The Brady Bunch has got nothing on the Pentons.
When Sean and Leesajean Penton got married almost two years ago, he had three daughters and she had four sons.
Since then, they've taken custody of two more girls, whose adoptions are likely to be final next month. The whole brood ranges from 5 to 13 in age.
He works full time at Raytheon Missile Systems, and she has a part-time job - which was full time until last June - at the Handmaker Foundation.
Both of them walked in the University of Phoenix's commencement ceremony Saturday, each earning an MBA, with plans to establish a nonprofit organization that will help single fathers navigate the child-custody system.
In case you're keeping count, there is no "Alice" in this scenario, just a lot of scheduling, cooperation and communication.
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Sean goes to work at 5:30 a.m. Leesajean gets the kids to school in the morning. She gets off work in time to pick up the younger bunch; her husband is off in time to pick up the older kids an hour later.
They live together in the three-bedroom, one-bath home he already owned, and they have plans to add onto it. Meanwhile, daily showers for the kids begin at 4:30 p.m., and the family is moving nonstop - showers, dinner, homework - until bedtime at 8 p.m. Then the adults can steal some grown-up conversation together.
Sometimes, grandmother Margie Penton will come over in the evening and stay with the children so the adults can go spend time together.
"They think I'm doing them a favor, but I love it," she said.
To get through their degree programs, the Pentons made time-management into an art.
They scheduled their classes so they wouldn't be gone at the same time. They either staggered nights with each other or made sure one had an online class while the other had a classroom class. All the while, they made sure one or both were available to attend their children's school functions, doctor appointments and important milestones.
Their business - which they hope to call Single Fathers of Southern Arizona - is still a ways off, they said.
They've put together the executive board, and they've got paperwork moving, but first they need to finish the addition to their home, which they plan to do on their own. And they need to get to a point where Leesajean can dedicate all of her time to the foundation, she said.
The idea materialized naturally, she said.
"When he (Sean) was a single dad with three kids, trying to navigate the whole custody thing was kind of difficult," she said.
Most available resources are targeted toward single mothers, he said. He got tired of seeing "deadbeat dad" crackdowns while there didn't seem to be anything geared toward helping him.
"It's on the website for the state, but people either don't have the technical savvy or they don't realize that's all you have to do," he said.
The couple have already helped a few fathers they know walk through the system, Leesajean said.
It will all fall into place eventually, they agreed.
"There's no reason to worry about a problem until you get close enough to do something about it," Sean Penton said. "Having a spouse that has your back just makes things so much easier."
Contact reporter Shelley Shelton at sshelton@azstarnet.com or 807-8464
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