4 years 23 days

Day 1483. What a night! I'm still not over this cold - sore throat, cough, nose - and Sammy got it really bad yesterday, making him wake up constantly and cough and cry. I did not get much sleep. By 6 am he was up for good, and so was Emmy. And Emmy is now also coughing.

Eventually we got up, had breakfast, and got ready to leave. Sammy did not want to eat and was crying a lot. We thought about having him stay at home, but he wanted to come with us as well. And so we left together at 9 am to make the 15-minute walk to the auditorium one last time. Today the sun was back. Sammy was crying the whole time. We walked straight into the building and through security, then up to the children's classrooms. They had not started checking in kids, so we had to wait a little. Randy took Sammy and went straight to the sitting area with him.

Emmy was a little reluctant again, though not as much. Once we went inside, we were told that the 4-year-olds were elsewhere today, so we left and went to the tent they had set up. The kids were excited to be somewhere else, and curious to see what was in there. They had a cool little auditorium in there, as well as rooms for the kids. They had a specific room for the 4-year-olds that we were directed to. Emmy had forgotten his hesitation, when he saw all the stuff there, and I left them there.

I found Randy and Sammy in the sitting area and told them about the tent. I thought it would be worth showing Sammy, so we took him there. He didn't cry, as it was a new location, and was curious. The lady he knows came, and I put him on the floor by his siblings who were playing with lego. He was a little interested and was fine, so we walked away.

We walked into the auditorium, where the service was about to start. Just a few minutes later we were already asked to come get Sammy, and we both went. He was crying in the arms of somebody we had never met before, and he was really happy to see me. We left with him and went to the sitting area. I was so tired that I lay down on the couch. A lady we had  met yesterday then came by and interacted with Sammy a little bit. After a while I left them and went inside the auditorium for the rest of the worship time. I soon sat down and closed my eyes. Suddenly Randy and Sammy were right next to me. We then all stayed in there for much of the meeting, the preaching, constantly working on keeping Sammy happy. When the preacher was finishing her sermon, we left to go pick up the kids.

Sammy came with us and was fine. When the teacher brought Emmy and Tammy to me, she told me how impressed she was with Emmy. She really bragged on him, something to do with going to the bathroom, but it was so loud I couldn't really understand what exactly had impressed her so much.

We left the building and walked back to our apartment for the very last time. It was 12:10, when we got there, and I went straight to the kitchen to make lunch. It took me 75 minutes to make it, which was longer than the last two meals, and it was a little challenging with the kitchen tools I had. The kids finished yesterday's leftovers, so they would not have to wait that long, then had some of the fresh food. Only Sammy barely ate anything. He was really tired, so they went straight to bed after having eaten, at 1:30 pm.

Sammy fell asleep immediately, and even Emmy did, which really never happens. Tammy needed a little more time but was soon also asleep. I was going to lie down, but first did a few things on the computer. Then Emmy woke up and lay down with me, but Sammy was up as well, so they both got up and went to the living room. Sammy was pretty cranky, and Randy tried to put him back down to bed, which of course didn't work. Tammy then woke up as well, and they were all on their tablets, which I didn't like that much. They watched TV briefly, and Sammy wasn't that interested in the tablet, as he was not feeling well. He was so cranky, it was getting really difficult. And then I decided to start playing with him, and suddenly he was laughing and having fun. And then the others joined in, and suddenly all four of us were playing and laughing and having fun. It was just what we had all needed. Sammy was fine after that.

At 8 pm they went into the bathtub, and for the first time they had time to enjoy the water, which they did. Then we put their pj's on, and I read them a bedtime story. I could tell that Sammy was already very tired. I then prayed for him and put him in his spot, and he fell asleep right away. Then I prayed for the other two and lay down between them. We talked a little, they cuddled against me, and Tammy was close to falling asleep, when I got up. Soon they were both asleep.

I got on my computer to work, and hope to make it to bed early tonight. I teach from 8 to 10 am, then we hit the road again for our last long trip.