4 years 21 days

Day 1481. This morning Sammy was the first one up at 7:15, and Emmy woke up right away as well. The alarm went off at 7:30 am. We had some breakfast, then got everyone ready to leave the house at 8:45. We walked the just over 15 minutes to the auditorium. There was a huge line to get in because of security. Sammy cannot handle long lines, so we went to the front of the line and went inside and through security. Then we went upstairs to the pre-k and kindergarten kids' conference rooms. When we checked them in, the lady who was there for Sammy today was already there and waiting for us. It was a different lady than yesterday, and she was not doing as well.

We left them and found seats in the auditorium. Because of the long line at security they started at 9:45. After a time of worship, the first speaker spoke. Then there was a 15-minute break at 11:30. Randy left to walk a little, and then I got a text that I was requested to come to the kids' room right away because of Sammy. I could not reach Randy on his phone, as usual. When I got there, the lady was holding a screaming Sammy in his arms. He was so happy to see me and melted into my arms, where he slowly calmed down. He really wanted to see Daddy, so I left with him. He was so happy. I could still not reach Randy, and he was not yet at the seat, so I waited where he had to pass by to get there. Soon Randy arrived, and Sammy was really happy to see him. A guy then came up to us and wanted to pray for Sammy. Randy had some snacks from the leaders' lounge, and that made Sammy happy as well.

Then we slowly made our way back to the kids' conference rooms. When we tried to leave him there, he was freaking out again. There was no leaving him there again. Randy then stayed with him, and they had a big box full of balls that he went into to enjoy. I returned to the auditorium to hear the second speaker. Just after 12:30 I left, as kids had to be picked up.

I found Randy and Sammy right outside the kids' conference rooms, as parents are not allowed inside. I went inside to get the other two kids who were happy to see me, then we left to walk the 15 minutes back to the house. Just after 1 pm we were back, and I immediately went to the kitchen to cook a nice, Austrian dish for lunch. The four of us who are Austrians have been a little tired of the American food, and the reactions from the kids confirmed that this was a good decision. They all enjoyed the food a lot, and had it again for dinner.

At 2:30 I put them to bed. They were all pretty wound up, even though the lady at the kids' conference had told me that Sammy had been in danger of nodding off a few times. At 2:30 he was all wound up, and it took quite some time to get him to calm down and finally fell asleep. Only Tammy fell asleep all by herself and quickly. At 3:30 Emmy was STILL awake, and his shenanigans were increasingly upsetting me. I finally lay down next to him, which calmed him down, and left again a few minutes later to lie down myself. He fell asleep, but before I could fall asleep, Sammy was already up again after under an hour of sleep. I took him to the living room, where Randy was, and lay back down and finally did get to sleep. Tammy then woke up next, and Emmy slept until about 5 pm, so quite long. They then all went to the living room to play and had some food. With 6 pm approaching, we were getting ready to leave again, but it took us until 6:15 before Sammy was in his chair and we actually started walking.

When we got to the auditorium at 6:30, there was no long line tonight, which was suprising. We walked straight in and went up to the kids' conference rooms. Emmy had been saying since waking up that he did not want to go back to the kids' conference, even though he had enjoyed the first two sessions. He was still whining, as we were going upstairs, and did not want to stay. But we were occupied with Sammy whose face showed that he did not want to stay there at all, even though the same lady as last night was there. I first took Tammy and Emmy inside. Emmy was now crying, with me holding him, and I handed him over to one of the teachers. It felt horrible to walk away like that, but I knew that he was going to be okay. Then it was Sammy's turn. I took him into my arms as well and went inside with him and his own, personal teacher. She gave him a little gift that made him smile, but he was clinging to me and did not want me to hand him over to the teacher. I did anyway, and he was not happy.

Randy and I found ourselves two seats, and a few minutes later the evening session started with a time of worship. I was wondering how the kids were doing, and surprised they had not called us yet to come back for Sammy. I started questioning myself about bringing the kids here, when the ONLY reason we are in this place is the kids' conference. Half an hour into worship the text came to come get Sammy. Randy left, while I stayed. Some time later I felt the need to also go, so I left as well and walked to the kids' rooms. However, Randy and Sammy weren't there. Randy had taken him to where we were sitting, as Sammy had been asking for me. When I wasn't there, they returned, and then we ran into each other. Sammy was happy to see me, and together we went to a little sitting area and sat down on the couch. He was sitting between us, and I let him watch kids' songs on my phone. Both Randy and I were very tired and closing our eyes for part of the time, while Sammy was enjoying the songs. We stayed there for over an hour; we could hear the preaching in the auditorium, and even understood it well. Just after 9 pm the preacher was wrapping up, and so we did as well. We walked back to the kids' rooms to pick up the other two kids. They'd had a fun time again. Then we walked out of the building and started our 15 minute walk home.

However, we always cross train tracks, and tonight it was the first time that we saw a train passing. It meant that we had to wait for it to pass, and it must have been the longest train I've ever seen. It never seemed to end. Tammy even started crying, saying she was so tired and wanted to go to bed and sleep. It was 9:35 before we were back at the apartment.

But it seemed like they had forgotten how tired they were. They were also hungry and ate some more leftovers from lunch, then had some popcorn that Daddy had made. I really wanted to get them to bed as quickly as possible. It was 10:30 before they were in bed. I had to help Sammy quiet down, then he fell asleep quickly. Tammy fell asleep quickly, but Emmy was again the last one up. I tried to leave the room, but could not because he wanted me to stay. It was 10:45 pm. So I started working on our bed, next to them sleeping on the mattress on the floor, and left the room later, when Randy went to bed. Now it's midnight, and I should really go to bed as well. Tomorrow is the last day of the conference.