Saturday, July 18, 2009, Nashville, TN., 1:18 p.m., D.S.T.~

Dear Journal~

Anyone have an Excedrin??  I am in agony here, guys!  LOL

School can't come soon enough, as far as I'm concerned.

Seems that my kids have gone off the deep end; they are making noise, so much so, in fact, I think they could drown out a jet engine's roar!  They are driving both Louie and I insane!!

We are also tired of them traipsing in and out, in and out of the house; they should either stay inside or stay outside!  The constant opening/closing of the door is going to be murder on our next electric bill!

 Isaiah is lying spread-eagled on the ground, just howling his little reddened face off.  Seems twin brother, Ian, has swiped his plastic Spiderman toy.  Now Danita and Rani are both trying to quiet them; not working very well, I'm afraid, as Isaiah continues to scream.  I am sure the neighbors can hear him caterwaulin'!

Johnathon is having his own set of problems.  Roberto is taunting him by shaking his butt at him, just to get his goat, and now Johnathon is chasing him via his electric wheelchair.  Roberto is too fast for him as he scuttles away on his crutches, as quick as lightning, laughing like a hyena with a hernia.  Johnny has a very angry look on his sunburnt face.  He is not amused.

Johnny and Roberto are always instigating one another; Roberto is usually the one who starts it.  I am sure the thought of murder has crossed Johnny's mind more than once as he deals with his brother's idiosyncrasies.

Jodie is lying on a blanket on the ground, laughing fit to kill.  She thinks the swirl of activity around her is hilarious; she seems to be the only one who is actually enjoying herself.  The other kids are either annoyed, angry, or both.  Or upset; there are a few criers in the group.

I know we meant well, but I honestly think we went over our heads when we adopted all of these children.  While some of them have flown the nest, the majority still remain here at home, and conditions are quite cramped at the very least.  The noise level can be horrendous at times, especially if the kids are in some of their moods. 

Now seems to be such a time. 

Seems when one child misbehaves or gets upset, it just snowballs from there, and soon we have a house full of upset, screaming, mischevious kids that can be very hard to control.

This is when Louie or I wish we could ship them to Siberia--or perhaps Antartica!  LOLOLOL

I guess this is when we say we are gluttons for punishment.  We got what we deserved when we took all these children in to raise.  We can't, however, blame God; after all, if it were not for Him, we would have probably remained childless nearly twenty years later!

God was the One who brought the kids to us, into our lives; now we must pay the fiddler and try to be the best set of parents we can possibly be for them.

Excuse me:  be right back.  Enriquesa just got stung on the cheek by a wasp; she's screaming in pain.  Hopefully she'll be okay.

Okay, I am back.  Enriquesa has been taken care of.  Nothing serious; she will just have a swollen cheek for a while.  Louie has put salve on it and has her sitting in a chair, where she is holding an ice pack to her swollen cheek, to alleviate some of the pain.  She looks like she got slugged by Muhammed Ali.  LOL  Poor kid!

Ronee' is fit to be tied:  Sergei just dumped his cold ice tea on her as she was sunbathing; now she is racing after him on her canes, cussing up a blue streak in French.  Doesn't matter if it's in French or English:  the results are the same.  She now has to owe the cuss jar at least ten dollars for the colorful language she's using.  She is ready to bean him one on his head with her canes!

Louie just had enough.  She stood there in the middle of the yard and screamed at the top of her lungs:  "Enough!!"  For a tiny woman not even 4' 9" tall, Louie has a voice that could carry itself clear to the moon.  She may be tiny, but she has a voice, and she knows how to use it.  LOL

Now the children are looking at her like scared rabbits.  All of a sudden, deathlike silence reigns across our yard.  Guess they realized that they were bothering her, so now they slink into the house, to their rooms, where they will soon engage in quieter activities.

I don't know what's gotten into the children, but they have been horrid today!  Guess that means no movie night or pizza for them; they will just have to snack on cold leftovers and think about what they've done to make their parents mad.  They know better than to act like wild, uncivilized heathens!  They are old enough; yet they've been acting like two year old babies!  Sheesh!  I think the heat must have fried their young brains or something!

Well, I am going to help Louie deal with our unruly mob and write in here another day.  Take care!

~Bill.  :/