Addicted to the left behind books

Julie got me reading a military spin-off of the left behind series over the past two months or so and finished up the 4th of the series yesterday. Already on the third book of the original series.

Author Mel Odom writes the military version: Apocalypse Dawn, Apocalypse Crucible, Apocalypse Burning, and Apocalypse Unleashed. Follows several different story lines, both male and female, about people's struggling faith following the mass disappearance of 1/3 of the world following the rapture.

Authors Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins write the Left Behind Series which follows several story lines based on somewhat everyday ordinary people. There's approximately 12 books in this series, I'm currently reading #3 Nicholae.

Not sure about the whole rapture thing as its presented in the books, but haven't studied revelation much lately.

My Saturday

Today I took my big test - the School Leadership Licensure Assessment. I have to pass this in order to be a principal. It was 100 multiple choice questions - many of which were very tricky because two answers would have worked - and 7 short response questions - only twenty minutes to write out a response per question. It was really difficult to focus because my nose was stuffy, I was tired and the room was freezing. I pulled the hood on my sweatshirt up because I was so cold. I don't know if I did well or not. It's the sort of test that you could feel good about it and bomb it or feel terrible about it and ace it. I'll find out in a month.

The good news is, when I got home, the boys had been good for the sitters...yes, sitters plural. I felt like it was unfair for there to only be one sitter, so I hired two to watch them while I was testing. They had already eaten lunch so all I had to do was make sure they went down for a nap and then I took a nap! This evening there were a couple of frustrating and hairy moments, but overall Noah and Colby played well together. They created chaos in their room, but they helped clean up, so that was okay. If only I could get them to stop hitting when their angry and Noah to stop screaming over everything, that would be great. But then I wouldn't have anything to blog about :-)

Restaurant Snub

So this weekend Brandon, Noah, Ariyana, and I drove to northern Virginia to sign the papers for our van to make it officially ours. On the way home we stopped at a Texas Roadhouse that was largely empty. Noah and Ariyana had been acting pretty decent - just your minor turn around, stop kicking the seat, talk softly sort of reminders. Well, the hostess tried to seat two ladies across the isle from us. When the hostess asked if that was alright, one lady said no, it wasn't. I was like, huh? So then the hostess tried to seat them behind us. The lady said again no, that wasn't okay. Then she approached the hostess being really careful to keep her back turned to us and told the hostess she didn't want to sit near the kids. The hostess then dutifully took them to another part of the restaurant (right on the main thoroughfare, I might add, so that she would have to see every man, woman and child that entered the restaurant, ha!) I was very surprised. I have heard of such behavior happening at other places, but it had never happened to me. My kids behave at restaurants. They're not allowed to run around screaming everywhere. But I was flabbergasted - it's a Texas Roadhouse not a five star restaurant. This same lady ended up going to the restroom at the same time I took Noah. Our waitress also happened to be in there. She told our waitress that the floors were sticky in the bathroom and all over the restaurant. Our waitress was like 'oh, okay.' When the lady left I asked the waitress if that woman thought she was going to clean the entire restaurant right away. The waitress laughed. You don't eat off the floor, lady. And it's a Texas Roadhouse for crying out loud! You can put peanut shells on the floor! On the way out, without any prompting, Noah told the lady goodbye. I laughed all the way to the car. Fun times...

It's a Struggle

I think up until today I've made fostering seem like a piece of cake when it's really been a struggle. Today I've felt that struggle more keenly than ever. Here's a sample of my day with all four children. In the morning, I'm trying to get ready (shower, clothes, makeup, breakfast, pack lunch) and Colby wants his formula while Noah and Ariyana want juice. Somehow I end up getting them their various drinks, I eat breakfast while I'm giving Sahara a bottle, I get them dressed and out the door sometime befor 7:40 (even though every day I'm shooting for 7:30). I drop of Noah, Ariyana, and Sahara while Colby waits in the car, then I drop off Colby at his daycare and then I go of to my internship at a nearby elementary school. Fastfoward through school (which is going okay, except for 4th block when I want to strangle someone...not a good way to end my day). I got pick up Colby, then I take Colby inside the other daycare while I collect the other three, then I herd them into the car and drive home. If I'm lucky the boys keep their hands to themselves and nobody ends up crying and I get to sing a few songs at the top of my lungs to relieve some stress. Then when we get home everyone is thirsty and hungry and they want to watch a movie or cartoons and I just want to lock myself in a sound-proof room for ten minutes. The boys fuss with each other and constantly jump on their beds even though I've told them a million times not too and they've spend tons of minutes in timeout for jumping on the bed, which makes it take that much longer to fix dinner. Dinner is usually not too bad thanks to the food in my freezer and a little ingenuity on my part. They are at least quieter when they're stuffing their faces with food, which they rearly say thank you or please for. Then I play referee for the rest of the night and listen to small voices whine, complain, cry, tattle, and ask questions until I can't stand it anymore. They are good for maybe 20 percent of the night. Ariyana is good, but frustrating because she doesn't use words. It's a guessing game as to what she wants. Sahara is good too, but when she's hungry that makes it difficult to keep an eye on those boys like I need to. At bedtime it's a battle with those boys. I want them to be asleep by 8:30, but they use every excuse in the book to stay awake. Bottom line: I really love all my kids, but damn do they drive me crazy. And I now I know I'm not anywhere close to patient enough to have twins. There's a more realistic view of having three foster kids or four kids in general. I hope you're not too horrified :-)