Day 1300. We got up early, as soon as the kids were up, as we had to pack up and leave the apartment. While they were having breakfast, I already started packing. We all put Malian clothes on today, as I was teaching a seminar at the conference. Now it's a good thing that their Malian clothes were way too big last year, as they could still wear them. They were so cute that I decided to try to take a good picture of all three and put them on the bed. I picked these two pictures as the best.
Randy then drove the car up to the house and started carrying our stuff down, while I finished up with everything upstairs. Once nearly everything was gone, we then also left the apartment and locked it up for good. It wasn't easy getting everything into the small car, but Randy did it. We climbed in as well and started our 7-minute drive to church. We parked near the church, and Randy had to get some of our stuff out to be able to get the wheelchair out and put it back together for Sammy. Then we all walked to church, where we arrived just before 10 am, which is when the meeting started. Randy took the kids to the kids' program, while I went to the table to be present for anyone wanting more information. Randy returned with Sammy, who then found a new friend who spent some time with him in the course of the day.
At 11:15 the first workshop ended, and mine was to start at 11:30 am. I went to the room right away to set up my computer and make sure it was all working. When 11:30 came around, there was one person sitting in the audience. More started coming, but I started with only a few at 11:35. By the time I was done the room was actually full. Unfortunately I have no picture that shows the people.
When I had been told the theme of the conference was "fruit that lasts", I knew immediately what I wanted to do in my workshop. It was called "From Convert To Leader", and I was gonna tell the story how we succeeded in having an indigenous person lead the mission in Mali without the need of me being there. For that reason I wanted Paul to join us via video call to tell his side of the story. I first showed our presentation video, then told about the current situation and a few testimonies. When I told about the two girls who had watched their parents be killed by djihadists and then had to prostitute themselves to survive until we gave them rice, my voice broke, as I was moved with compassion, and I had to regain my composure to continue talking. Then I finally called Paul who brought in the kids and started introducing them, which we didn't really have time for. They left the house again, and Paul started telling his story. The people really appreciated it, and we had a great time together. I asked if anyone had questions for Paul, and there were a few. I told them what my key was to succeeding, and Paul had a different one. In a way, it was good to hear his side of the story again, which was humbling to me, as he pointed out what had impressed him with me.
45 minutes were short, and so we had to end the seminar. People told me how much they had enjoyed it. One person in the audience was an important leader of an organization I've known a little for years, and I was touched that he had come and was showing interest.
I was still in the room, talking to the last few remaining people, when Randy and the kids showed up. We then walked to the tent to have lunch. After lunch, I wanted to put them down for a much-needed nap. We went to the baby room, but they did not want to sleep. At 2 pm I took Tammy and Emmy to the Kids Missions Rally. Tammy immediately started climbing up a rope net, then they both sat down with different older kids, as the program started. I stayed for a few minutes, but they were fine, so I left again.
Sammy was very tired by now, and as the baby room was full of kids, I was able to organize a little office, where I could lie down with him, even though it never really works to lie down with him and get him to sleep. I was trying really hard, when I got a message that the missions leader we were supposed to meet with was waiting for me. So Randy took my place, and he never got Sammy to sleep. As for me, I went to the tent and had a great time talking with my friend, even though I was extremely tired by then. By the way, my eye had still hurt really bad in the morning but was gradually getting better in the course of the day. After the meeting, I went to our table, where Randy also ended up with Sammy, trying to keep him busy and happy.
At 4 pm the meeting and the missions rally ended, and Randy left to go get the other kids. I stayed at the table to talk to people walking by. By about 4:15 we all left to go to the tent for an early dinner, which was just some toast with ham and cheese. This year we had only received two food coupons for the five of us for every meal, so that had to be enough.
It was very clear that they were extremely tired not having slept, and so we went to the baby room to give it another try. I was glad that it was empty. I put Tammy and Emmy on one couch, and Sammy into the baby bed. He was cranky at first, but I held his hand, and he was soon asleep. I also sat with Tammy and Emmy, and Emmy soon fell asleep. However, Tammy never did, and I finally gave up trying and took her with me to our table. Randy stayed with the sleeping boys.
At 5:30 my friend arrived, and she had brought her daughter and another friend. She wanted to spend some more time talking to us. When the meeting started at 6 pm, we took Tammy and Emmy to the kids program, and then went to the room in the back to sit down and talk. Suddenly Emmy joined us; he did not want to be in the kids' program.
We started talking, however, we were soon asked to leave and talk elsewhere, as it was the overflow room. We walked to the area, where the kids hang their coats and put some chairs there to sit down and talk. We then had such a fun time, when Sammy kept saying my friend's daughter's name over and over and tried to hug her, not really to her delight. I have never seen him so keen to be close to someone he doesn't really know. Randy then took him, so that we three ladies could talk. And we had the best time talking with each other. It was the reason they'd had to come to church that night, and I had lots of fun as well. At 8 pm they said their goodbyes, and we went into the baby room.
Tammy and Emmy wanted to watch videos, so I let them. I was gonna return to the meeting, but I could see how very tired Randy was, and as he still had to drive us home in the middle of the night, I asked him to close his eyes and rest and sat down on the floor playing with Sammy. We had a good time together. When people in the sanctuary stood up, I though the meeting was ending and put Sammy into his chair, so the two of us could go back to the sanctuary and to our table. While there, I quickly went to the window to glance into the baby room twice to make sure the kids were still sitting there watching videos, as Randy was asleep. I was sitting with Sammy having fun with him. He likes music, and everyone was worshipping God in song for 45 minutes, until 9 pm. Just before the end, Sammy was pointing at the ceiling on one side and on the other. I asked him whether he was seeing angels, and he said yes. He said "light" and that they were big and that there were many. When the meeting ended at 9 pm, Randy and the other kids returned, and they continued watching videos, while we started packing up our table. The new friend Sammy had made earlier returned and spent some time with Sammy, while we were busy. Randy started taking the stuff to the car until we could all leave together. It was just before 10 pm, and we had a 2-hour drive ahead of us. The kids were very tired, especially Tammy as she had never slept. She was throwing a fit and crying for no reason. We put them all into their car seats, Randy got everything into the car, and off we went. Tammy leaned against my arm and pretty much immediately fell asleep. The boys needed longer. Emmy was still watching videos, and so Sammy fell asleep first after having done some crying. When I took the tablet away from Emmy, which he was very upset about, he also fell asleep quickly at about 11 pm.
When we left at 10 pm, we still needed some gas, which was a little more complicated than expected and cost us some time. Once on the interstate, we realized how hungry we were and tried to stop somewhere, but we simply could not get to the restaurant, so we continued on and stayed hungry. All that cost us time, and so it was 12:30 am before we reached our house in Vienna. If they hadn't had swim class the next morning, we would have stayed another night/day. Randy parked right at the entrance, and we first carried the kids into the apartment, where we put them straight into their beds. Then Randy unloaded the car, drove off to find a place to park, and carried all the stuff into the apartment. In the meantime I took the kids' shoes off, but only put a pj on Tammy who was just a little bit awake so I could do that. I simply let the boys sleep in their clothes. Then I started unloading the dishwasher and loading the dirty dishes - after finally having grabbed something to eat. I started tidying up a little bit, and by 2 am we were both in bed.
