Usually January is a rather slow month for us – a month of recovery after the very full months of November and December. But somehow this January seems to be plugging along at full speed with no breaks. Perhaps this is because of our time in the States and being under the pressure to keep up with school, so we don’t have to go far into the summer. Or perhaps it’s the pressure of the SS curriculum we’re writing. Not sure. But we’ve been going full steam ahead!

We wrapped up our 12 Days of Christmas on January 6th with a reading of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Josh read while the kids ate cookies and drank homemade chai tea. We really enjoyed keeping Advent separate from Christmas and celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas. I think we’ll do it again next year.

Our puppy is growing and looks much better than she did when we got her. We’ve given Noel her first shot (or I should say Josh did), and she also appears to be worm-free. She’s now sleeping through the night, though this week she had 3 nights of waking up at 2am-ish.

We’re back into school – which was really tricky at first with Maria and a puppy to watch after. Maria loves to participate in school. She really thinks she’s one of the big kids. We’ve also been hit with some sort of virus. Clara started with it two days after Christmas. Almost all the kids have had it now and it includes a terrible cough and some have had fevers. The worst of it seems to last at least a week, with a lingering cough. Maria got sick this time and has had a fever for over a week (which the doctor said is typical of a few viruses). I’ve never given out so much fever-meds before. There’s been a few nights we’ve been up a lot with her. Everyday I hope that her fever will be gone….maybe tomorrow. Thankfully, when she’s on meds, she’s pretty cheerful. And I’ll be really cheerful when we’re through this!

This past week Isaiah and his friend Re set up a multi-level rope swing in our tamarind tree. It’s been great fun for all the kids. Isaiah takes it down at the end of each day, to avoid injuries or his rope disappearing.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve with a bonfire. I wasn’t planning on anyone else coming, but once the neighbor kids found out it became a bigger event than planned. We had about 10 kids show up. Thankfully I had enough marshmallows and hotdogs for everyone to roast. (I cut our very large hotdogs into thirds.) After the food we shot of explosive and fireworks, and then we sang around the fire.

We’ve been continuing with our 12 Days of Christmas. Lots of beautiful cookies being made. We also had Biah and Esther over to decorate cookies and play games.

Maria loves keeping up with all her siblings. She’s a little ham with her antics. Maria really enjoyed eating all the gingerbread decorations! Her silly smile, with chocolate still on her teeth, says it all. We have so much fun with our little girl!

We started out 12 Days of Christmas the Monday before Christmas. Day 1 – make wrapping paper and sleep next to the Christmas tree. Day 2 – Christmas Eve Celebrations. Day 3 – Christmas Day celebrations. Day 4 – baking giant ginger bread cookies and having the Kanes over for lunch. Day 5 – decorating our giant gingerbread cookies. Day 6 – Saom Kaning Christmas Evening Party. Day 7 – Saom Kaning Christmas Celebration. Day 8 – Christmas Movie. Day 9 – Christmas Cutout Cookies. Day 10 – Bonfire. Day 11 – Christmas Concert. Day 12 – Reading The Worst Christmas Pageant Ever with cookies and chai tea.

So far I really like doing the Advent?Christmas season this way. It made Advent more peaceful and now there’s lots of fun after Christmas.

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas Eve we had our traditional meal of tacos (adding chips this year), then we had cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate for dessert while Josh read from our Advent book and we sang a few songs. After clean up we watched The Muppets Christmas Carol.

Christmas morning we did our singing and Advent reading, and then the kids exchanged gifts. This is always a special time, since some kids give handmade gifts and all of them put a lot of thought into choosing special things. One of the things Micah gave to each sibling was a mango. The Sunday before Christmas we picked up our puppy from Saom Kaning village. Noel is about a month old. Everyone is doing a great job taking care of our new “baby.”

JD and Kim came late morning for our Christmas pageant and cinnamon rolls. Afterwards we had a time of singing. Then we enjoyed our lunch of buffalo roast, potatoes, salad, and rolls. Clara made another great apple pie for dessert!

After supper the kids gave out their homemade cards and we gave them their gifts. It was a lovely day for all.

We started Advent this year with our nightly candle lighting and singing – eight songs each night. We’re reading Jotham’s Journey (a gift from friends), and we’re really enjoying the nightly readings. We’re trying out something different this year. Instead of doing all our Christmas activities leading up to Christmas, we’re focusing more on Advent before Christmas, and then we’re going to have the 12 Days of Christmas once Christmas Day hits. Christmas will be the start of all our fun instead of the end of all our fun. I’ve been thinking about this for a few years, and so far it’s going well.

