28 months 18 days

Day 870. Last night I went to bed at 10:45 pm. We had successfully moved both kids to their own bed. It wasn't long before Tammy came, and Emmy came later. I was awake a lot after 4 am. The doctor was gonna come at 6 am to do another PCR test, and both kids were up shortly after. We all got up at 6:15, and the doctor came about half an hour later. The kids were in their seats about to start having breakfast. They stayed there, as he put the big Q-tip into their mouths. Then he did us adults, we paid half-price because of our flight cancelation, and he left. Then we ate breakfast.

After breakfast we cleaned them up and dressed them. Then I needed to call Air France, as currently our trip was ending in Amsterdam instead of Vienna. I had a very nice lady in person on the line, and she got us on a late flight out of Amsterdam tomorrow night. We now leave after midnight tonight and arrive in Vienna just before 11 pm tomorrow night, with a nearly 5-hour layover in Paris, and an 8-hour layover in Amsterdam. I'm glad I purchased lounge access with those long layovers.

I had just finished my phone call, when Margit was suddenly at my window outside, right next to me, asking for help to call so she could get a flight, so we did that. She then left without a resolution to try again later, while I went to work packing and getting our new tickets printed out. We got pretty busy, and the kids sure didn't make it easy, grabbing about everything in their reach. Margit soon left trying to get her situation sorted out.

I had the soup warming up on the stove, and a few minutes before noon we sat down to eat. Nobody ate much. Emmy has been pretty cranky all morning. He's the only one who still or again has diarrhea. They've been in this phase, where they do the opposite of what you tell them, and it's difficult to get them to obey. Today Emmy threw three spoons on the ground. After lunch I took them to the bathtub, where I cleaned them up, plus they were having fun. Tammy wanted out quickly. We dried them and dressed them and put them to bed. Emmy fell asleep first, just after 1 pm, and the girl needed until 1:15 to fall asleep. Randy was asleep in the chair next to the bed, "helping" to get her to sleep.

I got up and went back to work on the computer, as well as packing. With 3 pm approaching, Sammy woke up, and then the other two, as I was trying to help Margit. And then the chaos started. A few minutes later Paul came to tell me he was told that our flights were canceled, and that there would not be any more Air France flights at all. France had sided with the regional block that had imposed sanctions on Mali and said they would also send soldiers to Mali if the regional countries do so. That has so enraged the government that they cut all ties with France and do not want to let Air France land any more. I checked on an independent website that confirmed the cancelation, and then I already had the Air France emails to let me know. I called Air France. They booked us on the next flight that had seats which is on the 21st. She said we'd get a refund if we find another airline.

Margit was also trying to get a flight but had payment issues. Please pray she can work it out and get on a flight back to Austria. I was trying to help her while dealing with our own craziness. In the midst of all that the kids were trying to get attention. The later it got the crazier it got. The pictures show the earlier afternoon. My cat Brownie tried to stay near me all day long, and when I got up off the chair and Tammy stayed there, she took my seat, right behind Tammy. I was surprised to find Tammy still sitting there instead of taking flight.

Randy was giving them food just before dinner time, not knowing whether I'd be done by then. I had found a flight for tomorrow and was trying to pay with the Malian phone payment system. Paul went to great lengths, borrowing money, so we could pay and not lose the seats. Everywhere else I looked there weren't any seats for a while, and they were a lot more expensive. I hope that is not because of the turmoil in Ethiopia. We paid a big part of the ticket, 2300€ ($3000), but the money never arrived. In the end the money was lost, and so was the ticket. Everyone was wondering whether it had been a fraudulent website, but I still don't think it was. It was 6 pm, dinner time, and no flight out of Mali. I decided it was time for dinner. I was already exhausted. And Paul told me the doctor informed him that the vaccine mandate was still coming, even though he didn't know yet what day.

I tried to put Emmy into his chair, but he did not want in. Tammy did go in, but only ate some water melon. Later Emmy ate some watermelon, and Sammy also ate very little. Randy was hanging up clothes, and Margit was still trying to get a flight. It was still pretty chaotic. At that point Paul was actually still trying to get the payment worked out for the first flight, and I was called away from the dinner table to the computer. Then Randy took them to the bathtub, and the chaos continued with me unavailabe and the kids unsupervised. I was still working on it all, with Randy looking for clothes for the kids for the night, and all the beds had already been covered up and were not ready. Then I looked over and saw Sammy rolling off our bed. It went so fast I could not prevent it. It looked like he landed on his back, his head hitting the floor. He was crying hard, and I was worried that he was hurt. At least I was done, having lost the money and the seats, so I was available now. Randy checked him out and said he had no concussion. Paul was still here, trying to help, and all together we prayed for Sammy that there would be no effects from the fall. He did not behave as usual, but Randy said he was very tired. We got the beds ready and put Sammy to bed, and then the other two who had been going wild. It was 8 pm, before they got to go to bed.

I lay between them, trying to get them to sleep, when I decided to try downloading the Ethiopean app, as that way it was sure that it was legitimate. Then I started going through the booking process, which takes a while. While I was doing all this, the kids fell asleep. When it came time to pay, there was a payment option for credit cards this time, which had not been the case on the website.  In the end, we had a reservation for tomorrow at 11 am that looked legitimate.

Now that meant a lot of work for me. Print out the flight information, do for the third time our pre-travel clearance to Austria, and print out the result of our latest Covid test. All that took time. It was getting later and later, and I was getting more and more tired, and I had not even eaten yet. Just before 11 pm I finally got to eat a sandwich, then started working on this update to get it done. Now I still have to get everything done to the point that we only have to get up and leave in the morning. The biggest task is getting the kitchen ready. We'll be getting up at 5:30 and leaving at 6:30. Please pray for us!