It doesn't help that my day starts at 4:45AM. If Kenny doesn't find someone else for the Providence paper route this week I might have to shoot myself. Or him. Rachel and I did the River Heights route. That girl is fast. I listened to Jack Christensen's The Mortal Christ on CD and rolled all the papers while she delivered. I love Jack! This is his 2nd 'talk on tape' I've listened to and they are so inspiring. I needed that spiritual boost to get me through the rest of the day. Josh did the Providence route by himself. I wanted to time him and see how fast he was without DJ. It took exactly 1 hour. I came home and crawled in bed with Spency for another 30 minutes before he woke up. A Monday morning house is usually pretty bad, because I just want to play on the week-end. Is that so wrong? So I spent a lot of time trying to pick up from the week-end. I didn't get near as much done as I wanted to. Spencer was a little needy, I started watching Ridge again, and Millers had an accident with the vacuum. I was vacuuming the stairs, so the vacuum was sitting on one stair and it hangs off a bit. I was getting the stairs with the hose. She crawled up behind me and put her hand in the vacuum where the brush is!!! The poor girl got the palm of her hand eaten off. I just lose all sensibility when my babies get hurt, whether they are 9 months or 9 years. I had to have a neighbor come over and help me bandage her hand because I have no first aid kit. Poor Milly. She was so upset, and in so much pain whenever her little hand would get bumped. Then after school, Rachel gets home on time, but no boys show up. I figure Josh has stayed after to work on assignments and will take the late bus home, which is what happened. But no sign of Daniel. 3:30, 4:30, 5:30. I'm driving around, stopping at all his friends houses, and there is no sign of him. One of his friends was missing as well, so we figured they were together. 6:00 I find him!!! 2 1/2 hours after he should have been home...and dark outside. I had been on the phone with Ryan telling him we better call and file a missing persons report and check the hospitals. My relief at his safety was quickly replaced by anger and what he had just put me through. We have had problems with this kind of stuff in the past and he knows better. He knows he must call me before he plays, and that I must know where he is at all times. So, he is grounded to his room for the rest of the week. He can come out for school and potty breaks, but that is it. I stayed very calm and didn't even raise my voice. (I had to pray for that ability). But he has to know how serious this is. And to cut this boy off from family, TV, friends, etc. is the best way I can think of. Parenting is so hard!! You just wonder if your consequences are productive...or even serve a purpose. Won't they just grow up to be decent, rational people by the time they hit their 20's? I love these little people, and I hate how exhausted I can sometimes become with their care and upkeep. Kid, am I awful? Well, if I hurry to bed I can get 6 1/2 hours of sleep before the paper route. That is about half as much as I'd like. But my kids need the experience and the spending money. They're building character, right? This is worth it in the short and long run, right? I hope so.