Let's not have a repeat please

My day today....

Start off the day by completely emptying and reorganizing 2 large and cluttered closets. Then take all the 72 hour kits for a family of 5 out of the closets and completely empty them and update the contents. Try to keep all the emergency supplies organized while the boys keep stealing flashlights to play with each time I look away. Downsize the clutter throughout much of the house and make boxes of stuff to give away. Not so bad so far, right?....After 4 hours of this work add:

Go to the farm supply store and buy 18 new chicks for the new flock (try simultaneously selecting healthy chicks and pay attention to a toddler with an explorer's sense of adventure...good luck with that one!) and get them home safely. Build their home in the pasture and make it safe, then realize they can't live outside now with the current heat wave. Darn. Plan 2, make a home in the cooler garage for the now thirsty and hungry babies. Do this while 3 human 'babies' are begging nonstop for their turn to hold the chicks and tugging on my arms. Okaaay...

Find out that someone opened the yard gate and Bella the dog ran away. Run frantically through the house calling her, hoping she's still miraculously inside. Nope. Go to the streets after praying that the children will be safe at home for a (hopefully) few minutes while I find the dog. Run through the park with the leash calling for her....nothing anywhere. Pray in the heart that she didn't get hit by a car on the two major roads near our house. Find her across said major street playing with some kids. Call her, but she doesn't come to me. Instead she runs across the street right in front of speeding cars and sits on the front step waiting for me to dash across the street and join her. Okay my heart, stop racing in fear.

Make arrangements to pick up the stake wheat grinder so I can grind 100 pounds of wheat into flour tomorrow. Pack up the hungry children and snacks in the van and make the 30 minute drive to another town to get the grinder. Add pouring rain and 3 severe car accidents along the way, sprinkle in a healthy dose of intense lightning all around us and 3 kids now parched and thirsty, but keep in mind there are no stores along the route, so there's no supply for water. Anywhere. Add the two high-pitched voices asking for water over and over and over (where's the third voice? Asleep on the back bench of the van, not buckled. There's no way I'm pulling to the side of this street to buckle him myself, we'd be a prime target for out-of-control cars) So I pray that he'll be safer there than he would if I stopped in this traffic. We finally reach the destination. Success? No. The house is empty. They forgot I was coming, even though on the phone I had told her I was leaving immediately and would be there within the hour. I can't afford to make the long drive AGAIN tomorrow, so I stubbornly decide to wait in the van in the pouring rain until they come home. After exhausting my supply of stories and playing a DVD of a 1970's Little House of Prairie rerun, I finally agree with Matthew that they really aren't coming back. Sigh. Drive home in the still-pouring rain and pass 3 more accidents on one road. Make it home and dash through the rain to our home.

Go check on the chicks to make sure they've settled in well enough. Open the garage door to..surPRISE, surPRISE! All 18 chicks are running loose in the garage. The home I gave them had a hole I didn't discover until, well...now. Grit my teeth and try to catch the tiny bodies, which are rapidly scattering in all directions and peeping in terror. Grovel on the garage floor reaching under shelves, work benches, and around food containers, tying to grab the fragile bodies firmly enough so they can't wriggle away, but gently enough so I don't break bones. It's amazing how fast they can run with those tiny legs! The last chick is ALWAYS the hardest one to catch. Now they're finally safely away, go inside to find Daniel eating the food out of the 72 hour kits that have been freshly stocked. Erg!

Call my husband at work (who is working late tonight until who knows when---he certainly doesn't) and try to vent to a sympathetic ear, but the children are all tugging on my clothing saying plaintively, "MomI'mhungry, MomI'mhungry, MomI'lmhungry!" Okay, it's late, I've been too busy making freezer dinners for the school year ahead that I haven't thought about TONIGHT'S dinner. Oatmeal it is. Unfortunately the children are all (coincidentally) going through growth spurts, so they eat voraciously every 2 hours. I'm not kidding. Yesterday I fed them straight wheat trying to keep their tummies full longer than a couple hours, but they still are famished like clockwork. I've been feeding them pure protien...chicken, beans, wheat berries, etc. and they still are hungry. So now we go through the kitchen adding more food to the meal they had, in which they already ate more than I could in a single sitting. (On the other hand, I really AM truly grateful that they're all healthy and strong and growing well, I just have to remind myself of this once in a while. Especially when they're so hungry so often.)

I'm ready to laugh at the next issue that arises. I fully expect the roof to start leaking, the toilet to overflow or lightning to strike my house. I'm watching and the anticipation is building. I'm actually feeling a touch of excitement mixing with the fatigue...what will the next adventure be? I'm completely ready to laugh in its face. I think.

I just found out there's a midweek church activity tonight, and for once I'm not even interested in going. I just want to curl up in bed with a great book. Please, PLEASE let's have a less adventurous day tomorrow!!