Right before Micah hit his 7-month birthday he started crawling. He’s now crawling, sitting up, and pulling up to stand. He’s all over the place and very content with his new skills. I looked up Clara’s 7-month achievements and found that Micah is following Clara’s steps almost exactly. He also looks very much like Clara, if you compare pictures at 7 months.
Micah is also enjoying chewing/eating cucumbers, mango, kidney beans, oatmeal, eggs, and anything else I’ll put on his tray for him to eat. Right now his “eating” is simply a fun activity for him to do while the rest of us are eating. He doesn’t want to be left out. He loves to babble and laugh! He’s so fun – thankful for our third little Jensen man!
Monday evening, June 7, we had our Jensen Homeschool Graduation and Recital. The kids have been preparing for weeks and were excited to perform for the night. We started the evening off with music. Clara sang All Praise to Thee My God This Night while Becca accompanied her on the piano. Ezra sang Christ is Mine Forevermore, while Isaiah accompanied him on the piano. Anna, Isaiah, and Becca all performed piano pieces. During Anna’s pieces we were inundated with flying termites and had to turn off the lights for about 20 minutes before we could resume.
After the music recital reach child gave a recitation: Clara recited A. A. Milne’s Nursery Chairs, Ezra recited Once I Caught a Fish, Anna recited Robert Louis Stevenson’s Foreign Lands, Isaiah recited Edgar Allen Poe’s The Bells, and Becca recited the entire Book of Ruth.
After the recital we handed out graduation diplomas/awards: Ezra – Potty Training, Clara – 1st Grade, Anna – 1st Grade, Isaiah – 3rd Grade, and Becca – 5th Grade. Clara and Anna received their first Bibles. Isaiah received a nicer copy of the Bible. Ezra and Becca both received books.
It was a lovely night and we all enjoyed it. Thankfully, Micah slept through the entire program, so I didn’t have to take care of him. We had the girls made new dresses with fabric each had bought in Phnom Penh when Micah was born. And I curled the girls hair with rags the morning of, so they had curly hair. After the program we had ice cream to celebrate!
I’m thankful for the good school year the Lord gave us and that we didn’t get too behind with the birth of Micah in November. Looking forward to starting next year with all our precious students!
Below is a video of our program. I recorded all the recitations the morning before, so I could enjoy the live program. At the end there are a few clips of the poems from the live performance.
June 5, 2021 we finished reading through the Bible, a journey that started 5 years ago. Our custom is for me to read one chapter Monday-Saturday at breakfast to the kids. We had several long break periods when breakfast wasn’t in its normal routine – furlough, birth trips, etc. Now it’s time to start again, which means that Micah will be 5 by the time we finish again.
On another note, Becca has been teaching the younger girls Sunday School when we have the teaching part of our Khmer Bible study every Sunday night. She plans her own lessons, including crafts and worksheets. This week the girls had a tea party to reward them for their good behavior in Becca’s class. The girls love the class! And I love that Becca is thriving in her teaching role!
Happy 9th birthday to our first son! We had a great day celebrating Isaiah’s birthday. He started the day talking with both sets of grandparents and then we did Art and PE classes. Isaiah wanted tacos (with homemade guacamole, salsa, and black beans) for his birthday dinner and a chocolate cake decorated as a compass. After dinner we watched a slideshow of pictures of Isaiah from birth and then gave gifts. Isaiah’s siblings were very excited to give him gifts. They did a great job picking out things for him. We gave Isaiah a 6-man tent, which promptly went up and all the kids slept in it for the night. It was an exciting night! Isaiah told Ezra that his gift would be using the potty and somehow convinced Ezra to start wearing underwear…. pretty great gift for us all!
Thankful for our Isaiah. He’s a very thankful young man and expresses his appreciation often. He’s done a great job growing in his academic subjects – he loves to learn things. This year he read Fellowship of the Rings and has started the second book. He’s enjoying art class and often uses the technique taught to make other projects. He’s learning to touch type this year and doing a great job. He’s working on reading through the Bible. So glad we have this young man as our own!