Even though we’re not “starting” Christmas yet, we did put up our tree. We had our decorating party last Sunday evening. Originally we were planning it for Friday evening, but the power was out for 12 hours and didn’t go back on until the kids were all in bed. We had a fun time Sunday evening combining Advent with tree decorating.

This past Sunday evening our church hosted a youth Christmas gathering for all the churches in our province. There were about 20 different villages represented from the Jarai, Tampuan, Khmer, Krung, and Kachok people groups. The evening started with a meal, after which there was a service. During the service, each church group got up and performed a special number for Christmas. Besides this there was general singing, a Christmas pageant, and a sermon (Josh was asked to preach this year). The program continued past 11PM. Our family only survived until a little after 10, when the announcer said the program was scheduled to stop but that the head of the committee requested that they go on another hour with singing.

Our youth wanted to perform the Christmas pageant we normally do at our church Christmas. We’ve been rehearsing with them since November 17th. The kids really had fun during our dress rehearsal with all the costumes. This year Becca was a magi and Isaiah was a sheep. Everyone did a great job this year. We plan to do the same play with the same cast for our church Christmas at the end of the month.

For 10 days in November our kids were all on even years (or months – Maria)! We’re thankful for the children God has given our family.

Thanksgiving Day we had an evening celebration. It took a while to cook everything in the oven, since I could only cook one item at a time, so we didn’t eat until close to 7. After our meal we had a time of singing, Scripture reading, and thanksgiving. Clara made an apple pie for dessert.

This past weekend, Micah worked on one of his birthday presents. He did a great job painting and is a great dinosaur!

This week we celebrated Becca’s 15th birthday. We started the celebrating about two weeks ago with Becca’s birthday countdown calendar. This year’s calendar had a Dickens theme. Each day had questions about Dickens with the answers and surprises inside the doors. Becca’s birthday movie was The Sound of Music, the first time for our family to watch it together. Other treats included gifts, fresh squeezed orange juice, and snacks.

On Becca’s birthday Isaiah shaped her eggs in a special way. In the morning we took pictures, and Becca decorated her cake – with peanut butter frosting. In the afternoon I did a birthday salon for Becca on the back porch. In the evening, we all dressed up for Becca’s birthday dinner of tacos and chips (I made chips from corn tortillas). After dinner we headed downstairs to do a Jane Austen era dance. Everyone enjoyed it, minus two of our boys. After the dancing we returned upstairs for cake, gifts, and a slideshow of Becca’s past 15 years.

Gift-giving is always fun. Becca’s siblings were quite excited about giving their gifts to her. It’s so fun to watch their joy in giving. Becca’s special gift this year was receiving her great great grandma Hanyen’s high school ring. My great grandma gave it to me when I was a young teenage. Two other gifts were Jane Austen books that I received 24 years ago from my grandparents.

It’s a delight to watch Becca grow as a young lady. This year she is in high school and is doing well with the academic challenges it is presenting. She loves her family and Cambodia and others. She’s grown in her desires to be a help and in finding creative ways to help her siblings. Recently she’s started a Young Ladies Society with her sisters. Becca loves to read and write. Some of her favorite authors are Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. We very thankful for our dear daughter and can’t imagine life without her. We love you Becca!

Last week we celebrated Micah’s 4th birthday. He had a fun time with his birthday countdown calendar geting little gifts, making his cake, watching Toby Tyler, and eating special snacks. The night before Micah’s birthday, Isaiah helped me decorate his door (Josh was away at Pastors Bible School).

Micah had a fun day celebrating his birthday. It started with seeing his door and phone calls. After breakfast he was read books, and then Isaiah gave him one of his gifts to play with. During this time I was working on frosting his monkey cake. Most of the day different siblings played with Micah. Ezra gave Micah his gift after lunch, and then the boys went outside to play in the dirt. Micah requested a spaghetti dinner for supper, with salad and garlic bread. Then we had cake, did gifts, and ended with a slideshow of pictures from Micah’s 4 years.

Micah is a very fun little boy with loads of energy. He loves playing with his brother, Ezra. Every morning they wake up and are busy building things. He like doing school and loves reading books and being read to. He loves playing outside. We love our Micah and are so thankful for him!

