

4) I eventually transfered to UM-St. Louis where I was wait listed my Senior year for Senior Seminar I. I was #2 on the wait list and 1 person dropped the class. :o( SSI was a pre-req. for the other class that I would need to graduate and was only offered in the fall. I had to stay in school to defer payment on my student loans so, I headed back to the community college for another semester. Because I took 2 classes that semester, UM-St. Louis considered me a transfer student. Guess what? Transfer students are not allowed to register until after the current students are given priority. At 8 am on the 1st day transfers were allowed to register, I learned that the class was full yet again. I fought it. I climbed the ladder and pleaded with everyone from the instructor to the chancellor. It was a long road, but I graduated with a bachelor's degree after only 8 years of trying.

5) I owned a little light blue Dodge Omni hatchback. It was a little car but it got me where I needed to go. One day it was totaled by 3 year old driving a Buick. Impossible right? Just down the street a woman left her child in the car while she carted groceries into the house. She left the car double parked and running with the keys in it. The little one got out of his seat and drove down the block, over a small tree, narrowly avoiding a pedestrian on the sidewalk, through my Dodge, and into someones back yard. The little guy hopped out of the car and ran home. A young man, of the same ethnicity of the child, came running down the block. He quickly opened the trunk, snatched out a large duffel bag and hurried home. The police came and we learned that these individuals were residents in the nearby Pastor's home. He takes in crack addicts to rehabilitate them. The car was stolen, the plates were stolen, and the mom did not have a current driver's license, nor did she have insurance. She had warrants out for her arrest for unpaid tickets and was arrested that day for abandoning her child in a running vehicle. The pastor paid her bail but did not feel any obligation to donate to my transportation needs. My insurance company called it a "freak accident" and did not consider a 3 year old to be an uninsured motorist. Go figure. If the pastor had had homeowners insurance, the damages could've been covered by it, since they were residents of his home and it happened in front of the house. It turns out that you are not required to have homeowners insurance if you own your home outright. Bummer.

There are these stories and more - if you can believe that.

So many of these things seem impossible to me. Not just unlikely - impossible! Yet they happen, and to me.

I have spent much time pondering the reason for such craziness in my life and I have recently come to a very happy conclusion:

"The greater one's purpose in life - the greater the opposition. "

I mean Heavenly Father doesn't ask us to run faster than we have strength.

Thus, He must think that I am a super-mega-ultra-strong babe of power. Right?