5 years 9 months 8 days

Day 2107. Randy took the kids to the playground on Sunday morning, while I took the opportunity to sleep in. Emmy was playing soccer with a boy and his Grandpa. Sammy was able to make the seat on a spring move all by himself. 

Eventually I got up and went to the kitchen to make lunch. After we had eaten lunch, we went downstairs for piano practice. Randy was cleaning up some bike he had recently picked up. I then saw my opportunity to get some shelves up that I had asked him to put up for months, literally. I thought he was just going to draw where to put them, but then he started drilling the holes and putting them up. There were five of them. I was so happy! It took quite a while to put them up right, and ever so often he had to drill a hole. And then we heard someone hitting the wall as if to complain about the noise we were making. We continued. Then the doorbell rang. It was our immediate and good neighbor who asked whether we were the ones making the noise. I apologized, and we stopped even though there was only one hole left to drill. I was still very happy to finally get the shelves up, and they were even looking better than I had expected.

I was very tired and didn't really want to go anywhere, but given that I felt like the whole house had turned against us, I preferred going to church after all. I made their dinner-to-go boxes, everyone got ready, and just after 4 pm we left the house together.

We took one subway, then had to switch to another one. The elevator was broken, and so Randy had to take the wheelchair down the chairs. Sammy was enjoying the bumpy ride. We took the other subway and got to church just before 5 pm. I was tired, but it was my turn to go to the kids' program.

We sat down as the service was about to start. Sammy first stayed with me at my seat, then he went to the front to join his sister who was drawing there. Emmy was just running around. At 5:30 it was time to go to the kids' program. I took Sammy and the other two and left, while Randy got to stay in the sanctuary and enjoy the service.

The kids sat down in a circle, and the teacher did a worship song with actions with them. I was sitting down and holding Sammy up so he could dance. The other two kids tried to follow along. Then we sat down, and one of the teachers read a Bible story. It was about hearing God's voice. Sammy sat by me and listened this time around. Then they were doing game where the kids had to lie down and hear what one of the teachers was whispering. If they got it right, they got a treat from the other teacher. Sammy got some too, and Tammy brought him some. He couldn't do everything that was being whispered. After the game, the kids sat down at the table for crafts. Emmy had no interest in that, so he started playing with a ball. As for Sammy, I had already gotten the Duplo box out so we could build together. Emmy came to us briefly, but Sammy didn't want him to join. Tammy also tried to join us later, after she had finished making her bunny ears, but Sammy didn't want her messing with the house we were building. 

Once we were done, we started role-playing. Emmy was Mickey whose house we had built, and he was coming home to it. He was then saying he had to work and that he had a student. He was then the teacher, and I played the student. I asked him what he was teaching, and he said German. For the second lesson, he was teaching in English. In both lessons I asked him to translate words for me, the student. I asked him what "Haus" meant, and he correctly said "house". Every word I asked him, he translated correctly. I then asked "essen", he said "eat". I asked, "Ich hab Hunger", he said, "I'm hungry". I asked, "Ich hab Durst" (I'm thirsty), he said, "apple juice". I had to laugh out loud! Now I know why he always says "apple juice" when he's thirsty. 

He was getting hungry then, so I got his dinner box out. The others also got their box out, and then two other kids joined them to eat with them. Then I watched something beautiful - they were all sharing their food with each other. It really was beautiful to watch. 

It was going on 7 pm, and Sammy and I left to see whether our friend Anna was there. Tammy joined us as well. We were looking around the sanctuary but couldn't see her. Too bad. We then got ready to leave and left church without having talked to anyone.

We walked to the subway, rode one subway, then the other elevator was broken as well to go to the other subway. This time Randy went on the escalator with the wheelchair. When we got to the next elevators, two out of three were broken. What was going on there?!?  Then we got on another subway, and the kids continued doing a math game on my phone. Tammy is also starting to like math, even though she's not as good as Emmy.

By 8 pm we were back home. We got them ready for bed right away, I read them some stories, and they went to bed. Then I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat. After having eaten, I went to work on the computer.

