Day 1118. They've been getting up really early recently, around 6 am, especially Emmy. I would not open the squeezie for him and told him to go back to sleep. Soon I could hear him and Tammy having fun together, and they stayed busy without coming to us for a while. When he came to me, I was shocked to see that it was nearly 9 am. I had a student at 10 am and still lots to do until then. I jumped out of bed and went to work. After breakfast I cleaned them up and dressed them, but by then it was already pretty late, so that I could not go downstairs with them. Just before 10 am Sonja arrived and went downstairs with them. I was running around taking care of stuff until my class at 10 am. I closed the doors to the bedroom and started teaching on time, for 50 minutes.
After I was done with my final lesson of the week, it was time to shift gears. I was gonna give an update on Mali at church in the afternoon and had not had any time to get ready for it. The first thing I did was to call Paul, and I ended up talking with him for about half an hour. I got all the information I needed, and he then sent me the pictures I needed. However, it was high time for me to start cooking. And as it was already a little later than when I would have started, and so it was after noon before we all sat down to eat. It had been a while since Sonja was with us for a meal. Tammy was really tired and did not want to eat and went to bed. The boys didn't eat very much either, and I found out that they'd had a snack late. The boys did eat some icecream. Tammy was stirring by then and returned to the table. I cleaned them all up and dressed them again, and as it was already 1:15, it was time for bed. They all went to bed, and Sonja said her good-byes.
I sat down by them for a few minutes, but I had way too much to do with less than two hours left, and so Randy took my place after Emmy said he was okay with it. Tammy didn't protest for long either. And so I finally sat down at the computer to start working on the pictures Paul sent me and putting all the ones I needed on a flash drive. I printed out some papers, and put together the "Mali bag" with all the stuff needed for my table I was gonna set up at church. It all took time, and I was really tired, but I just powered on. Then Emmy already woke up at 2:30, and the others woke up right after him. I chose clothes for them to wear, Randy put new diapers on them, and I picked out winter coats and shoes for them, as it was the first cold day this fall (13 C). We left the house on time just after 3 pm.
We walked to the train station and got there just as the train was pulling up (early). After the train, we took the subway, then we walked through the mall to get to church, where we arrived early. I started putting up the Mali table in the lobby right away. Then I gave the computer person my flash drive, and by then the service had actually started. We all sat in the last row, but the kids didn't stay there for long. And it wasn't long until Emmy asked to go to the baby room. I finally agreed to go early, after about 20 minutes into the service, and we all headed there. But then I left them there and returned to the sanctuary. I enjoyed the opportunity to worship, since I was by myself. After a few other items on the agenda, it was my turn to speak. I went on stage and started talking fast, knowing I only had 10 minutes to speak. I shared testimonies and prayer requests and pictures. Then the pastor prayed for me and took an offering. I was done and left the sanctuary to return to the baby room.
When I left the sanctuary, I ran into another Mom who'd been in the room and told me that the kids had watched me on the TV screen there and had said "hello Mommy" at the screen. She'd taken a picture, and had also done a short video clip, when the pastor was praying for us. After talking to her I made my way to rejoin the rest of the family. When I got to the room, Randy handed me Sammy right away. It was my first time today not working or doing something, and so the tiredness soon hit me. Still, I had Sammy, having him sit or stand or hang off the back of the armchair. He was also playing with a kid laptop, a toy piano and a Ukranian Bible. Randy closed his eyes to rest a little bit. Tammy and Emmy were having lots of fun playing together.
At 6 pm we decided it was time to leave the room, as the service was gonna be over shortly. We tidied up and left to walk to the sanctuary, where I went straight to our table.
Soon people started coming out of the sanctuary, and a few came to our table. The kids started picking up brochures and handing them to random people, which was really fun to watch. They were great helpers! Thankfully many people returned the brochures, especially those who'd received several. We had a few conversations, and one especially good one. That missionary couple also ended up praying for Sammy's healing. We were all having a great time, but Emmy kept bugging me about going to McDonald's, and at some point it was time to pack up, which we did. The kids were helping me again. Then we said our good-byes and left.
We rolled through the whole shopping mall again until we reached the McDonald's just before the exit. The kids were excited to go to McDonald's as we hadn't been there (at that specific one) in a while. Unfortunately they still don't have any decent toys for the kids. We sat down at "our" table, where we always sit, when it's available, and had a great, fun, family time together. Emmy now eats quite a lot of hamburger with cheese (without bread and the other stuff), while Tammy still refuses to do so. After we were done, we put their coats back on and put them into the strollers, and walked to the subway stop. The subway arrived right away. The kids wanted to watch Peppa Pig, and they continued once we got to the train platform, where we waited for our train. We got on the 8 pm train and were home by 8:15.
We immediately started getting them ready for bed, and half an hour later they were all in bed. I sat down by them and stayed until they were asleep, i.e. Tammy and Emmy, as Sammy was still wide away for some reason, but he actually falls asleep faster when neither one of us is sitting right there, and so I left. I sat down at the computer to start working, and somehow it got late, as it is 1 am now. Good thing it's Sunday tomorrow.
