Day 851. Last night I went to bed at 11 pm. We had successfully moved Tammy and Emmy to their own bed. I did fall asleep without them, but it wasn't long before first Tammy came, and then Emmy. Randy turned around so we'd have enough room. And then it was a restless night again. Emmy was up for an hour at one point. How I long for one night of uninterrupted sleep!
I believe it was 7 am, when I got up this morning. We went to the kitchen, fed the cats, and then I made breakfast for everyone. After breakfast I cleaned them up, dressed them, and we went to the living room to read a Bible story and open the advent calendars. Then I went to the back to work.
I hadn't been there long, when Paul came. He said there was a visitor for me. When I looked, I saw my prodigal son Joseph at the door. He came inside, and I fell around his neck sobbing. I raised Joseph in our center, and he was one of our most promising young men. When he left over 4 years ago, it broke my heart. I'd had several dreams of this moment, when I'd see him again, but had started to give up. Paul kept calling him and asking him to come, and today Paul said he had a Christmas gift for me. The best Christmas gift ever! I told him I loved him, and he said he did too. We sat down, and he told me how hurt he had been back then. He told me he now works with Scandinavians and is doing music and involved in a church. We chatted for a while, I took a picture, and then he left. I invited him to join us for Christmas tomorrow, and he said he'll see about coming.
Randy, Margit and the kids all went outside for a while to see the animals, while I continued scanning the Christmas drawings our sponsored kids have made for their sponsors. Then I returned to work. I had another emotional moment, when I found out about a situation that needs to be dealt with and discussed it with Paul.
As noon was approaching, I warmed up the leftovers, and we sat down to eat early. Tammy ate lots of chicken, but did not touch the rice, while Emmy really did not touch his food hardly at all. He did want to eat my food and ended up eating some pasta. Sammy might have set a new record as he didn't seem to want to stop eating. They all had yoghurt, and then I cleaned them up and dressed them.
It was nap time, and with that the daily fight started. Sammy fell asleep quickly, but the other two were defiant and fought us, trying to keep us from putting them into a horizontal position. There must be a better way! It was 1:15, before they finally fell asleep, Emmy first, and then Tammy. I stayed with them, getting a short nap, as I still feel miserable because of this cold. Just before 2 pm Sammy started fussing, and I cautiously got up. Randy wasn't able to get him to fall back asleep, so he took him to the living room with him, while I went back to work.
Randy has been working on getting a cabinet back up on the wall that came off the wall while we were gone, and Amadou came over to help him put it back up. While I was in the kitchen with them, Emmy and Tammy suddenly walked in. It was about 3:30 pm. I ended up having a serious conversation with Amadou which turned out to be about the same issue somebody else had brought to my attention earlier in the day.
Amadou then left to finish supervising the kids' homework time. It was around 4:30 pm, when the Malian kids finally came over to decorate the cookies they had made on Sunday. It's a tradition for us to make and decorate cookies before Christmas, and then eat them on Christmas. Everyone came today, with no exception, and our kids were involved as well, especially Emmy and Tammy. They had Margit, Sarata and Amadou help them decorate their cookies, while I helped Sammy. And they came in and out of their chairs, playing in between. They just have so much fun with our Malian kids! Tammy was having fun with Sarata, riding on her back, and chasing her and being chased. Emmy called Jonathan to come pull him around on the dog. And he also got to ride on Sarata. The Malian kids had to check out the gifts on the Christmas table to find their own names, which is also a tradition. Bakary was putting the cookies that were done on a table to dry, and then put them into a box to be eaten on Christmas Eve. It was pretty sudden, when everybody left at 5:30. Suddenly it was all quiet again. Normally we have our weekly prayer meeting at 5 pm. Today they did it after leaving our house, and Amadou led it for the first time, as Paul wasn't here.
I went to work making their dinner. Tammy was pretty cranky. We already sat down to eat at 5:50 pm. Fanta had come over late, and so she was still in our house doing housework. Tammy did once again what she's now done a few times. She threw a fit in her chair and kept going until I took her out and let her sit in my lap. Then she started eating the watermelon I had just cut up, but she was not interested in any other food. No wonder they drink so much milk during the night.
After dinner they went into the bathtub, where they were having fun. Sammy loves playing with the faucet so much that he always cries hard and long, when we get him out of the tub. Then the other two came out, and we made them all ready for bed. It was not 7 pm yet, when we put them down to sleep.
I lay down myself, in the middle, to help them fall asleep. It took a while before they were finally ready to lie down and stay down, and then for them to fall asleep. It was 7:45 before I was able to cautiously get up. I got myself something to eat and then started working on the many pictures of today. I got a lot done today, including the German translation of our newsletter I wrote yesterday, and I still have a whole lot of work to do tomorrow.
I left our bedroom to go to the kitchen for a moment, when I heard a loud thud. I was wondering what that was. And then I heard Emmy cry. I deduced that he had fallen out of bed, and that was in fact the case. He had fallen on a stool with his butt and the side table with his head. He was crying, but immediately stopped, when I picked him up. We checked him out, and it looked like he was fine. That is now the second time he's fallen out of our bed at the same spot. If only they slept in their own bed!
Now I have to keep going, but still hope to make it to bed at a decent time, as tomorrow is gonna be a long day.
