A Day in My Life

(Disclaimer--mostly for my wonderful husband--  this post is not for the faint of heart, it is written in spaghetti format)I love my life and I enjoy my many jobs. (wife, mother, teacher, friend, home economist, personal assistant, spiritual leader, encourager, doctor, nurse etc, etc, etc)  Most days I find great satisfaction in being able to do my many jobs some days, like today, I feel totally sapped by the time the kids go to bed.  My jobs today included cook, nurse, chauffeur, child advocate, friend, helper, maid, tutor, shepherd--literally have you ever tried to keep 4 kids contained at Wednesday night church?-- referee, guidance counselor.  In case you are wondering what that looks like here it is.
5 AM - I got up early this morning so that I could be ready to walk out the door with the kids.  I showered, dressed,put on my face, checked the daily weather (hot) and sat down for a few precious minutes of devotional time.
5:30 - child number one comes down looking for ibuprofen and breakfast.  (He broke his arm on Sunday and is on a regular regiment of pain killers)  I get him started on breakfast and the "get ready for school routine".
6 AM  I go upstairs to wake number 2,3 & 4.  Two and three are not in their beds so I have to call for them and search the house wondering if they were stolen during the night.  No they were not,  they were both asleep in the closet (Don't ask, I started to and then realized it would not make sense to me anyway)  number 4 was sound asleep in very wet sheets so he headed to the shower.
6:30 Everyone has finished with breakfast and they are now scrambling to find clothes, shoes, socks and all of the school stuff they will need for the day.   I wake Chris.
6:45 Mom is getting frustrated because they have still not brushed their teeth or found any of their gear and one of them is still running around naked.
6:55  Mom yells that they are going to leave in 5 minutes and they better have everything done...at which point naked kid yells that he doesn't think that I washed any clothes for him (He was rather startled to learn that mom would send him to school that way and he miraculously found something to wear)
7 AM  We are heading out of the house, everyone has clothes on.  I think I should have had a cup of coffee with my devotions.  Chris drops of #3 & 4.  I drop off # 2 and bring #1 to his Dr.appointment?  No to my school where I keep a spare toothbrush because even though he is 12 he neglected to take care of that item.
It is now 7:45 and we are heading to the Orthopedics office so that Ben can have his arm looked at.
8AM Waiting    8:30  Waiting   9:00 STILL Waiting  9:15 someone brings us back to a different part of the building for...you guessed it MORE WAITING  10:00 Doctor finally comes in to look at the x ray, re splint the arm and send us on our way.
10:30  Drop Ben off at school and sign him in.
10:40  Finally head to the library so that I can get some computer work done.
10:45 Just get all my gear out of the car and am half way to the library when my phone rings.  It is the school nurse,   she has Ben in her office and he can't feel his fingers,  she needs me to come back to school and re-wrap his bandage because it is too tight.
10:50  GO BACK TO SCHOOL TO BE MY SONS NURSE   **SIGH**

Is it bedtime yet?

11:00  Go back to the library where it is quiet and get all my work set up only to notice that the kids did their homework on my laptop without the power cord...no battery left.  Get ready to plug in the laptop and realize that they have also taken the power cord out of the bag.
11:10  Put my head in my hands and try to maintain calm.
11:15 Pack up belongings and head home  when the phone rings,  its Hannah's teacher just wondering if I remember that she had her chorus audition today and needs to be picked up later than usually.  I assured her that I had remembered and would be there. (Famous last words)
11:30  Arrive home and grab a quiet lunch  aaahhhhh.
12:00 Decide that I am too keyed up to work at the computer so I start washing the breakfast dishes, the laundry and general household pick up.
1:45  Realize that I have lost track of the time and need to make the trip to my car-lines
2:20  Pick up child 3 and 4 and our carpool rider head to next school
2:35 Pick up child 1 and realize that I did not inform the carpoolers grandma that we were going to be late so I head out to drop her off.
2:45  My own children want to start their homework, have a snack and NEEEEEEED to use the bathroom so I drop them off at home and head out alone to pick up Hannah at the school we just came from.
2:55  Car starts to sputter...that's right the gas light means you need to stop and get gas.  I am blessed to be next to a gas station so I pull in
3:00 Put 19.88 gallons of gas in a 20 gallon tank.
3:15 Pull into school 5 minutes late amid glares from the car line teacher (Okay that may be my own take on the issue but I told them I would be on time at 3:10)

Are you sure its not bedtime?

Homework, homework, homework,  housework, housework, housework,  complain, complain, complain.
5:30 Leave for Fellowship supper at church
6:30 Drop most kids off at their classes and have a quiet meal out with chris and one child who is just too tired to have fun with her friends.
7:30 Chris takes tired child home and I go to get other 3
Round up the kids, chat with a friend,  round up the kids again, get stopped to talk,  round up kids for the last time and head them purposefully to the car.
8:15 arrive home and start to put kids to bed
Order shower for one child, send the others to bed again.
This routine goes on for an hour
9:15 All seems quiet :)  Now I can work on the rest of the laundry and get ready for another day in my life.
 Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I appreciate when you sit and listen when I need to unload!
Good Night