Thanksgiving Day (November 26) was Becca’s 11th birthday. This year we did not have a big neighborhood party, since we were in Phnom Penh for Micah’s birth. Instead we celebrated with friends in Phnom Penh.

Thankfully, Micah was born 10 days before Becca’s birthday, so it didn’t interfere too much with Becca’s day. She still had a two week birthday countdown calendar with a baby brother as one of the gift days! We fit in her birthday sleep-over before Micah was born. Our night included playing games, doing facials, and looking at pictures from Becca’s 11 years. We rented a room in the guesthouse where we were staying and Josh bought us a lovely breakfast in bed in the morning.

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Since we were in Phnom Penh, we were able to enroll Becca in a four-week horsemanship class with an international school in the area. It was such a blessing that they allowed us to tag along, even though we had no direct connections with the school. The lessons were Becca’s main birthday present. We were so delighted she had this opportunity!

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Becca invited three family units to join us for her birthday dinner of tacos and fajitas. This year Becca wanted to be involved with decorating her cake. She planned out the design and we worked together at frosting the cake. She was very pleased with how it turned out – tasted good too!

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We enjoyed our evening with friends and celebrating Becca’s birthday!

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Becca’s birthday was quite different than the Thanksgiving she was born – that day was a day of tears and wondering if our little baby was going to make it, wondering if she would live a normal life, wondering if we’d be able to have more children. This year we celebrate a happy, healthy, gifted young lady who can now share her birthday month with a little brother. We’re so thankful!

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And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 

⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

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And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

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 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Thanks be to God!

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Last month we traveled to Phnom Penh for Micah’s birth. We packed up our house the first week of November and left our home on the afternoon of November 5th and travel to Stung Treng and spent the evening visiting with our friends. (No pictures from our time there.)

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The next day we made the rest of the trip to Phnom Penh and arrived at the CMA Family Home late afternoon. The next evening – Saturday the 7th – we attended the CMA Thanksgiving get together. We had a lovely evening with everyone and enjoyed lots of festive foods.

While in Phnom Penh, our kids were able to take daily Khmer lessons with some friends of ours. We are very thankful for this opportunity they had for about four weeks. Anna was able to spend an afternoon at a Vietnamese school where our friend was teaching the kindergarten class Khmer. Anna loved it!

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There were many great things about being in Phnom Penh versus Bangkok for the birth: we saved money (not needing taxis, transportation, visas, food, etc), we knew the language and culture, we’re were able to get lots of errands done (including some needed car repairs and another seatbelt added), and more I can’t think of right now. Our accommodations were perfect – two joining bedrooms with two bathrooms and a kitchen, access to two other kitchens, access to two large common rooms – one of which we could spread out in since there were usually no other guests, plus a large area to play outside. The staff was lovely. The ladies were so helpful and kind to our family and would lend a hand whenever they saw I needed help. They were also very interested in anything I did with Micah and would stop to watch me bathe him, etc.

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But the best things of all was being in a place where we knew people and had friends. In Bangkok we knew no one and we’re on our own. In Phnom Penh we had a community of other ministry families – many of whom we didn’t even know that well. I had loads of face-to-face English conversations with other ladies…probably more than I’ve had all year. It was refreshing.

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Being at the CMA meant we got to visit with other missionaries passing through. We also got to have a meal with the Whitaker family (pastor of the international church we attended when in Phnom Penh), ending with a Christmas carol/song sing together.

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In Phnom Penh, one of my closest friends in Cambodia lived a stone’s throw away from where we were staying and our kids could play almost everyday together. Our girls were so happy to have friends. I was so happy to get extra time with Ayra. We made Christmas cookies together with our kids, chatted, prayed together – I was spoiled. 

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The CMA family put together a meal train for us after Micah’s birth and provided us meals for about two weeks – it was amazing! I felt so spoiled. One friend even came and made pizza with the kids. 

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To sum it up, we were very blessed by being surrounded by people who are all apart of our family in Christ. We’re so thankful – so blessed. Note – all pictures were taken after Micah’s birth.

One of the last things we did before packing up and moving to Phnom Penh for Micah’s birth was celebrating Cambodian Coronation Day the last week of October. This is our 6th year celebrating and we continue to enjoy the tradition of making crowns, dressing up, and having a coronation service to crown the new Kings and Queens of Cambodia.

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Ezra was not into dressing up or getting his picture taken. He did however, join the procession to the coronation and walked quite regally to his throne.

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In the evening we had hotdogs, Mac & Cheese, and baked beans. We also celebrated Isaiah’s completion of All About Reading Level 4. He chose Qwerkle as the game of the night – (thank you Whittakers!).

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For the first 11 weeks of school we studied birds in science class. We had great fun doing different projects. The kids enjoyed making nests.

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We had a great lesson trying to break a chicken egg. After each student had tried two times, Isaiah dropped the egg and it got a tiny crack in it. Becca was out of the room at the time, so we let her try one more time when she came back. The howls of laughter from her siblings when the egg broke was priceless. She also enjoyed being the star of the show.

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In case you’re wondering where is Ezra during science class….he’s usually napping. It’s challenging to teaching science when he’s awake. And other times during the day…if he’s not with others, here’s a few snapshots of what you might catch him doing…. (The bucket bath pictures of after supper and always supervised. )

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