Day 839. Last night I went to bed at midnight. We had moved both kids to their bed. I had not fallen asleep yet, when Tammy wake up and joined us in bed. I was up until 1 am, trying to sleep with the girl next to me. Emmy only came at 6 am and by 6:30 they were all up, and I got up as well.
We opened the bedroom door and were greeted by the cats who were begging for food. Emmy carried the little pouch with cat food to the kitchen, where I opened it to give it to them. The kids were watching the cats eat, and even Monster dared to eat for a short time with the kids being closeby. Sammy was also on the floor watching them. I started making their food, which takes a while. Randy stayed in bed longer than usual, and so the food was ready before their diapers were changed. Then we sat down to eat. They had already had some food in the kitchen, while I was making it, and so they did not eat that much at the table.
Then I took them to the bathroom to clean them up, brush their teeth and dress them. Once they were all ready, we went to the living room, where I made Emmy stay to read the Bible with us. After one story we opened all the advent calendars. By then Randy was done eating, and i was able to leave.
I once again closed the door to the bedroom so they would not be able to come in. They protested at first, but then stayed with Randy and Sammy and were happy for quite a while. Some time later I left the room and gave them some snacks. I also changed some diapers, and Emmy hit his head and was crying. While comforting and praying for him, he was asking for Amadou, so I asked him to come over, and he came a few minutes later. With them occupied, I returned to my computer to take a advantage of a few minutes without kids. When I went to the living room, Amadou had all three kids, and he had shown them how to play the Malian drum. Later Emmy was playing the tambourine and greatly impressed me, as he was skilled, and in rhythm. He has a true gift! At soem point they came to the back again where I was working, and I let them watch animal videos, but they soon left again.
As noon was approaching, I was getting lunch ready, a combination of leftovers, and at noon we put them into their chairs to eat. I was still in the kitchen getting their bowls ready, when I heard something and looked over and saw that Tammy had vomited. She had eaten all kinds of stuff all morning. I cleaned her up, while Randy cleaned up the floor, and then I cleaned her chair up. It wasn't surprising that she did not want to eat any lunch after that. Emmy didn't eat much either, but ate some yoghurt.
I cleaned them all up in the sink, then we dressed them again, and Emmy got his once-a-day medicine against allergies that made him break out. Then it was nap time. Sammy and Tammy fell asleep rather quickly, but not Emmy. It was about 1:30, before he finally fell asleep.
I was finally free to work without interruptions, even though I was getting pretty tired. Just before 3 pm the power went out, and Tammy woke up. She raised her head up, and then vomited again. She had only had milk since the last time. I picked her up and took her to the bathroom to clean her up. Our sheet had to be changed as well. WIth all that going on Sammy woke up, and then Emmy. All noises stopped, the ocean waves from Alexa, and the sound of the ceiling fans. Emmy had not slept that long yet, but they were all up for good. Little did I know at that point that we'd be without power for 3 hours.
Randy got Sammy, and I joined Tammy and Emmy on our bed for a little bit before we also got up. We went to the living room as well, and I gave them some snacks and milk. Without power there is also no internet, and so I got their two sticker books out that we hadn't done in days, and sat down on the mattress with the three of them. All three got to put animals into the books, which they enjoyed doing.
The power was still not back, and so I got some paper and crayons and they did some drawing. Tammy is very skilled at that and more interested than her brother. It didn't take long before they were done with that.
Paul had told me that his two children had come to the service and that he would bring them over after, and so we were impatiently waiting for them. It was after 4:30 before they came over. Christian is already in 4th grade, and Salomé is 5 years old. I tried to take a picture of the two of them with our three kids.
They didn't stay long. Emmy kept asking for Amadou, all day long really, but it was Sarata who came first. And I was thankful that she had time to stay a while and play with our kids. She took both Emmy and Tammy outside, carrying them on her arms, when the sheep came close to our house and Emmy wanted to get closer. Not long after they were back inside, the other kids started coming, nearly all of our resident kids, one after another, and they stayed to play. When Emmy saw Amadou approach our house, his eyes lit up and he shouted his name. Every time Emmy gets hurt or is upset, he's calling for Amadou.
Our sweet cat Brownie joined the crowd for some reason and let everyone pet her. And then Amadou brought the baby sheep inside again, with the Mama sheep right outside our door, bleaking for her baby. Emmy is getting more and more courageous, when it comes to petting the sheep. When it bleaked real loud, it was Sammy who got scared by it. Amadou returned the sheep to its mother, and then he went outside with Emmy, and Sarata with Tammy, to look at them some more.
With all the Malian kids in our house, I got the 2020 picture book out and let them look at it, which they enjoyed. The power was STILL not back, but I was glad that the many kids in our house was just the occupation and distraction our kids needed. It was pretty hot, and it was getting darker and darker. Fanta was already in our house doing the dishes, and she did not have much light. I have some electric candles and was thankful that I could light them to have at least a little light. It was time to make dinner for our kids.
I put the candle in the kitchen and started making their dinner, while the Malian kids were playing with our kids. Just before 6 pm the power finally came back on. Praise God! We have solar panels and shouldn't even have any power outages. I'm just glad it came back on before the sun had gone down all the way.
At 6 pm we put the kids into their high chairs, and our Malian kids left. Emmy was sad again that Amadou had left. Tammy started eating the watermelon, and ate a lot of it, but did not touch the other food on her plate. I was glad she was eating, but was also hoping she would not vomit it up again. At least she had never acted like she was not feeling well. She did not eat any yoghurt, only Emmy did.
Then it was time for the bathtub, where they were having fun. While we were in there, the power went out again, and we were in complete darkness. Good thing I was with them. Randy brought us one of the candles, and that helped the kids. And then the light already came back on. Thank God! We did not dare turn on the electric kettle for the rest of the day.
We got them all out and ready for bed, then Randy read a Bible story, and it was bed time. It was just after 7 pm, when they were all lying down. As they had done at nap time, Tammy and Emmy were changing spots on our bed. Sammy fell asleep first, and Tammy also rather fast, but Emmy was wide awake and active. And then he woke up Tammy again. I lay down on the bed between them, and Tammy fell back asleep lying right next to me. Emmy was still up, but after a while, he also lay down and fell asleep, and then I was able to get up and they kept sleeping.
I went to the kitchen and got myself something to eat. After I was done eating, I went back to work. Thankfully the kids have been sleeping peacefully tonight. Only Tammy woke up, when I tried to put her into her bed the first time, and so I had to put her back into our bed. When Rand went to bed, I was able to move her, and she continued sleeping. I'm hoping we'll have a kids-free bed for a while tonight.
