Day 919. Last night I headed to bed at 12:15 am. Right then Emmy got up and came crying - again. I put him to bed, but he wanted me to stay with him. After a few minutes left, but he came again, and this time it was Randy who sat down with him and successfully left after a few minutes. Tammy joined us in bed in the early morning hours, then Emmy came and by 6:30 they were up and running. We stayed in bed and had Sammy join us, once he started crying to get out of his bed. In reality he wanted to be on the floor with his siblings, so I let him down. At 7:20 I got up as well.
Last night we ran out of milk, so I could not make their usual cereal this morning. In addition, Tammy wanted some milk to drink, but she saw me pour it from their night milk bottle into the cup and threw a fit, as she wanted fresh milk from the carton. Later she did drink it. They had some fruit and ate the salami and cheese off the bread, then wanted some squeezies, and then they got up. I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs to read the Bible. Both Emmy and Tammy were listening attentively. Then I went upstairs to work.
At 9 am the Mobile Support lady was supposed to be here. Emmy was standing at the bottom of the stairs as if he knew it was 9 am and shouted her name. I shouted back that she'll be here shortly. She was nearly 10 minutes late today, but the kids were happy to see her.
At 11:30 I stayed in the kitchen for good. Soon Tammy was crying at the bottom of the stairs to watch Paw Patrol or Peppa Pig. At 11:45 I went downstairs to open the gate and let them come upstairs. Tammy kept crying. And so I got the package for them out that I was gonna give them in the afternoon - a drum set for our gifted drummer boy and the others. That ended the crying. But it had yet to be put together and batteries be put inside. While I was getting lunch ready, I asked Randy if he could do that. He gave a drum stick to Tammy and Emmy each, who were both whiny, and especially Emmy was impatient to get started drumming. I told him we'd do it in the afternoon, after their nap, which just made him cry more. Randy put batteries in, but it was not working. When we said we'd have to send it back, he cried even more.
The food was finally ready, and we all sat down to eat. Tammy and Emmy could not get enough pork and ate a lot of it. Emmy didn't want either the sauerkraut or dumplings, while Tammy likes the sauerkraut but not the dumplings. Then they got up, never even thinking about pudding. I cleaned them up and dressed them, and Emmy still wanted the drum set. Randy had put different batteries in, while I was dressing them, and now it was working. I told Emmy he'd get to play with it after his nap, which made him upset. The boys went to bed, but I was still running around doing things. By the time I walked to their beds to sit down, they were already asleep. It was 12:45.
10 minutes later Tammy came upstairs and a few minutes after 1 pm she was asleep as well. I continued working hoping to close my eyes at some point, but I never got the chance. Randy left to go to the grocery store. At 2 pm Emmy walked into the room. Of course he wanted to play the new drums. I went downstairs with him and took the drum set along. Five minutes later Sammy woke up and I went to get him and bring him downstairs as well. And then the fun started. We tried out the new drum set that had colors and sounds and even a microphone. It was lots of fun. Sammy loved talking into the microphone, as did the others:
At 2:30 Tammy woke up from all the noise, and I brought her downstairs as well. As she had done, when I put her down for her nap, she was again/still asking for milk, and I had to tell her that we didn't have any but that Daddy was out buying some. It made her cry.
After Emmy had had enough of the drums, he asked to watch a worship time on the Echo, and so I put a Life Center service with Jason Upton on that he was watching with interest. And then Randy walked into the room with milk for Tammy. He was back!
I thought it would be good for the kids to get out a little bit, and they were immediately excited about it. It was time to upgrade them to bigger snow suits, and I really liked the ones we had for them. We went outside and they immediately started running their cars up and down the little incline. They were having so much fun! Even though Emmy fell a few times today.
Randy got the bike without pedals out, and they had no interest in getting on it. So he put Sammy on it who actually liked it.
The new bubbles had arrived today and I got one bottle that I opened. How much fun it was to try to pop the butles Mommy was blowing! Emmy wanted to blow bubbles too, and he actually succeeded. Tammy had a much harder time blowing and didn't hardly get any bubbles. In the end Emmy was holding the bubbles himself and blowing them and did a decent job doing so.
I finally left them outside and went inside to work.
I was so very tired, I just wanted to close my eyes and lay down on the coach a few minutes, which I ended up doing. Then Randy came inside with them at 5:15. Tammy again wanted to watch Peppa Pig, but I still said no, as there was no time left, and so she started crying more. I put a "tidy up" song on and told them it was time to clean up. Nobody helped me. I had to do in all by myself. Then we went upstairs, where they pulled up chairs to the kitchen counter and ate what I put on the plate s in front of them. Then we all sat down at the dining room table. From there they went into the bathtub. Not only did they have the plates with the rest of their food, but also the bubbles. I finally had to take the bubbles away so they could eat, but they were not too happy. Then they came out one after another. Somehow it had gotten really late today, as it was 7:20 before they were all in bed.
I sat down by them, and Tammy lay on my chest. They were tired, but still active. And Emmy wanted bubbles and threw a fit, when I did not give him any. It took until 7:55 before I could walk away, and that was just in time for our 8 pm video call.
For 45 minutes we talked to a young lady of the guest relations committee of an organization that is organizing an all-paid-for retreat in "paradise" for career missionaries. And so they interview all candidates, including us. We'll find out soon enough if they invite us to come.
It was 9 pm, when I finally got to go to the kitchen to get something to eat. Then I went back to work, but it was late. And so it got really late again tonight before I make it to bed, and my eyes kept closing, while I was writing.
