Day 819. Last night I went to bed at 12:50 am. Once again it was Tammy who crawled into bed with me at some time, and then she wanted milk, then cookies, then milk again, it seemed that I never really got to sleep. Emmy only came at 6:45, so pretty late, but he never slept. It didn't take long before he had woken his sister up for good, and off they went to wreak havoc. At 7:15 I got up to make breakfast for them.
After breakfast we went downstairs, and I got a few of their Bibles out to read. We read a few stories, and then they started playing. Once Randy came, I went upstairs to finish cleaning up and then sit down to do office work. Just before 11:30 I went to the kitchen to start cooking, and at noon I called them upstairs to eat.
I was glad that both Emmy and Tammy were eating today. Emmy ate his whole bowl, while Tammy only had a few spoonfuls and then stopped. Emmy wanted food from my plate, which was the same as on his plate, but I gave it to him anyway, and then Tammy wanted it too, and so I got her to eat by feeding her off my plate. I was just glad she was eating.
Then they went into the bathtub, where Emmy had pudding, and I fed Sammy his pudding. They were having lots of fun. Tammy wanted out first, and then the boys came out. The boys went to bed, and Randy sat down with them, while I went downstairs with Tammy. She wanted to do some drawing again, which we did, and after a short time, she asked to watch Barbapapa, which we did. Just after 1 pm we went upstairs.
The boys were ALL asleep, and Tammy ran to her Daddy and woke him up, and he picked her up and rocked her to sleep. I went back to work, even though I was really tired and still had a lot to do before we'd leave at 4 pm. I still allowed myself to close my eyes for a while, as I just couldn't help it.
Emmy woke up first, after 2 pm, and Randy went downstairs with him. Sammy woke up a few minutes later, and I took him downstairs, with their snacks. Emmy did not want me to leave and was crying, when I did. A few minutes later Tammy woke up, earlier than I had expected, and I took her downstairs. Emmy came running and jumped into my lap, sitting on my other leg. I sat there holding them both for a while, but I really needed to go back upstairs to get everything ready for us to leave for church. I finally pulled myself away, went upstairs, and continued cutting up their food to take with us. I could still hear Tammy crying downstairs, and she was crying hysterically for me. I finally went downstairs and picked her up and took her upstairs with me. Of course Emmy had to come as well, and then Randy and Sammy came too. We only had just over an hour left until leaving.
I needed to have my hands free to cut up food, so I put Tammy on the counter, and she was okay with sitting there, while I was working. However, Emmy wanted to come up too, and that was not gonna work. Somehow we got everything done. I finished with the food, and then we dressed them in their Malian clothes. We left on time at 4 pm to go to the train station.
We took the train and then the tram and got to church a few minutes before the service started. We needed a table to set up our stuff in the foyer, and that proved more difficult than expected. But we finally had a table brought there, and I set everything up. Then we went to our seats as the service had already started.
We went straight to the front, where the fabric and bands were already lying, ready to be used to worship. All day, every time I mentioned church (Gottesdienst), Emmy and Tammy had waved their hands and said "hallelujah". Emmy impressed me with how skilled he was in making that long band move. I captured a few moments of it on video.
Sammy had diarreah today, and Randy went to change his diaper, which took pretty long. His Malian pants were affected, and so Randy washed them and then put them on top of a spare pair of pants on Sammy, so he could still wear his Malian clothes. I got him as well and had him in the front with me, with some fabric, and had fun with him, throwing and twirling him, but he kept asking for Daddy, but then he'd be cranky with Daddy.
Usually we go upstairs to the toddler room to eat at 5:30, but not today. The kids were confused. Tammy asked about eating and pointed to the staircase to go up to the room. I told her that tonight we'd go up later as we were all going up the stage and Mommy was gonna talk, and we'd go upstairs right after that. She did not want to eat anything in the sanctuary.
Worship ended before 6 pm, there were some announcements, and then it was our turn. I carried Emmy upstairs, while Randy had the other two. I had 5 minutes to introduce the ministry, and I wanted to share some fresh testimonies. So that was a huge challenge. I started talking quickly, and when I asked for the pictures to be put up on the screen, they said they had not received them. I had emailed them, so it was disappointing. I just went on, shared the testimonies, and told them we were leaving for Mali in a week. Then the pastor prayed for us, and we went back downstairs, grabbed their food, and went up the stairs to go to the toddler room.
The program now starts later, and so the kids were still eating and playing. I sat down at the table, and so did Randy and Sammy who he was feeding. Tammy and Emmy were more interested in playing, and Emmy only came over for a little bit to grab some food. Then we sat down on the floor for the program, and Randy went back to the sanctuary. Our kids were eager to start the program, and really participated in the action song. Then they could not wait to get a Bible and do the Bible song. They have actually been singing it at home a lot. "I hold up the Bible high and higher as the Bible comes from God.", with corresponding actions. They also did a greeting song, where the eagle puppet gives them a kiss at the end of the greeting song. Someone filmed that today.
Then the young Mom leading read a Bible story, one that our kids know very well. She again did a song with actions related to the story, and that was the end of the program. I encouraged the kids to eat some more, and they did just a little. Sammy was playing by himself at first, but after I had been away from him for a while, he was calling for me, and I picked him up. Randy had not arrived yet to take him back downstairs. In the end one of our friends who showed up took Sammy downstairs to Randy. Then I put Tammy's and Emmy's shoes on, and we could go downstairs as well. We needed to be at our table in the foyer before the service was over.
Walking down the stairs, Emmy was looking for Anna again, and saw her. They had already spent time with her earlier. Every time I mentioned the service, Emmy had also asked me whether Anna was gonna be there, but I simply did not know in advance. He was so happy to see her!
We walked outside into the foyer and to our table. And then Tammy and Emmy started having fun. After a few minutes people started coming outside and passing us to go home, and some came to our table. I had some good conversations, sold some books and had a few people sign up to get our emails. One sweet lady had fun with Sammy and then held him. Sonja joined us to help with the kids and had fun with Emmy. Later she took them all to the baby room closeby, so we were without kids for a while. That sweet lady then prayed for Randy and me, which we really appreciated. She said that there was such an anointing on us as a family, when we stood in the front of the church. It was encouraging.
People were only leaving very slowly. At 8 pm we finally started packing up and left a few minutes later, together with Sonja. It was already 8:10, so I knew we'd only make the 8:30 train if the tram came right away, and amazingly it did. We got to the train station just before the train arrived and were home a few minutes later. Thank God! I did not want to wait another 30 minutes for the next train, especially considering how late it was for them, and how cold.
At home Tammy and Emmy both wanted some squeezy drinks, so I gave them to them. We got them ready for bed, and some time after 9 pm they were all in bed. Tammy was asking for milk, as she usually does, and before Randy could bring it, she was already alseep. Not so the boys. Sammy was wide awake, and Emmy was suddenly back on his feet and trying to get his sister's attention. He was also asking for Daddy, and so Randy took my place, while I left to get something to eat. It was already late. And then I went to work. I had a lot of pictures to go through, which took time. Randy stayed in the church for a long time, taking a nap. When he came to go to bed, I went to the dining room to continue writing there. It got way too late tonight, which is bad timing considering our busy morning tomorrow. Now it's after 1 am, and I still have to do the cleanup.
