Day 1553. It was nice to have a morning of no one going anywhere. Of course Sammy was up early, as usual. By 8 am all three were up. Randy and I stayed in bed as long as possible. At some point they had breakfast and went downstairs with Randy to play, while I turned my computer on to do some work.
We had lunch early, at noon, as we usually eat at 12:45 now, when Sammy returns from kindergarten. Then the kids continued playing. It was a little earlier than usual, at 1:15 pm, when I put the kids down to bed. Sammy was tired, and a few times I thought he was falling asleep, but in the end he never did, but was having fun doing the opposite of what we were asking of him. I went to the top bunk bed, where Tammy was, to help her fall asleep, but left after a while to give Sammy another try. Then I gave up on Sammy. Tammy was complaining about the noise he was making, so I invited her to lie down with me in our bed. We lay next to each other, but then it was my coughing that kept her up. In the end, no one at all got any sleep. Eventually Randy took the kids downstairs, while I made their boxes-to-go for dinner. Then they came back upstairs, and we dressed them for church.
At 4:15 pm we left the house to take two subways to church, crossing the whole town of Vienna. I was surprised that it was already a good few minutes after 5 pm, when we got to church, so the service had already started. The kids went to the front right away, where a group of children was drawing on papers on the floor. Emmy brought me quite a few papers, usually with little color on it, saying it was either for me or for Jesus. I had Sammy the whole time, who was really tired not having had a nap.
At some point the lady teaching the kids today gave a sign that it was time to go, so we all went to the children's church's room. I was going to return to the sanctuary, as I'd been with the kids last time, but when Sammy is this tired, he wants to be with Mommy. He had already been asking me to hold hands with him on the way to church. And so I had no choice but to be the one to stay in the room with the kids, while Randy got to go to the sanctuary to enjoy the service.
At first everyone got their food out to eat. They put a blanket on the floor, and our three kids ate there - just a little, then they were off playing. They finished their food on the subway on the way home. Sammy wanted the little car he can move really well, so I got it for him. Tammy was playing with the doll and then looking at books, while Emmy started throwing around pillows and playing with me with them, while Sammy wanted me to chase him. The teacher read a book to Tammy, which was nice.
Then the program started. The other teacher did "Simon says" with them, which was too hard to understand for the little ones. Tammy and Emmy did whatever she was saying. Sammy, sitting on the car, and I were watching. Then the other teacher did a story with actions with them. Then everyone sat down on the floor, in a circle, and the second teacher started the teaching. Tammy and Emmy sat with the older girl that had always had an interest in them, then the main teacher sat with them. The lady did a good job teaching about Jesus wanting the kids to come to Him and about speaking with Jesus about all kinds of things. It was funny how Emmy answered nearly every question with "ask forgiveness" or "say I'm sorry". I guess that's mainly what he says to Jesus, and we need to change that.
After the teaching, they sat down at the table to do crafts. There was cutting and coloring going on. I had Sammy on my lap, while he was drawing on the paper. I wanted to see what the other two were doing and took Sammy with me. The main teacher then took Sammy and sat down with him to read a book to him, which was sweet. That gave me a break, and I watched the other teacher help Emmy with cutting. Cutting is still hard for both of them.
And then Randy came into the room to check on us. The service wasn't quite over yet. I took the opportunity to go to the bathroom and then went to the sanctuary and listened to what was going on for a few minutes. Then Randy and the kids came, and the service was over. We didn't see either Sonja or Anna, which was disappointing. Sammy was asking for Anna; already last time we were there she had not been there. I said to Tammy and Emmy that they could go look around whether they see Sonja, and in fact, they found her. It was really nice to see her again, and I got to talk to her for a few minutes. The kids were also really happy to see her again.
Randy walked away with Sammy, and then I saw that Anna was in fact there as well. I was so happy for Sammy! Sammy, who had been tired and lethargic the whole time, came back to life and was so very excited to see her. He held on to her and did not want to let her go. I don't really even know why he loves her so much, as she has not spent that much time with him/them. After some more time, we put our coats on and left. We had already stayed longer than we had in a long time. By the subway we ran into Anna again, as well as another Mom from the church, and we all took the subway together. It was nice to get to talk to the other Mom, especially. Everyone got off before us, then we got off to change subways. On the second subway Tammy and Emmy were watching videos, while eating their food.
By 8:10 pm we were back home, and we immediately started getting them ready for bed. Just after 8:30 they were in bed, after I had prayed for them all. Tammy was crying, because I said that it was too late for a story. I then climbed on top of the bed to lie down next to her and told her the story of a little girl that loved God. She knew that everything I'd said was about her. Then Emmy climbed up as well and wanted a story, and I told him the same story, only that it was about a little boy. I then left them and went to the kitchen to get myself something. After eating, I started working on the pictures. Now it's nearly 2 am and high time to take care of the kitchen and then go to bed.
