Day 1664. After another short night, my alarm went off at 9 am. But of course, everyone was up long before that. We left the house some time after 9:30 to get to church before 10 am, which is when the first session started. We took the kids straight to the kids' rooms, where they started climbing up the climbing wall right away. They said they didn't have enough staff, so Randy stayed for Sammy. An hour later he joined me in the sanctuary, as they had found someone just to be with Sammy.
Randy and I went to have cake during the coffee break, while the kids stayed in the kids' program. Then the second half of the morning session started. Just before it ended, they brought Sammy to us. Then we went to get Tammy and Emmy and all went to the tent to have lunch, which was Schnitzel. They then wanted some cake, and Emmy wanted the big donut you see on the picture.
At 2 pm the afternoon session started, as well as the big kids' even they had been advertising. An American lady was going to do that special program. We dropped them off, and Randy stayed with Sammy, while I went to the sanctuary for the session. At some point Randy came with Sammy who was crying for me. After some time, I took Sammy back to the kids' room, and found all the kids with costumes on. They had done a trip around the world in their class, and they were about to all go into the sanctuary. But first the lady put a world map on the ground and asked a few questions. Then the lined up and walked to the entrance of the sanctuary. I was pushing Sammy and had the other two near me. We then stopped at the door and waited there for some time. Tammy had a dress on, and Emmy a police uniform. He tried to give Sammy his band he had on his forehead, but Sammy didn't really want it. Tammy even had one of the flags, and Emmy was upset because he also wanted one.
Then we all walked to the front of the sanctuary. There was loud music, the people were standing and were clapping. Sammy immediately joined in the clapping and enjoyed the music, moving to it with his upper body or arms. They then all stood in the front, waving their flags. Emmy stood there completely expressionless. After some time we walked out of the room again and back to the kids' rooms. It was time to take their costumes off. They then put their shoes on, and we ran into Daddy as we walked in the direction of the sanctuary.
It was only just after 4 pm, but it was dinner time, and so we went to the tent. We got some toast with ham and cheese and big pretzels and sat down to eat. Then they had more cake. After we were done, we walked to the sanctuary. They were looking at the Christian kids' books I had bought at the church bookstore, while I had some good conversations. It was still people who had heard me speak the first night who came to talk to me or buy a book. The kids sometimes tried to get my attention, but it was work time for Mommy. A few minutes before the meeting was to start at 6 pm, Randy took them to the kids' program and stayed there for Sammy. I stayed in the sanctuary and enjoyed the service.
At one point I got a message from Randy that Sammy was crying for me, so I left to go join them. However, it turned out that Randy had written that message hours earlier, but it had only just gone through at that time. I found Randy and Sammy alone in a room, and Sammy was eating popcorn. One of the teachers was there as well and explained that they didn't have enough popcorn for all the kids, so she'd made the one remaining bag for Sammy, who was very happy about it. I then returned to the sanctuary.
Later Randy and Sammy joined me there, and when the meeting was over, but the music was still playing, Randy left to go get Tammy and Emmy. They were pretty tired and wanted me to continue reading the book to them I had read to them earlier. And so I did, even with the loud music going. Once the meeting was really over, I had a few more conversation, then we decided to go home. Sammy was already falling asleep in his chair.
It was cold and raining a little bit, as we left the building to walk to our car. The kids were really tired, which makes Emmy more feisty, with him getting aggravated more easily, while Tammy starts crying easily. Just after 9:30 we were back at the house, and we immediately started getting them ready for bed. I prayed for Sammy and put him to bed. Then I lay down with Emmy and Tammy and per their request, continued reading the book. I stopped after a few pages, which caused angry protest from Emmy and crying from Tammy. But I stuck with my decision, as it was after 10 pm. I prayed for them and held them both, and they both fell asleep right away.
It was time for me to turn my computer on, work on the pictures and write a report. Now it's after 1 am, and I hope to soon go to bed, as we have a very long day ahead of us tomorrow.
