Day 2543. These past three days have been filled with the kids playing with their nieces and brief visits to their Grandma. They've had lots of fun. As for me, I've had students every day, talked to Paul in Mali and wrote a new newsletter in three languages, so I've kept pretty busy, taking advantage of having more time to work on the computer.
Today we all left the house at 4:15 to drive the 45 minutes to Starkville, the biggest town near here and where Randy's daughter works as a worship leader in a church. We got there just in town and went inside where we directed to their "fellowship hall". We paid, found a table and stood in line to get some food. Tammy and Emmy were with me while Randy and Sammy stayed at the table. They had chicken, potato salad and pizza. We then ate together with Randy's daughter and her family. Tammy sat with her niece that she's very close with.
After the meal, Tammy and Emmy headed to the kids' room where they were watching the kids, while Randy, Sammy and I went to the sanctuary for the prayer meeting. Sammy was looking forward to hearing Randy's daughter sing. I was holding him while he was standing and singing and raising his arms up high. He had so much fun!
There were about four songs plus some prayers in between, then I took Sammy to the kids' room where he joined his siblings. I found them coloring pages. Then I returned to the sanctuary where people had made small groups to pray for what the person up front was saying. We had a good time praying. Once it was over, I went to get the kids and brought them to the sanctuary where they were having fun, running around. Sammy was most excited to see all his girl friends and had fun with them. Then everyone started saying good-bye.
But we stayed because Randy's daughter had to rehearse for Sunday, and the first song was Sammy's favorite. He was very excited to hear her sing the song and sang along with her. It was after that that we also left the church and drove back to the house.
It was way past bedtime but everyone had some icecream before going to bed. By 9:30 they were finally getting quiet - except for Sammy who had slept on the way to church around 5 pm and was therefore not tired. Daddy lay down with him, then he finally fell asleep. Now it's 1 am, and I also need to go to bed. Tomorrow is a day in the car.
