6 years 2 months 17 days

Day 2269. I tried to get some sleep on Sunday morning. Eventually I got up to cook, and we all sat down to eat. At 12:25 pm Randy left with Tammy and Emmy to take them to their maths club. I stayed home with Sammy and was working on the French translation of our newsletter that I had still not done. By 1:30 pm Randy was back, and at 2 pm I left the house to go pick up the kids.

I took the subway to the end then walked to the premises of the maths club. I had to wait until the class was over before they opened the door, so there was no watching the class for the last few minutes. The kids still wanted to go to the playground right there, so they played with their friend, then moved on to the climbing wall, then did some balancing. Then it was time to get going and go home.

Back home, I wanted to do what I had wanted to do for a long time already: use the great teaching materials I have used with the kids in Mali with our kids. I got the first lesson off my computer, then we went downstairs. We first sang some worship songs, then I did the short teaching, then Tammy wanted to sing a song to Jesus that she had composed. Then we all prayed together. It was a precious time together, even though it was short, and I hope to be doing this regularly.

I then returned upstairs to continue working on the French translation. Once they got hungry, I made their dinner, which started our evening routine.

On Monday the kids went back to school, while I had a student from 10 to 11:15 am. Then I made lunch. Unfortunately it took too long to be able to eat and still go to the gym like I usually do on Monday. At 1:30 pm I picked up Sammy. At 2:30 pm I started teaching, just as Randy was coming home with Tammy and Emmy. I finished at 3:20 pm, then made their dinner sandwiches. At 3:45 pm I left the house with Tammy and Emmy to take them to their programming class. We did their reading practice on the subway. Once I had dropped them off for their 4:30 pm class, I walked the distance to the nearby train station but this time I had decided to go to the bakery instead of McDonald's as it's rather loud at McDonald's. However, there was some construction noise so it wasn't as quiet as usual at the bakery. Still, while the table is a little small, and the chairs not as comfortable, it was a good place to teach at. After I was done, I packed up and walked back to the school. Ten minutes before the end I walked into their class to see what they had done. They had done some programming on their screens again. 

Just before 6 pm we left and got home at 6:30 pm. I cut up fruit for them, they ate, then we did piano practice, followed by the bathtub. I quickly read them a story before praying for them and sitting down at the computer to teach from 8:10 to 9 pm.

This morning I could only lie back down for a  very short time after Randy left with Sammy at 8:15 am. At 8:45 am Randy was back, while I left the house and walked to the subway. After two stops I got off and walked to the medical center where I had a 9:10 am appointment for a mammogram. It was just a routine check-up. I also picked up Sammy's results of his x-ray last week. It said that his hip and vertebrae have now started to become crooked as feared, as he always tilts to the side when he sits.

I had barely sat down in the empty waiting room, when I was called inside. They had a new machine that made it much less uncomfortable. After the machine, I lay down for a bed and a doctor used a handheld ultrasound stick to check more closely. She told me that everything looked perfect. I got dressed again and left. By 9:30 am I was already back home.

At 9 pm the cleaning lady had come, and Randy had let her in. I was so very tired I just wanted to lie down as my first student was only at 11:30 am, but I didn't. I used the unexpected time to get work done. From 11:30 to 12:30 pm I had a student, then I had some food. I wondered where Randy was and found out that he had accidentally left the house an hour too early to go pick up Tammy and Emmy.

At 1:15 pm I left to go pick up Sammy. As we celebrate Saint Martin's today, Sammy had made a lantern at school today, and the whole school had gathered together to sing the traditional lantern songs with the kids. As for Tammy and Emmy, they did not have any Saint Martin's celebration at their school.

Back home I was getting ready for my 2:30 pm student, and Randy and the kids arrived just after that time. Randy then left with Emmy at 3 pm to take him to his soccer class. I finished my student at 3:20 pm, then we had another half hour before leaving. 

Tammy, Sammy and I took the subway and then the bus and actually made the earlier bus so that we arrived at the school where Emmy's soccer class was taking place a few minutes before the class was over. I went downstairs to see whether I could watch Emmy play for a few minutes but he was sitting the last game out. After he had changed, we all left and walked to the bus stop where we separated again. Randy and Tammy were going one way to go to her ballet class, while I was going the other way with the boys to take them home. By 5:15 pm we were back home. I went to the kitchen right away to cut up their fruit; they had already eaten their sandwiches. I gave them their fruit then got ready for my 6 pm student. Emmy and Sammy were watching stuff while I was teaching and after I was done at 6:50 pm, Sammy asked me whether he had been good, and I praised him for not having disturbed me while teaching. That's not a given.

A few minutes later Randy and Tammy arrived. I went downstairs with Emmy for piano practice while Tammy was eating her fruit, then it was her turn to practice. It was already 7:30 pm by the time they went into the bathtub. Once out, I prayed for them  and let them go to bed, while I sat down at the computer to teach from 8 to 9 pm. Then I got myself something to eat and later went back to work.