We celebrated Holy Week last week (right along with the Orthodox). We started with our yearly Resurrection Tree decorating and nightly Lenten Lights readings and singing.

Sunday the 17th, we celebrated Palm Sunday. Monday night we reenacted Jesus cleansing the temple. Ezra was rather distressed about the whole event.

Tuesday night we had our egg hunt with a store afterwards to exchange eggs for goods. Ezra was a blast to watch and truly the most excited and thankful about “buying” things with his eggs. The next morning the kids were so excited looking at their “goods,” it seemed like the day after Christmas.

Thursday evening we celebrated Maundy Thursday with a remembrance of the Last Supper and did foot washing.

We celebrated the Resurrection on Saturday (since our Sunday was packed with church activities). We gave gifts in the morning and then had a wonderful lunch and afternoon with the Smedley family. We ended the evening with our last reading from Lenten Lights. Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

This has been a crazy month, so we celebrating things all out of order. Last Saturday we celebrated Josh’s birthday (about 2 weeks late due to a full schedule and sickness). We’re also postponing Easter a week and are celebrating Holy Week this week. So while the world was celebrating Easter, we were starting Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

Josh’s meal was hamburger – with real ground beef from a part of a cow friends had given us. Part of his party included decorating our Resurrection tree. I was especially pleased with how the cake turned out (making a strawberry cake from scratch can be complicated).

We’re thankful for our man – husband, father, and friend. So glad he’s the head of our home.

This Monday we celebrated Anna’s 8th birthday. The celebrating started on March 31st with Anna’s Birthday Countdown Calendar which included: gifts, snacks, movie night (Annie), and special visitors.

Our very good friends, the Nhoemvans, came to visit from Phnom Penh, Friday-Tuesday, while the men taught at Bible School. I kept their visit a secret until they pulled into our yard on Friday morning – surprise! It was a very exciting few days for our kids as they played together.

This year Anna chose tacos for her birthday meal and a panda cake. We had a great time celebrating.

Anna is a very energetic girl who is full of life and loves adventure and acting. She’s finished all her 2nd grade work and is already into 3rd grade math. She is currently reading The Little House on the Prairie books. She is now in the middle of The Long Winter. Anna loves to sing and is enjoying her piano lessons. She loves to play outside and she’s tough when she gets hurt. She still loves her dolls and wanted her birthday present to be “one last doll,” so she could have 10 dolls. Anna is very good with taking care of children. I often see her walking around outside holding our landlady’s almost 1-year-old daughter. And she holds another baby at church. She’s also very helpful with Micah at home and at church. She’s a little mama.

We’re so very thankful for 3rd child and 2nd daughter. We’re blessed to have her and love that she’s ours.

Two weekends ago was haircut day for the older boys; Micah needed a nap before I was ready for him, so he missed his chance to match. We’re keeping that baby hair for a little longer.

While Isaiah and Ezra favor each other, Micah looks more like Clara, especially if you compare their baby pictures.