Day 1424. Today I had to set an alarm for 7 am, as we had to leave the house at 8 am. Emmy had come and gone a few times during the night, while Tammy surprisingly didn't come once. She still had a fever, when she woke up this morning, but it disappeared in the course of the morning, and she was perfectly well the rest of the day.
After breakfast we got them ready to leave and then started our one-hour journey to a little town east of Harrisburg. A friend had set up a first-time meeting with the missions director of a church there. We got there a little late, at 9:15, and were impressed by the big and beautiful building, and even more with the playground inside. Unfortunately I did not take a picture. The guy came out to greet us, and we sat down in the room next to the playground to talk. I then talked with him, while Randy was in the playroom with the kids. They had a high and long and fast slide that the kids loved, as well as lots of other stuff. I had a good conversation, and in the end Randy also got to join us for a few minutes. He talked with him, while I took the kids to the restrooms, then we said our good-byes and loaded them into the car and started our drive back to Harrisburg.
But we were not going home. Because we have our rental car for nearly 3 months, we have to enter our mileage from time to time and have to do maintenance, when it becomes due. One such point had just been reached, and we had a voucher to have the car serviced and an appointment at a place near where we were staying at 11 am. That's why our meeting at the church had been so early. I had already entered the car service place's address in my phone before, and put it back in again so we could go there. We were already late anyway.
We got there at 11:15, parked the car and walked inside with our voucher. They did not find our appointment in the computer, but still took us. After we were done, we left the car there and walked off. I had seen in advance that there was a pet store right there with live animals, so we were going there, and then to the McDonald's for lunch, as they had a playground and as the service was going to take until 2 pm, which is beyond their nap time.
When we left the building, I was confidently walking in the direction of the pet store. However, everything I saw was different from what I had see on the map, and I was confused. I looked at my phone and discovered that were were a half-hour drive away from our house in a completely different part of town, not at the car service store we had made the appointment at! As I had already told the kids that we were going to the pet store and see kitties, they were disappointed and started crying. I then looked at my map and saw that there was also a pet store nearby. And so we started walking in that direction, which was rather hazardous, as there were few sidewalks. It was also hot, and Sammy was in his wheelchair, but we often had to lift him up onto a sidewalk. We finally reached the store, and I was hoping that they were going to have kittens and puppies. In any case, there was a big poster about a special sale of both.
We walked in and started walking around the store. We saw mice, guinea pigs, hamsters and ferrets, as well as birds and reptiles. Then we saw a water turtle and all kinds of fish. We walked to the cat and dog section, but saw no animals. Then we walked to a corner of the room, where we hadn't been yet, and the employee told us that there should still be one cat in the cages by the entrance. So we headed there. And in fact, there was one cat there. Randy lifted up the wheelchair with Sammy in it so he could so it, while I lifted up the other two. We put our fingers through the bars; it was a really sweet cat. Then we left the store, and the kids kept saying that they want to have a cat at home in Austria, as do I, by the way, but Randy does not.
We were walking in the direction of Wendy's, as that was the only cheap and decent place around there, even though it had no playground. It did have comfortable seating for us, and the food was good. I put Emmy's cap on him backwards, and he thought that that was really cool.
Sammy ate more than his siblings, which was great to see, but I wished the others had eaten more as well.
With 2 pm approaching, we decided to walk back to the car maintenance place, which my phone said was 9 minutes away. While Tammy was fine again, I was actually feeling pretty miserable. At first I thought I was just tired, but then I realized I was sick now. I had a headache and felt somewhat nauseous. I was also thinking of my 3:30 student; I usually sit down to get ready for that student at 2:45. Randy checked how much longer it would be, then we sat down in the waiting room. It was at least another half hour. I closed my eyes and tried to rest, while the kids kept running around and interacting with every other customer there. Sammy really liked that one black guy and hugged him just minutes after having first met him. After he had left, they had fun with other customers. It was getting later and later, and I was getting worried about my class. It was nearly 3 pm, when we finally left, which meant I was gonna arrive just in time for my class but would have no time to correct homework or get my documents ready. And all that was not considering how badly I needed a nap and how terrible I was feeling.
The kids were playing on their tablets the whole way home, which kept them awake, which increased the chances of them taking a nap at the house. Only Sammy had his eyes closed, when we arrived just before 3:30 pm. I grabbed my computer and went straight to the kitchen to start teaching. Because of the passion I have for teaching, I can do it even in such a state as I was in today. However, Randy had to be the one putting the kids to bed for their nap, which is usually my job.
I returned to our room just before 5 pm and found Randy and Emmy asleep, and Tammy and Sammy playing. I then found out that those two had never slept. I felt miserable and lay down myself, but I needed to wake up Emmy. He did not want to wake up, and so I lay down together with him. It was so not like him to not get up but stay in bed. He was not hot, but I asked him whether he was sick, and he said yes. And so we stayed in bed together, while the others were playing. At 6 pm I forced myself up to go cook dinner, the meal I was unable to cook at lunch time. I had to fulfill my duties, sick or not.
I enjoyed the quietness in the kitchen while cooking and called the others to come down once I was done. They all ate little or a little more. Emmy seemed perfectly alright, no sign of sickness, and he later admitted to me that he had never been sick.
After dinner we went upstairs, where I lay down again, but not for long. It was time to shower them and put them to bed. I then read them a good-night story that they really enjoyed, prayed for them, and put them to bed. It was close to 9 pm already. Tammy and Sammy fell asleep quickly, but not Emmy, who had slept long in the afternoon. I stayed with him a little, then left to start working on today's pictures. My goal was to get it all done quickly so I could go to bed at a decent time, giving how I was feeling. It's 11:30 pm now, and I'm already done and planing to go to bed.
