5 years 2 months 2 days

Day 1889. Last night we turned our clocks back, but instead of sleeping longer, the kids got up even earlier, and so did we in the end. I was actually up before Randy and gave Tammy and Emmy some cerial to eat. And then Emmy wanted to practice the piano already, so we went downstairs for that. I love how motivated he is. Tammy didn't want to pratice at that point and ended up never practicing at all today.

After piano practice I went upstairs and left Randy downstairs with the kids. I turned my computer on and started doing some much needed office work for Mali. At some point I went to the kitchen to make a casserole, and returned to my computer after it was in the oven.

Soon Randy and the kids came upstairs, and just before noon we sat down to eat. After lunch, the short night and early morning soon started getting to me. Eventually Randy went back downstairs with the kids, and I lay down for a nap. I got to sleep a little. Now the pain is nearly gone, I guess thanks to the strong antibiotics taking care of the infection.

I woke up at the right time and got up to go to the kitchen to make their dinner-to-go. Then the others were already coming back upstairs. We got them all dressed for church and left the house just after 4 pm. We walked to the subway, then rode another subway line and got to church a few minutes before the service started at 5 pm. I was pretty tired.

We sat down in our typical area. All three kids went straight to the front to do some drawing and then brought me their drawings to give them to me as a gift. Sammy was so proud for what he had done for me. Emmy also briefly sat down next to me, as did Tammy. Tammy actually did some dancing with two other kids at some point. Sammy was there too and kept asking, when the kids' program was starting. At 5:30 pm they all left to go there, while I stayed in the sanctuary.

I had already enjoyed the first half hour of worship in God's sweet presence and greatly enjoyed the second half as well. Then it was time for different announcements and stuff. Finally the time I was waiting for had come. They called my name and told everyone about the situation I was in. Then they asked people to surround me and pray for my healing. God touched me powerfully while everyone was praying for me. It was wonderful.

I sat down, and Randy and Sammy sat down next to me. Sammy had been antsy in the kids' program, so Randy brought him to the sanctuary, and they got to witness everyone praying for me. Then the preaching started, but Sammy was not happy. It wasn't going to work for him to be in the sanctuary. He had already seen Anna. Randy then left with him to go back to the kids' program.

Just before 7 pm the service ended, which was 8 pm yesterday's time, so pretty late for the kids. Some people talked to me, which meant a lot to me. Then Randy and the kids returned. One good friend of mine has offered to accompany me to the hospital on Tuesday, and another church member offered to help Randy while I'm gonna be in the hospital. That meant a lot to me. Just before we left, the pastor's wife hugged me and said good-bye, and I thanked her for having made it possible for me to receive prayer from everyone during the service.

We finally got going. When we sat down in the subway, there was suddenly Anna, much to the kids' delight. She sat down with us, and we got to ride a few stops together. Then we got off as well and went to another line that took us home. Just after 8 pm we were back home. The kids had a quick snack, then it was bed time. They didn't even complain that there was not going to be a story tonight. Surprisingly it was Sammy who took a long time to fall asleep. Probably because Daddy was in the kitchen making his food instead of sitting next to Sammy as usual. I was also in the kitchen making myself some soup.

With the time change, Randy went to bed earlier tonight. Now it's 11:30 pm and everyone is asleep but me. A few minutes ago Tammy lay down next to me. I still have to go to the kitchen to load the dishwasher.