Day 1346. Monday was a holiday, and so the kids did not have their exercise class. However, we were overjoyed that Sonja chose to spend the day with us. It was her first full day with us in a very long time, and everyone enjoyed it. Thanks to the nice weather, the kids all got to go outside with their bikes and scooters for a while. Randy took advantage of Sonja's presence by scheduling three pickups for used items throughout the day, which meant that he was gone much of the day. For me it was a regular day, and I was even teaching more hours than on a usual Monday because we were not going anywhere.
Yesterday was a typical Tuesday; it's the only day of the week all of us are home all day. I usually teach more than I taught yesterday; I only had a lesson at 3 pm and at 9:30 pm. That gave me more time for office work for the ministry.
This morning the Mobile Support lady came, though a little late. The kids didn't mind as they were having fun making their beds into caves by putting their comforters over the top. Once she had arrived, they all went downstairs, while I went to work writing a new newsletter which was way overdue. I had talked to Paul yesterday afternoon, and he had given me a great new testimony.
Just after 11 am I went to the kitchen to start cooking lunch. It was after 11:30, when everyone came upstairs, and the kids started watching videos or playing or listening to songs. It was about 12:15 before we sat down to eat. Tammy and Sammy ate everthing on their plates, but everyone had some icecream. Then they continued their videos etc. At 1:15 I started the process of putting them to bed for their nap, and by 1:30 I was able to walk away. I continued working on the newsletter and lay down to take a nap a little too late, after 2 pm some time. Thankfully I had no student in the afternoon, which was unusual, but that gave me the freedom to concentrate on the newsletter and to not have to set an alarm for my nap.
I woke up, when Tammy walked into the room wanting something from me. It was way earlier than I would have liked to get up, but what can you do. The kids were all up and started playing. I then cut up an apple and made sandwiches to take with us. I dressed them and got everything ready for us to leave the house at 4:15 pm, which we did.
We walked to the train station and took the 4:32 train, then took the subway for one stop. We had to walk just a little bit to get to the school. Only one other kid was there, when we got there and when we started the class. It had been two weeks since the last class. The teacher gave two sound bars to the other kid, while everyone had rattles resembling fruit. Then she did the greeting song inserting the child's name. Next Emmy got the sound bars, then Tammy, then Sammy, and all three did a great job playing them. By then three more kids had arrived.
Then she taught the kids an African song with actions; Tammy and Emmy were not very motivated. She then handed out fabric to everyone and played the song off her phone. The kids were allowed to dance any way they liked; they still didn't move as much as usual. Then she did the Danube song. We walked in a circle, and one child after another was called up to turn in place. Our kids are professsionals at that.
Then she had them lie down on their bellies, and we parents made movements on their backs that represented the weather, from rain to sunshine to hail. The kids were loving it, and Emmy kept saying "again". We ended up doing it three times.
Then she had four cards representing weather and brought out a big array of different instruments. The kids were supposed to try them all out and determine which instrument worked well to represent the weather on our card. We had wind, and Sammy's unique instrument came the closest to sounding like wind.
And then the class was already over. The kids received a stamp on their hands as well as on their paper. We put their shoes back on and left to go downstairs to the library. We went to the kids' section, as the kids wanted to pick out DVDs again. We didn't stay long and left with 4 DVDs and a book. We walked back to the subway, then had only 8 minutes to wait for our train, which was great. By 6:45 pm we were back home.
The kids had already eaten some bread and apples on the way home. They sat down at the table, and I brought them more food and fruit after having cut it up. Then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating. We got them back out and ready for bed. I read some Bible stories to them, prayed for them and flew them into bed. By the time I sat down by their beds it was already around 8:30 pm. They were talking for a while, then Randy came to take my place. Tammy has a cold again, with a stuffy nose and a cough. She's usually the first one. She's had some trouble sleeping tonight, waking up crying a lot as a result. I got myself something to eat, then continued working on the newsletter that I was able to mail out. Because of that, I started working on the pictures later than usual, so that it's already 2 am and time to clean up the kitchen and go to bed.
