Day 1298. It was 5:30, when Emmy asked to listen to stories on his headset. When I saw what time it was, I asked him to come back to bed and sleep. He started having a fit and crying really loud. Thankfully he did not wake anybody else up and finally lay down next to me and fell back asleep. By 7 am he was up for good and soon he had woken up his siblings as well. Eventually we all got up. Randy made his oatmeal and sat down with Sammy at the tiny table in the kitchen, while Tammy and Emmy sat on the bar stools in our bedroom to eat. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we all left the apartment to go to the grocery store around the corner.
We had left Sammy's wheelchair in the car, as Randy had taken a wheel of to fit it in there, and so we had to carry him. Once at the grocery store, I sat him into the grocery cart. Then we grabbed a few items, mainly something to eat for lunch. We paid and returned to the apartment.
Like yesterday, I was extremely tired all day today. I was not able to do anything and was glad that we didn't have to go anywhere until later. I lay down in bed and closed my eyes as much as possible, but of course I had to get up ever so often to do something for the children. I also played a card game with Tammy and Emmy. It was perfect for their age, but Emmy cannot lose, and so he soon left Tammy and me to continue playing without him. After we were done, they wanted to watch videos, of course, and did so until lunch, watching on the big screen TV.
With noon approaching, I put fried chicken and fries into the oven to bake. I portioned it out on all the plates, but the chicken turned out not to be good at all. After lunch, they watched some more until 1:15, their bed time. I then put them to bed. Since Tammy and Emmy sleep with us at night in this place, I had one to my left and one to my right, as we all lay down together. Soon we were all asleep. Sammy had barely eaten lunch because he was so tired and fell asleep half an hour before his siblings went to bed.
At 2:30 I woke up and checked the time, at 3 pm we all got up. The plan had been to leave at 3 pm, but it was a bit later. We left the apartment and followed Randy who was the only one who knew where he had parked the car last night. As we kept walking, he started saying and repeating over and over that someone had stolen the car. It was not helpful at all. Once we reached the end of the road, we turned around and walked until we found the car. We had lost quite a bit of time, and so it was after 3:30 before we drove off. it was then 4:20, when we arrived at our destination. The kids were watching stuff in the car or listening to stories on the headset.
It was great to see our good friends again, and an added bonus that my friend who had come to Mali more often than anyone else had been able to come with her kids as well. It's too bad we had less than two hours together, as we had arrived so late.
Even though it was a cold day, we stayed outside at first so the kids could enjoy all the fun stuff they had in their garden. First they went onto the trampolin, but didn't stay long. Then they went up and down the slide. Then Tammy went to the swing, while Emmy found a tractor he could sit on and petal. Sammy also got to sit on and ride a car. He started saying that he was cold, so we went inside.
Just inside there was the cat sitting and sleeping. All our kids petted the cat who did not mind. Then we went all the way inside, where we had some cake. The kids did not stay at the table as there were too many toys to play with, and they were having fun. One of my friend's kids was older and her other one younger than our kids. Tammy then started reading books, while Emmy had the Dad of the house read to him. Sammy got to play in the toy kitchen, as did the others. Once our friend's youngest foster daughter arrived who is two years older than our kids, the fun level went up even higher. Tammy had found another girl friend and had just so much fun with her; they all did. We adults stayed at the dining room table for most of the time, talking with each other as much as was possible. I was still so extremely tired and had no appetite to eat anything.
Just after 6 pm we had to say our good-byes. We put the kids back into the car and left drive to the church, where the conference was starting tonight. We got there at 6:45, but only found parking a little away. Unfortunately I don't have that handicapped sign yet that you put into the car so that you can park in handicapped spaces. It would have been convenient to park right next to the entrance of the church. Randy got Sammy's wheelchair out, put the wheel back on, and we put Sammy into it. We got all the stuff for our table and started walking towards the church. Once there, we got our name tags and looked to find where we had our table. Most other missions had already finished setting up their tables. We started getting our stuff out, when a guy approached us and offered to help. He started playing with the kids who were having the greatest time with him. I was thankful the kids were occupied so that I could set up the table.
Sammy was rather cranky. Worship started, and we had forgotten to bring the ear protectors. They said that it was so loud that it was hurting their ears, so after we had been up front on the side, where we could move a little and where I could throw Sammy around to keep him happy, we went to the back and into the room beyond the sanctuary, where the music was not too loud. Then we were told that there was a kids' program, and so we decided to go check it out.
It was for kids 3 years and up, and there was a good number of kids already there. Our kids joined a little group in the corner who was playing with blocks. I then left Randy there with the kids and returned to the sanctuary. I was enjoying worship, but not for long, when Randy texted, asking for the diaper bag, so I left to take it to him. He took Sammy to change him, while I encouraged the other two to participate in the program. There was some worship, songs with actions, that our kids did not know. Then we sat down and they distributed Bibles to those who can read. Emmy took one. The lady showed him, where the passage was, and after one kid had read, he pretended to read and said, "Once upon a time there was a wolf in the woods." It was hilarious.
When Randy came back with Sammy, it was Emmy's turn to get a much-needed diaper. Tammy and Sammy listened to the program going on. I put Sammy into his chair, as he was really tired and cranky, but he was still not happy. Then most of the older kids left, while the younger kids stayed to do some drawing. Tammy was really excited about that, and I helped Sammy draw as well. Emmy then returned and wanted to go up the stairs into a loft-type area they had there. After a few minutes we decided it was time to leave, so we said our goodbyes. We picked up our stuff from the sanctuary and started walking back to the car. It was nearly 9 pm and pretty cold. Thankfully our Airbnb is only 9 minutes away, which is why I had picked it. Randy stopped in front of the house, we all went to the apartment, and then Randy took the house keys to go look for a parking spot. He found one even further away than yesterday. While he was gone, I got the kids ready for bed, after giving them some more food. By the time Randy returned, I had just finished putting them to bed.
Then we discovered that the kids' tablet was gone. Our only charger to plug into the wall was in that case, and we both needed to charge our phones. I hope the tablet is still under our table at church. I started working on today's pictures and my report, and now I'm looking forward to going to bed, as I can barely keep my eyes open any more. It's just after 12:30 am.
