It's funny how provision is made for us when we step out to do things for others. As I mentioned, I had offered to host 2 of my girls friends for an afternoon and although I wasn't well, I didn't want to disappoint them by cancelling. So they came anyway. Remember, these are my children's classmates, so they are Chilean and don't speak English. The three year old came for lunch with us and at this point our nana was still working, so all was well. The three girls went off to play together and there was some disharmony, I think due to tiredness. Mary's friend arrived just as our nana was going home. I was then going to be left with the 4 children for the next 2 hours. As it turned out, Lena had come with her nana who needed to stay at our house, so that she could carry on to a birthday party afterwards! So, she was my runner and translator for the rest of the afternoon. I was so grateful..

I have rested a lot these last few days since the weakness started and over time have begun to get used to my own company. I used to hate being on my own. I have become more complacent about missing things like lunch with the girls, attending meetings and going shopping. It's not easy. I should just get on with it regardless, perhaps. But on some of the occasions that I have done, I have found myself worse as a result. Yet, yesterday it seemed that the more effort I made to do things, the better I felt.

There was a school trip to the planetarium yesterday as Mary is learning about the solar system. She was really happy when I said that parents could go along if they wanted to and she begged me to go along. Then, of course, 2 days before the trip, I got laid up, and the poor girl was so disappointed. She prayed each night that I would be well enough to go with her. The school was very understanding and in an attempt to ease her disappointment they invited her sister along too. That helped, and they had a wonderful time. I had hoped that it would be an opportunity for me to get to know Mary's friends better. The disadvantage to having a nana who takes the girls to school each day is that I miss out on the interaction in the school. It is difficult enough making relationships across a language barrier, but even harder when you are not physically present to meet your children's friends and parents. But we try, and the girls have got some lovely friends. They were very excited to get back from their trip and tell me all about it. We spent our afternoon preparing a celebration for Daddy who had had a successful week at work. They wanted to do a party for him, so we went to the shop to buy ingredients to make a cake and sweets to decorate it with, then blew up balloons, downloaded Congratulations by Cliff Richard to play on his return, chilled some beer and made some cards. By the end of doing all that I actually felt better. Explain that!

Today I am hobbling about still and slept very late again. My body seems to be craving morning sleep at the moment, and contrary to my usual, I am finding myself telling my husband it's bedtime around 9.30pm. I struggle usually to go to bed before 11pm. Hopefully my supplements will arrive soon and I will find myself with more energy. I keep praying, and even though the journey is long, my prayers do get answered, sometimes in the most unusual ways.