This morning Randy took Tammy and Emmy to kindergarten, but Sammy stayed home with me. He wanted to play with the door, so I got up to put him on the chair, but on the whole he was nice to me and let me stay in bed for most of the time. Then Randy got home and soon left with Sammy. He got new night braces a few weeks ago, and he had pressure points on his legs so the braces needed to be adjusted. I was able to get him an 11 am appointment today, but it was an hour away at the other end of town. After they had left, it was finally quiet so that I could really sleep. 

At 11 am I woke up and slowly got up. I went to the kitchen to make a casserole. Once it was done, it went into the oven, and I could go and turn my computer on to work. Randy and Sammy already returned home earlier than expected, around 12:30 pm. Just before 1 pm  Randy left to go pick up the other kids from kindergarten. The food was finally done, and Sammy and I ate lunch. After that, he was watching videos with the projector, while I had to do some scanning for my students. I was very surprised, when Randy and the kids returned home in record time after only an hour - which has only happened once before. At 2 pm they were home.

At 2:30 pm I started teaching and taught until 3:20 pm. Then I went to the kitchen to make their sandwiches for dinner, and got myself and everything ready for us to leave the house. At about 3:50 pm the five of us left. 

It was a very hot day again. We walked to the subway and rode it to another subway. Randy and Sammy got off before us. Randy was picking up a stroller wheel to fix ours and try to get it sold. And Sammy wanted to go to the Peppa rides, and so they picked up the wheel first and then went to the Peppa rides. And he enjoyed them greatly. 

Tammy, Emmy and I got off later and then had another subway to take for two stops. However, there was no time on the display, and then it read that there was some kind of emergency and there were no trains running. I looked on my phone to see what other way we could go there. We had to walk quite a bit to a tram stop, then we took the train, then we walked a little more and reached the programming club ten minutes after the class had started at 4:30 pm. The kids went inside, and I left again to walk to the nearby bakery for my 4:45 pm student. I got myself a hot drink, got my computer on, connected to the local internet and at 4:50 pm I was ready to get going. 

After I was done teaching, I packed up again and walked back to the school, where Emmy was already at the door waiting for me. He took me straight to his computer to show me what they had done, then I looked at Tammy's masterpiece. They then turned their computers off, and we left. 

They were eating their sandwiches on the way to the subway. When we got there, parents and their kid from class caught up with us, and we started talking. They were Chinese, and we had a good conversation. We got off before them. We took another subway and got off early as we were picking up left-over bread for a third of the price. We were still ten minutes early, so we went into a gift shop right there. While we were there, I was reminded that it's Father's Day next Sunday, and so we picked up three little presents for each of the kids to give to Daddy. 

By the time we were done, it was time for the 6:30 pm pickup. We got our bread, got back on the subway, and went home. By 6:45 we were back home; Randy and Sammy were already back. I went to the kitchen to cut up their fruit and got it done before I had to sit down for my 7:15 pm student. While I was teaching, they were eating and going into the bathtub. When I finished at 8:05 pm, they were ready for bed, and ready for their stories.

However, we hadn't done piano practice yet, so we went downstairs for that. Even Sammy went downstairs. After we were done and back upstairs, I just needed to call Paul. He had already tried to call me while I was teaching, and had asked me earlier today to call him tonight. Today was judgment day in Mali. I ended up talking with him for 15 minutes, while the kids were waiting and especially Tammy was worried. She was asking me whether we'd ever be able to go back to Mali. I told her it was all good, that we "just" had to pay a fine.

We then did the two songs for the street concert on Thursday, and by the time we were done, it was already 8:45 pm and too late for a story. I prayed for them and sent them to bed. But instead of going to the kitchen to get myself something to eat, I sat down by the computer and started writing a short newsletter letting everyone know what had happened today. I sent it out, then I did the German translation and sent it out. Then I did the French translation and also sent it out. I was done, and I was hungry, so I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat. After having eaten, I started working on yesterday's picture and writing this report. Now it's 2:40 and time to go to bed. Tammy and Emmy are both already in my bed.