5 years 8 months 14 days

Day 2083. This morning I went back to sleep after Randy had left with the kids. I woke up before my alarm went off, some time after 10 am. I was in quite a bit of pain that had started last night and that I'd had during the night. I got up and got ready for my 11:15 am student. I taught until 12:30 pm; by then Randy was already gone. He took the 12:27 pm bus to get Tammy and Emmy and take them to their tennis class. Their class was from 2 to 3 pm.

After I had wrapped up my class, I left the house to pick up Sammy. I took the subway for two stops, then walked to his kindergarten. He was already in his wheelchair and dressed, ready to go home. He said good-bye to everyone, and we left and took the subway back home.

The pain was getting worse. Every movement hurt, and I didn't get a break as Sammy wanted something from me every few minutes. He heard my moans and got concerned. I was wondering whether I needed to go to a doctor to get checked and wondering how I was gonna accomplish the tasks of the rest of the day. I was not able to do any work but was lying in bed. Sammy then came to me and crawled up next to me after I helped him into our bed. He was really concerned and asked whether he could pray for me. He prayed a very simple prayer, and I thanked him for it. Well, as the day went on, the pain diminished more and more and by now, it's nearly completely gone. Praise God!

I made sandwiches for the kids and got everything ready for us to leave the house which we did before 3 pm. We took the subway, then a train, then went to the platform of the train going the opposite direction, where we waited for the train Daddy and the siblings were going to be on. After a few minutes their train arrived. Tammy hopped off and Sammy got on. Randy then took the boys to Emmanuel's soccer class from 4:30 to 5:30 pm.

Tammy and I walked to the bus stop, and the bus arrived right away. Because of construction, the bus stopped right in front of the dance school which was perfect. We were early and the first ones there. Tammy changed into her ballet clothes and went into the classroom, while I went outside on the terrace and sat down on the couch right by the window, where I could watch her dance. During the next hour I watched her, read the free local daily paper and was on my phone. I also took pictures through the window.

Just before 5 pm the class was over. Tammy got changed again, and we left to walk to the subway as the bus was not taking us where we needed to go due to construction. It was a long walk, but this time we took the shortest route to get there. We rode the subway for one stop, then switched to the subway taking us to our house. Today it struck me again how sweet and well-behaved Tammy is, when I'm alone with her. She's completely different, when her brother is there as well.

We got off two stops before home for a bread pickup for a third of the price, then went home, where we arrived just after 5:30 pm. My next student was at 6:30 pm. I took the time to cut up their fruit for dinner and prepare for my student. Tammy was watching videos on the big screen; she was happy to be the one to choose what to watch with her brother not there. Just after 6 pm the boys already arrived, and I warned them that I'd turn the projector off if they fought over what to watch again.

At 6:30 pm I started teaching. By 7:20 I was done, and then it was high time for them to go into the bathtub, where they continued eating their fruit. The time pressure was on, when we then went downstairs for piano practice. Back upstairs, I only had enough time to pray for them before I had to sit down at my computer for my 8:10 pm student. Randy then read them a story instead of me.

After I was done teaching at 9 pm, I did some more scanning of school materials, and so it was 9:30 pm before I could go to the kitchen to finally get something to eat. After I was done, I started working on the pictures. Now it's after 1 am and time to take care of the kitchen.