Day 1435. The boys were up first, as usual, and there's no going back once Sammy is up. I lay down by them, while Tammy had slept the second half of the night in our bed again. Then we got up and went upstairs to have breakfast. Our host family was making biscuits and gravy, and it wasn't ready yet. I ate my bagel, as always, and then went back downstairs to work, while Randy and the kids stayed upstairs to join the family for their American breakfast.
I was really tired and would have liked to sleep instead of working, but I needed to get some stuff done, so I kept powering on. At 10:15 we got ready to leave and drove off to go to our 11 am meeting. We met with one of my former teachers from Bible School in his office, like we always do, when I'm in town. This time there was five of us for the first time. We had already seen him at the service on Friday, but now we got to talk. We had a great time catching up. I let the kids take their tablets inside, which kept them quiet and busy, so we could talk. Sammy was a little cranky, and Randy walked with him a little bit, then he was exploring the globes. In the end my friend prayed for Sammy and for all five of us, which was precious. Then we said our good-byes.
We left the building and had a good view of the main building, where the sanctuary is. I told the kids that I had gone to school here for two years, that that had been my church for two years, even though they changed their name last year. They saw the pond and wanted to check it out, so we walked over there, and Randy drove over there for us to get in.
It was nearly 12:30, when we drove off. I still needed to wire money to Mali, so we drove to one of the Western Union locations on the way home. However, when we got there, they told us they didn't have that service any longer. Just great. As it was a grocery store, we decided to stay and pick up a few items. Then we drove to the Hardee's right there to get some fries and a burger, and the kids ate the fries on the way home.
By 1:30 pm we were back home. We joined the family in the kitchen and all had some food. Then it was time for the kids to lie down for their nap. I lay down with them to sing to them and encourage them to sleep. Once they were asleep, I got up and lay down in bed myself. It was some time after 2:30 pm. I was really tired and quickly fell asleep. The boys were the first ones back up and of course, Emmy came to me. But when I looked at the time at 4 pm, everyone was already up and playing. It was late, and we needed to leave the house right away.
Just before 4:30 we left and started our half-hour drive to go visit our friends. We got there at 5 pm and were warmly welcomed. We then had a wonderful 2.5 hours with them. They had pizza to eat, and they had a playroom for their grandkids. Our kids went there right away to play, but we soon sat down to eat as they had not had any afternoon snacks. There was even some great dessert that the kids all ate. They were having lots of fun, while Randy and I got to talk to our friends and had a great time. Sammy ended up with us, pushing a cart, but he was not happy, when Daddy was so busy talking that he forgot to let Sammy walk. I walked with Sammy some so Daddy could talk. In the end they prayed for Sammy and for us, and we said our good-byes. We'd had a really wonderful time.
We got into the car at 7:30 to drive the half hour back home. Once back at the house, the kids still wanted to play a little. I was so extremely tired that I just lay down and closed my eyes for half an hour. Then I bathed the kids, and we got them ready for bed. I read a story to them, prayed for them and put them to bed. Somehow it was late again, about 9:30 pm, and still, Emmy stayed up for quite some time before he finally fell asleep. I did not wait for them all to sleep to walk away, and they were okay with that. I turned my computer on and started working on the pictures and the report, and so it's not even midnight as I finish this. However, I'm determined to go to bed early tonight, as I teach in the morning and afternoon, which means no nap tomorrow, which is tough.
