5 years 6 months 24 days

Day 2034. Last night both Tammy and Emmy joined me in bed. Sammy was the first one up again, and Randy went to him. Emmy was up next, and Tammy last. At one point Randy made breakfast for them. Once again I had a hard time sleeping because of the noise they made plus coming into my room to ask me stuff. My alarm went off at 9 am. By 9:30 am we left the house together.

We rode the car to church, only a 5-minute-ride, and walked into the tent where the missions brunch was happening at 10 am. Tammy was already impatient, saying she was hungry, even though they had eaten. She wanted yoghurt but had to wait until it was time. The tent was filling up. Then we were greeted, they prayed over the food, and the buffet was opened to everyone. I gave Tammy her yoghurt, then headed to the scrambled eggs with Emmy. It was a good thing that we were close to the buffet as the line was very long very quickly.

We ended up sitting by a family that we knew from previous conferences. Their little girl had made drawings for our kids which was sweet of her. Tammy and Emmy were sitting next to her and were having fun with her. After everyone had eaten, the Dad of the family took their kid and ours to the baby room to play, as there was a speaker in the tent. Once Randy was done, he went there with Sammy as well. I stayed in the tent and listened to the speaker. When he was done, he told us to get together and pray for each other. The pastor and his wife were close-by and came to me and the lady next to me. They then started praying for me. Then the words of the pastor hit me in the heart and I started crying. He said he had a word of the Lord that the enemy was running out of resources to attack us with. The second thing he said was that this was the year of breakthrough. It was just what I had needed to hear which is why it touched me so deeply. We've had some more attacks just in the last few days - both in Mali and Austria - that I haven't told you about but that have robbed me of sleep. Paul asked me when the attacks were ever gonna stop. I then shared with him the word the pastor had given, and it encouraged him as well.

Then the brunch was over, and I walked inside and found them all playing together.

It was time to leave and go back to the house. We said our good-byes and walked to the car, then drove to the house. I went straight to bed to get some rest, while the kids got on their tablets. Once again there was noise, but I did sleep a little.

I had my alarm set, but did not really want to get up. However, I had to get up and by 2:30 pm we were on our way back to church. The first session was to start at 3 pm. I went to our table, while Randy had some cake with the kids in the tent. He then took the kids to the kids' program just before the 3 pm session started, and he stayed there with Sammy. The kids stayed there during break time as well. I went to the tent just before the first session ended to have some cake so that I'd be back at the table for the half-hour break. I was taking to a friend there, when Randy walked into the tent. He had left Sammy with his siblings in the kids' room. He also had some cake, then I had to go back to our table, where Randy also came a while later.

I was talking to the lady who was in Mali with us three years ago, when a teacher brought Sammy to us. He had been asking for Daddy. The lady who had been in Mali then talked to Sammy who didn't seem to remember her. Then Randy went back to the kids' room with Sammy. The second session started at 5 pm and went until 5:45 pm. Soon I saw Randy and the kids coming to me. Randy said they were hungry, so we decided to go have dinner right away.

We went to the tent and lined up to pick up our plates of food. It was pasta. The kids also grabbed some bread, and we all had a good time eating. Then it was time for me to return to our table to talk to people coming by. Randy took the kids to the baby room, where there were some other people playing with them. I then asked if any of them wanted to help me, and Tammy said she did. She came to the table and took a bunch of our brochures and started handing them out to people coming by. The girl from our church that was also at the conference then came to her, happy to see Tammy, and they started handing out the brochures together, walking around the whole room to do so. They were having fun together.

Just before the evening session started at 7:30 pm, we took the kids to the kids' room again. Randy stayed there again, as Sammy didn't want him to leave. I returned to the sanctuary and closed my eyes during worship, as I was pretty tired. A few times it seemed like I was actually falling asleep.

At 8:15 Randy and the kids were suddenly walking up to me. The speaker hadn't even started speaking. Emmy held out his tooth to me, telling me that it had come out. It had been moving for the past three days, and he had constantly put his finger there. Now it was out. He was the first of the three to lose his first tooth! And he was really happy and proud about it. He wanted to preserve the tooth.

Randy said that Sammy was tired and suggested we'd go home, but I thought it was too early and Tammy still wanted to see the movie they were gonna show in the kids' room. So they went back to the kids' room. At 9 pm I was the one leaving the sanctuary and walking to the kids' room, suggesting we'd go home. They were eating popcorn and only just about to start the movie, having some technical difficulties. Tammy still wanted to see the movie, but we said it was time to leave. And it sure was.

When Tammy is tired, she has fits over little things. She started crying that she also wanted a loose tooth, and she continued crying and crying and shouting. All the way to the car, all the way home, all the way to bed, and all the way to falling asleep. Nothing I said or did made any difference. I told her it wouldn't be long until it was her turn.

Back home we got them ready for bed right away. I prayed for them and put them to bed. It was already 9:45 pm. As I couldn't calm down Tammy, Randy then took my place and soon she was asleep - all three were.

I turned my computer on to work on the pictures and write my report. Last night it was 1:30 am before I went to bed. Hopefully it will be earlier tonight as we have a long day at the conference tomorrow.