Today was exhausting. Bethany and Judah had school. I leave at 7:40 to do school drop off. Today was also Ezra's first day of speech therapy at the school. His therapy goes from 8-8:45 am.
I dropped the kids off and Ezra and came back home to finish getting ready for the day. At 8:45 we picked Ezra up and headed to Bethany's school for her annual ARD meeting. Bethany receives special education services and this is the annual meeting to set her classroom goals, decide on any accommodations and modifications that she might need to be more successful, and to get an update on progress she has made towards the goals already in place.
The meeting was to start at 9 am. Ever before the meeting Ezra was saying, "Go home. All done." This could be fun. The ARD before us ran late. It was after 9:30 before we started the meeting. With us we had Ezra (who was already done), Asa (who was guarding his airplane book with his life and willing to fight to the death with anyone who touched it), and Josiah (who is 8 and bored with all things not Star Wars). I told Mike before the meeting, I think one of us might have to leave and take them home. I was expecting less than stellar behavior.
We talked and shared and had a very productive meeting and we are so impressed with the staff at Bethany's school so far. The principal was really advocating for Bethany and was completely on the same page as us as far as her needs and our desires for Bethany. It was a very refreshing meeting and I left the meeting with great expectations for this school year.
The ARD meeting lasted 2 hours. Usually they take an hour or less. And for those entire two hours, my three boys, ages 3, 4 and 8, sat quietly on the floor looking at books and playing with our iphones. It was stunning really. And I was so proud of them. So so proud of them! We had no fighting, no one needed to go potty, and no one had a melt down over lack of food and drink during that time.
As the meeting ended, Mike took the boys and Bethany out to the car. It was 11:15 and we had an 11:00 meeting with our Congressman, Mike Conaway. He was a huge advocate for us and his staff worked hard to help us get Asa home. He wanted to meet Asa and our other kids. We ran over to Judah's school, picked him up, and raced into town for the appointment.
We spend about 20 minutes with the Congressman and took some pictures (see below) and then headed out for some lunch. A local hamburger place that we enjoy was around the block. We arrived right at noon and unloaded everyone. All seven of us. Mike usually goes to find a table while I order for everyone. We split up, me to the cash registers, him to the dining area. Very soon, before I could order, Mike and all five children reappeared. There were no open tables. At.all. Time for plan B.
We get back in the car. It is now 12:07 and we have another appointment at 1 pm. Chili's has call ahead seating and we can usually get in and out in an hour on a weekday at lunch. Usually. Deadly word. We arrived and were seated right away, got our drinks and food ordered right away, and were served our food in a pretty right away manner. And then we had to wait and wait and wait for the check. Mike took the kids out to the car. It was 1 pm now. And she brought the check. It was $88. I picked myself up off the floor and then politely told her, "I think this is wrong." She took the check back. And I waited and waited and waited.
The unemployment rate here is officially about 4%, unofficially much less than that. Some local business people honestly would estimate that there is a 0% unemployment rate here. If you want a job, you have one. Those who do not have a job, either don't want one period, or refuse to take ones that are available. Every restaurant is short staffed and most retailers are also. I heard a couple of weeks ago that the local Carino's restaurant has a total wait staff of eight people. EIGHT people. Eight people to cover every section, during every shift, on every single day of the week.
So waiting and waiting was not unusual or unexpected. But when she brought the check this time, it was wrong again. This time the server brought in reinforcements. She flagged down her fellow table server who actually knows how to work the computer. I stood at the computer and told him which things to take off of our ticket. Good thing I'm honest ;) I paid the bill and ran out to the van. It was 1:25 by this point.
We arrived to our 1 pm appointment at 1:35 pm. Our local newspaper ran a human interest story about us in 2009 (click here) and the reporter contacted us a few weeks ago about writing a follow up story. She was so gracious to wait for us today. We spent about an hour talking to her about our adoption. I can't wait to read the finished product.
It was a very long day. Mike taught a last minute CPR class at a dental office and we met him for dinner at Chick Fil A. When the kids finally crawled into bed at 8:30, we did not hear a single word or giggle. I think it took about 3 seconds for the last one to fall asleep!
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