Last Friday we gathered to celebrate 30 years of Crowleys in Cambodia. Our EMU team is so thankful to God for bringing the Crowleys here 30 years ago and through them, bringing each of our families to serve here as well. We love the Crowleys our EMU Cambodian Family. We are blessed.

Our time together included lunch; a time of thanksgiving, prayer, and singing; and dessert. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the faithfulness of JD & Kim as they continue to serve God.

November and December are big celebration months for us with two birthdays in November, Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and all the extra celebrations with friends and church that go with that. This week we started Micah’s birthday countdown calendar. Let the fun begin!

Today we had our 10th annual Cambodia Coronation Day celebration. One of our kids asked if anyone else in the world celebrates this holiday…ummm, maybe the king in Phnom Penh. We had a good morning or finishing our crowns, play practice, cookie baking, face painting, and the coronation ceremony and party. Tonight we’ll have an after dinner show, including a play and presentations.

This week Maria turned 15 months. One thing she loves to do is copy her siblings. Recently she’s been reading books, repeating the same syllable sounds as she reads. It’s so cute.

The girls have started a ladies’ literary society. They are reading a novel together 1-2 nights a week, while I put the boys to bed. Saturday they had a tea party.

Our boys love to play and are wonderful playmates for each other. They love their downstairs space and build wonderful cities with blocks, MagnaTiles, and a train set. They’ve currently set up a popcorn factory (they make popcorn out of paper) that drops the popcorn into a train, which then transports the popcorn to other parts of the track. I wish I had a picture.

A few weeks ago Ezra asked Josh to put up a seat in the tree for them to sit in. The other day when I was meeting with a friend, I looked out and saw both boys sitting in their seats eating ice pops. It’s so much fun being little boys.

Maria decided this week that she doesn’t like to nap. Quite a change from last week. I think it’s the fact that her two top front teeth are starting to make their presence known. So who knows what next week will hold.

Due to Titus’ death and sickness, we postponed celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day until last Thursday, when everyone was feeling well enough to participate. We started the day with patch-making. It’s great to have older kids who can help the younger kids, so I don’t have to help everyone. After that we read some books, and then Becca and Isaiah hid “gold coins” for the other kids to find. Isaiah made a map of our upstairs, and each kid had their own color of coins to find – each place marked on the map. All the kids had fun with their activities. We had a snack as a reward for the treasure hunt. Then Becca made M&M cookies with the boys, while the three middle kids did an art project. (I worked on meal prep stuff.) After lunch we had a normal afternoon. For the evening we had a spaghetti supper and the M&M cookies for dessert. Then the kids did dramatic readings of different picture books. Josh, Ezra, Micah, and I did a performance of Caps for Sale. The boys loved being the monkeys. Once the performances were over, we did our pirate dancing and watched a few informational videos about pirates.

In comparison to last year, this was a much better Pirate Day for me. Last year I rather resented all the work it was, especially when there was a lot of complaining and other issues to resolve. This year there was a lot more helping and everyone enjoyed their roles/responsibilities. It was a good day! Arrrrrr!

Every morning at breakfast we read through one chapter of the Bible. We’re on our second time through. This time we’re reading the Bible chronologically. We started around June 6th, 2021. On September 28th we finished reading through the OT. The last time we finished the OT was May 28, 2020. (We always get slowed down when we have our 6 months in the States, since family routine flies out the window when we’re staying in the homes of others.) Now…on to the NT, reading through chronologically!

After over a week and a half of sickness, we’re finally coming up on the other side, though still hanging on to coughs and congestion. The only ones to remain healthy are Josh and Maria. We had to postpone Pirate Day. It’s been a blur. Yesterday was our first sunny day in over a week. So nice to see the sun! Ready for September to be over and looking forward to starting October fresh and healthy!

Last Friday my best Jarai friend’s son drowned. The wake lasted four nights, and the funeral and burial were Tuesday. Josh was at the wake every evening and spent the night sleeping under the house with the family and church people (Friday, Sunday, and Monday nights). I was there every day with Biah next to the body and then casket (they didn’t get him into the casket until Sunday afternoon). Before we left for America Biah told me I was like her “friend, sister, mother, and husband.” This gave me the confidence to be present and to hold her when she wept. I have experienced much this past week (never before have I held the stiffen hand of a dead child, or smelled a body decomposing). Never before have I seen such expressions of grief. Someday I shall record it in more detail. In the end – after they had finished tiling the grave shut ad put the roof on, Biah said “It’s ok. God does what he does.” Thanks be to God for His grace in the life of this grieving mother. Thanks be to God.