15 months 28 days

This is the 9th day of them having diarrhea. Sammy was in bad shape yesterday, also cranky, but fine today behavior-wise, while Tammy had it bad today. She and Emmy were pretty cranky today, and wanted to lie on my chest a lot, more than usual. Tammy has also had a rough night again so far tonight. It's not easy when they are cranky all the time. I was glad when Bakary came and made them laugh for a while; you can watch the uploaded videos.

We've been giving them medicine that they get a few times a day. Tammy loves it when I put it into her mouth in a syringe, and so does Sammy, but not Emmy. He won't let us shoot it into his mouth, and he's hardly been eating, so he didn't get it mixed into his food. Tammy usually refuses to eat at first, but then starts eating, as long as I stand with her in my arm. We were all in the bathtub tonight, and Randy brought pizza stick snacks for them, one of the many baby snacks I had bought to take with us on the trip. All three ended up eating quite a few of those in the bathtub, and then two cereal & fruit bars. Emmy literally devoured those, so at least he got some food into his belly tonight.

I'm in constant touch with the missionary doctor who's advising us as to what to do. It's not until next Wednesday she can come to visit. She told us to keep doing what we're doing, and inform her if any of them gets a fever. So please keep praying for their health. Two days ago Paul told me that a new believer in our church, Korotoumou, called him to tell him that the Lord showed her that no harm will come to our babies. At the service last weekend everyone prayed for them, and she was there too.

In Mali we have the tradition of everyone in our household drawing the name of one other person to give a gift to. They then give the gift to me to wrap in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and I put them all on the table in the picture, all with lights, a nativity and a star. So every time the kids come in, they run to the table to see whether their name is there, and then they count how often. Today, our three little ones go to look as well, and I think the pictures are just too cute. The one where Emmy looks at the camera, it's like he's saying he can't find his name there (it's there twice). Young man, it helps to learn to read first!

I also really like the picture Barbara took of me with all three; there are not many of those.

Tonight, Randy finished the gift bags for all our sponsored kids that we give them in the name of their sponsors. Everyone gets a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, notebook, pens, balloon, chocolate and candy (I might have forgotten something). All the non-resident sponsored kids will be with us tomorrow for a Christmas dinner, but will then go home (there's a curfew in place). So I should see everyone tomorrow!

Well, there were a few more things during the day I thought I need to write tonight, but now I can't remember. I guess it can wait.

It's rather early, so I'll be able to still get some office work done tonight, which I'm thankful for. Yesterday I got a big part of doing their Bible Reading Plan for 2021 done. But now all the Bible and devotional recordings need to be put on a USB stick, which is a lot of work. However, I'm glad I did the whole year when we were in Mali in January, even though I had thought back then that we'd be here in summer. I need to do all of 2021, as you just never know what's gonna happen and when we'll be back.