We thought there was a break-in

I love order and organization.

But somedays, I can't keep up with the pace of life and seven moving bodies in our home.

We were out of eggs, so I ran through Publix to replenish our supply and stock up on the sale items (saved 75 dollars today) immediately after drop off at school. Then I came home and put the perishables away, but left all the other recyclable bags full of no perishables on the floor by the door.

I had exactly enough time to get across town for my PT appointment. After my PT appointment I had exactly enough time to find my middle schooler in the craziness that is half-day, then back across town to pick up the elementary schoolers.

I declared that we were going on a family adventure, and in response four cheered and one declared that she would rather stay home. We drove the non-enthusiastic child home only to discover that she had changed her mind, and going on the family adventure might actually be "okay". We made a ten minute pit-stop and got back in the car with a handful of legal documents since we were headed in the same direction as the federal building.

We played at Edventure and had a great couple of hours. As I sat on a bench and looked up the address of the federal building, I was alarmed to see that their office closed at 3:00 and not 5:00, so we got back in the car and looked for a parking space. There weren't any, but a nice uniformed man pointed us down the street to a nearby parking garage. There was a sign that said the parking garage only took cash. I prayed I had enough ones stashed in the side pocket of my purse, grabbed the 5 kids by a few hands and took off running to the building. The security guards made a comment about our educational field trip to the federal building when he saw all the Edventure admission stickers still stuck on our jackets.

We arrived at the 11th floor to take a number behind a room full of people and I wondered how much battery power we had on the iPad. We played rock-paper-scissors, braided hair, drew secret messages on each others backs, doodled on scrap paper from the bottom of my purse, chewed gum, and waited of our number to be called. The people sitting behind us had been there two and a half hours and had to leave and come back. Somehow we were called before they were. I think someone must have been peering through the windows and thinking we have got to get those six outta here!

Our government official was friendly, and although unfamiliar with our adoption application, assured us that what we needed had been processed correctly and that all was well. I noted that the official paperwork said that only people older than twelve need apply in person and wondered why on earth we had been told to take the kids down there. Seriously!

I did a quick eeeny-meanie-miney-mo to determine who got to push the elevator button and only a few scowled at the results. I wondered if I had any change at the bottom of my purse to pay the parking garage attendant. By the mercy of God we had just enough.

But not enough time to go back to our side of town before reporting to baseball practice. My son had boots on and no equipment, but I sent an apology text to the coach and went on to the field.

We had a thirty minute wait so I told the kids that they could play on the school playground. Apparently, they could not as they were shooed away by a school official. I found a bag of apples and some apple juice pouches in the trunk and we had a snack while listening to a book on CD. I looked the other way while one of my boys peed in the woods by school property.

I got a call from my husband asking where we were. When I told him, he sighed. The alarm was going off at the house. It had been a windy day, so we were fairly certain that the kids had not shut and locked one of the back doors (in that ten minute window that we were home all day), and that set off the alarm and alerted the police.

The moment the coach got there, we left our baseball boy with him and headed back to our house. As we were still 30 minutes away, two officers beat us there and met us with this news:

When we saw all the stuff in the floor, we definitely thought there was a break-in...but we've walked through the house, and you're all clear.

How embarrassing! The piles of coats, book bags, lunch boxes, and groceries times seven must look like a crime scene at first glance.

Another call from my husband let me know that there had been a scheduling snafu and practice had been called off....and what was for dinner? I told him I was boiling some chicken, but dinner would still be a ways off, so he picked up take out for us instead. We ate from styrofoam boxes with plastic utensils and told Jesus that were were truly grateful.

I unpacked the groceries, pushed back the book bags, sorted out the homework, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and clothes washer, read some bedtime stories and put on my pajamas by 7:30.

Please, no more half-days anytime soon.