Becca took these pictures of flowers in our yard to share with you.

Passion Fruit Flowers.

Red Hibiscus

Bird of Paradis

And some others…

We celebrated Valentine’s Day with our traditional evening party. The kids had been working on their cards for weeks. We made heart-shaped pizzas for supper and had ice cream for dessert. Isaiah was in charge of the games this year – he planned a heart-hunt (similar to an egg hunt) and a few rounds of hide-n-seek in the dark. Afterwards, we read the story of St. Valentine, passed out cards, and ended with giving the kids their gifts. It was a lovely evening.

On his way home from work, Josh asked some people if he could buy some flowers from their front yard. They were more than happy to give him some flowers and even added a rose. For Valentine’s Day Becca made Clara a paper doll with a closet of clothes. Isaiah made me a flower ring. (The other picture is the valentines I made for the family.)

We decorated heart-shaped cookies for Valentine’s Day. We also gave them out at our Bible Club on Sunday.

In other randomness…I got creative while waiting for Josh to come home for supper and made creations with the kids’ food: two Troll Princesses, a chick, and a dragon.

A few weeks ago we had a painting morning. Each child worked on a different project. We ended with a picnic.

The other day in school Isaiah did an activity in reading that required him to read the words on the back of salad ingredients. He then made salads with all the papers he read. When he was done, he said we had to eat our salads. I shocked him by stuffing all the papers in my mouth. Making memories!

Isaiah completed All About Reading Level 3 right before Christmas! We decided to postpone his completion party until after all the Christmas activities were finished. We had a great night – Isaiah received his certificate and chose to play a game, have popcorn and have Josh continue our read aloud. The little girls are looking forward to completing their level of AAR so they can get a certificate!

The second week of January we took a 4-night vacation to Siem Reap with Christmas money we received from family – a great gift! We were all ready for a break after two intense months of Bible translation meetings and all the extra activities that took place in November and December. We stayed at a boutique and had a lovely time together, being away from normal work and everyday life.

One morning we took the kids to a bookstore and let them buy art supplies with some Christmas money a friend had sent them. They were so excited and loved picking out their own things. Afterwards we went for a walk along the river (I think that’s what they call it) and the kids enjoyed climbing on the elephant statues.

The next morning we used the money from the friend to take the kids horseback riding. Becca was excited. It was very thrilling for Anna to ride a horse for the first time and for Isaiah to ride by himself for the first time. The rest of us rode in a horse cart.

Each afternoon we took the kids swimming. It was a nice time for us to be away and the kids really enjoyed having the extra time with us (we didn’t bring any work along!). Thankful for the time we had together and for the mental break it was for us.