4 years 11 months 4 days

Day 1799. On Saturday I taught from 10 to noon, then I cooked lunch and we ate. In the afternoon, we decided to all go shopping together, which is something we rarely do. Usually Randy does the shopping, but there are certain things I can only buy myself. So it was nice to be in a store again. The kids enjoyed it and each had their own carts. Of course they wanted certain things all the time, and we had to say "no" most of the time.
Yesterday we decided to go to a service we hadn't been to in years, and it was the kids' first time there. I actually became part of this international church exactly 30 years ago. Then, after I went to Mali, I was assigned to the German-speaking fellowship so that I had no more connections with the international one. It was time to check it out again, now that we have more time in summer.
We used to go to church at that location all the time, until the German-speaking service moved. It was nice to be back. They have two services, and we went to the 10:30 am one. Tammy and Emmy went up the stairs, while Randy had to go around the building with the wheelchair. There were a lot of people everywhere, since the people from the previous service were still leaving. I registered our kids for kids' church, then stayed with them there, while Randy went to the sanctuary for the service.

We went into the big kids' room, where the kids of all ages gather at first. Tammy and Emmy immediately made friends with a little African girl, especially Tammy. While we were waiting for the program to start, they were looking at games and played Fußball briefly. I was sitting on the front row with Sammy next to me, and then the others joined us there.

Finally the program started. There were not that many children there, given that it's summer vacation time. They did a few action praise songs, a video on the screen behind them, the two teachers doing the actions. Tammy and Emmy tried to copy the actions; Emmy soon gave up and sat down. Sammy enjoyed the music. I held him or had him stand on the floor, also sat him down on the floor at some point. After worship, they had a time for giving an offering, which I liked, as I had not seen that in any other kids' program. Then they did a game, where one kid acted out something from the Bible and all the others had to guess what it was. It wasn't very easy, and it went on for a little too long, getting boring.

Then it was time to move on. All the kindergarten kids lined up at the door and went together to another room. They all sat down at the table, where everything was already ready for them. I sat down next to Sammy. Each kid got two papers to color, and I helped the boys do so. At 11:30 am Randy walked through the door to take my place. The kids then did some cutting and glueing but never got a teaching.

I went to the sanctuary for the last half hour. I was surprised how full it was, given that it was summer, and sat down on a chair in the very last row. A lady was preaching on forgiveness. During the service, an old friend of mine suddenly walked by and saw me, hugging me, and we said we'd talk after.

After the service I went downstairs, where I was gonna meet up with Randy and the kids. My friend was already sitting there, and I joined her. I enjoyed catching up with her. Then Randy and the kids joined us; she had never met them in person before. We continued talking, but the kids started whining that they were hungry more and more. There were 2 to 3 other people that knew me. One African lady wanted to pray for Sammy. Then we finally said our good-byes to get them some food.

We left the building and started walking back to the subway. There were other people from church walking the same direction. I noticed that two ladies near me where talking English, French and German, switching between languages all the time, so I finally addressed them. They were from French-speaking Africa, so we talked briefly.

We got on the subway and rode it for just one stop to go to a McDonald's that we know for lunch. That was the easiest that late in the day. And we knew that they had new toys that the kids would like. The lady there even let them come to the shelf and pick out the Smurfs they wanted. We then sat down and had good time together. After we were done, we got back on the subway and then the train to ride back home. We enjoyed the rest of the day at home; I got some rest but not the sleep I had hoped.

This morning it was time to go back to kindergarten for Tammy and Emmy who hadn't been there in over 4 weeks. They were excited. Sammy's indergarten is now closed for three weeks, plus he had horse therapy this morning, so he was staying home. Randy left with Tammy and Emmy right after 8 am. Normally I'd have gone back to bad and sleep another hour before my 10 am student, but that was not possible with Sammy at home with me. He constantly wanted something from me. He was also impatient for Daddy to return home. He came at about 9:45 am. I sat down to get ready for my 10 am student, while Randy got Sammy ready to leave with him for horsetherapy at 10 am.

I then taught until noon, and Randy and Sammy returned just after I had finished teaching. I then warmed up leftovers, but Sammy had had so many snacks that he didn't want to eat anything. After Randy had eaten, he left at 12:30 to go pick up Tammy and Emmy.

And so I was home alone with Sammy again. I got everything ready for my 2 pm student, as we were waiting for a special visitor to arrive at 1 pm. Sammy had been fearful of Christine's coming, for some reason. Christine has been a paid helper that comes a few times during a month or two to help every year, ever since they were born, and she's become a friend. She hadn't been with us in her official capacity since January of 2023, so it was about time. August was the perfect month, as the kids have no classes and are home every afternoon. She only comes two afternoons per week anyway.

Sammy was clinging to me at first, when she arrived, but soon relaxed and warmed up to her again. The three of us went downstairs, and I enjoyed talking and catching up with Christine. At about 1:45 pm Randy and the other kids returned. Tammy and Emmy ran downstairs to greet Christine and started telling her all kinds of stuff right away, as if she had only been here not that long ago. Christine was happy to see them all again as well. I was sad that I could not stay with them any longer. I had to go upstairs to start my 3 hours of teaching - right until 5 pm, which was when Christine had to leave. I heard t hat they all had a great time.

As for me, I was completely exhausted as I'd had some difficult male teenagers all afternoon. I got to exchange a few words with Christine, then she was gone. Randy and the kids had already all come upstairs, and the kids were on their tablets, Tammy and Emmy for the first time today. Everyone got a little breathing break, including me. Then I went to the kitchen to start making their food. They ate some, then had more in the bathtub. Balloons had arrived today, and they ended up taking one each with them into the water. They filled them with water, but I put an end to that fun, when one water bomb got the floor in the bathtroom all wet. After they had come out, it was Emmy who had a fit, when his balloon popped and I wouldn't give him a new one. It was so bad and long that we couldn't read our book tonight. I read Tammy another story instead. It took a while, but then Emmy calmed down and let me hold him. He was normal again, and even asked for more food. Randy sat down with them once they were all in bed. As for me, I got myself something to eat and then did some more work on the computer. Now it's going on 1 am, and I still have to take care of the kitchen. I miss my 8 to 9 am morning naps!