Day 1480. Last night was a lot better, thank God; I didn't wake up constantly because of this cold bothering me. I had set an alarm for 7 am, and it actually woke us all up. Well, it woke up Sammy. Tammy and Emmy continued sleeping for a while, and surprisingly it was Emmy who woke up last. We had some breakfast and left the house at 8:15.
We got into the car to drive the 7 minutes to the church that is putting on the conference. We don't know the church at all, nor any people there. There were lots of people at the doors, waiting to go in and register. We checked in and went into the sanctuary, where round tables were set up everywhere for the leaders' conference taking place this morning and afternoon. We picked a table right in the back, and removed one chair to put Sammy's wheelchair there. The kids had their tablets with them, as there was no childcare provided during the leaders' conference.
At 9 am the conference started with worship. I was dancing with Sammy, as well as the other two, which was my workout of the day. After worship the head pastor of the church spoke, then they had breakout sessions. Randy was supposed to stay in the sanctuary, while I wanted to hear what they had to say about their kids' ministry, but suddenly Sammy had separation anxiety and wanted to stay with me. We were sitting next to each other in the sanctuary all day. So we all ended up going to another room to hear how they do kids' ministry. The room was rather small, but we had some seats. After the second kids' ministry session, we got to exchange a few words with the lady who had spoken who I had been in email contact with because of Sammy.
After the first session ended just before 11:30, we returned to the sanctuary, where they were serving lunch. They had a catered lunch that came in a box. It was really pretty, nicely done. And they had Chick-Fil-A food for the kids. We only had one other person at our table, a lady, who was on her phone the whole time, so no conversation possible. It was a shame we didn't get to connect with anyone.
After lunch, we went to the breakout session again, then returned to the sanctuary for the last session. It was 1:15 pm, especially Sammy was getting cranky, and we didn't really care to hear the speaker, so we decided to leave already. We got into the car and drove back to our apartment. It took some time, but by 2:30 I had them in bed and lay down with them to get them to sleep. By 2:45 Sammy and Tammy were sleeping, and I left them to also get a little sleep. Emmy soon fell asleep as well.
Sammy was the first one up at 3:30, and I took him to the living room to play, where Randy had just fallen asleep in a sitting position. By 4 pm Tammy had woken up as well, and they all started playing. I got them some food to eat for dinner, and just after 6 pm we left the house to go to the first session of the conference at the Municipal Auditorium.
It was a 15-minute walk, which is why I had chosen our accommodations. It saved us having to deal with the parking garage. When we got to the auditorium, there were lots of people outside, as well as food trucks. We went inside, passed registration, and went through security. Then we followed the sign to where the Kids' Conference was, and more specifically for pre-k and kindergarten. The theme was "outer space", and they had decorated the entrance really nicely, with lots of balloons, and then a short tunnel with balloons and lights. Then we reached the sign-in desk. Immediately two ladies came up to us and asked whether it was Samuel in the wheelchair, which I confirmed. They had been waiting for him, and they were there just to help with him. What a blessing that they take special needs kids! They asked if they needed to know anything else, then we followed them into the kids' room, where there were already a lot of kids. It was time to say good-bye to them. Sammy had a concerned look on his face and did not want me to leave. I told him that they had buttons, which helped, then we left.
We found our way to the section reserved for leaders, up on the balcony, and got two seats in the first row, but they were very tight. It was after 7 pm, when the first session started, and with quite a dramatic start that I partly captured on video. We then had a time of worship for one hour, followed by the founding pastor of the church preaching. I was tired, not feeling too well, my throat hurting and coughing, and then I was cold. Thankfully I had brought a light coat for our walk home, as it's already chilly at night.
Just after 9 pm he was done preaching and started an altar call. We decided to go get the kids. When we reached the entrance to the kids' rooms, our kids came running towards us. They were just coming back from having gone to the restrooms. They were really excited to see us, and they said that they had really enjoyed it. It was Emmanuel who had been concerned beforehand and said that he was afraid. I asked how it had gone with Sammy, and she said everything had been alright. He had asked for us a few times, but that was it.
We put their coats on and left; it wasn't really cold outside at all. We started walking the 15 minutes back home. The kids were pretty wound up still, no sign of sleepiness. Back at the apartment they had some snacks, then they went into the bathtub, and we got them ready for bed. Sammy was asleep quickly, but at 10:30 pm the other two were still awake, which became clear, when they were fighting over the one rabbit. We had to turn the light on and find the other rabbit so they each had their own. Then they were soon asleep. Now it's midnight and time for me to join the sleeping family as well. An alarm will wake us up again in the morning.
