We had a great visit with the Burkes last week. So nice to see them after three years. The kids enjoyed playing card games, and we enjoyed catching up.

A big part of getting ready to travel to American is trying to prepare ourselves for living with Americans who are not used to our ways. This is difficult when we don’t really know what people do in America (besides normal manners). I am often telling our kids, “I don’t know what people do in America anymore!” One of our kids is working on a family furlough handbook. There are a lot of family jokes in the book that wouldn’t make sense to anyone but us. Today I’m including the At Table section of the book.

At Table

A child should always sit up straight,

And never bang his spoon and plate,

And keep her head above the table,

At least as far as she is able.

Dinner is the best time to display your manners, consideration, and refinement. If you are rude, noisy, and cross, you will not be invited to any dinner parties, and you will have to stay home by yourself and eat burnt green soup.

• Do not put your elbows on the table.
• Do not lie on the table.
• Do not squat in your chair.
• Do not put your head under the table. Do not throw your food out the window.
• Do not jump up and run to a private place every time you need to sneeze.
• Do not put unwanted food on the table – just push it to the side of your bowl.
• Do not throw food under the table unless you are eating over the ground.
• Do not pull on the tablecloth.
• Do not make a big fuss if you find a hair in your food – just quietly pull it out.
• Do not throw food at your siblings.
• Do not climb over the table to kiss people.
• Do not fight when holding your sibling’s hand.
• Do not force people to hold hands while praying if they don’t want to.

Seven kids, ages ranging from 5 months to 14 years. Different personalities. Different virtues. Different vices. All one family. We’re so thankful for our seven children and the ways we’re learning about the love of Jesus through parenting them. It’s fun and full of laughter. It’s exhausting and full of frustrations. It’s the work of planting and reaping. Thanks be to God. (Don’t let the picture deceive you – Micah is smaller than Ezra…it’s just the camera angle that makes him look bigger.)

Every morning at breakfast (oatmeal and eggs) I read one chapter of the Bible with the kids. We’re working through the Bible chronologically – today we read Jeremiah 46. This is our second time through the Bible…it takes a few years. I love learning as I’m reading and explaining.

It’s the beginning of a new year, and we have much to be thankful in 2023 and much to look forward to. Within the first 8 months of this new year we will pack up our house (putting away all our belongings in containers to keep them safe from rats, water, mold, etc); pack bags for our family; fly to the US; visit with extended family, friends, and many churches; drive through over 15 States, pack up lots of boxes to fly back to Cambodia; and then fly home to Cambodia. It’s overwhelming to think about, and as much as we’ll enjoy seeing people, we’ll both be glad when we’re back home here in August. What other job requires people to uproot their family for 6+ months? This is a sacrifice we make and also a gift we get as we work as international missionaries. People often mention how nice it is for us to get such a long “vacation” and they don’t really understand. It’s not a vacation and it comes with joys and struggles. We are excited and we’re not. But in 8.5 months it will all be over, and we’ll be enjoying all the good memories we’ve made as a family and with others. There’s no place like home...and home for us is Cambodia. So thankful God has planted our hearts here.

This week we’re continuing Christmas celebrations with nightly singing. I guess we’re now celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas! Josh and I are trying to take more pictures of ourselves together. Each morning we get up and drink coffee and pray together. We now have two rocking chairs, received from long-time missionaries in Cambodia who no longer need them – one from the Crowleys, and one from the Carsons. We hope we will be as faithful as those two families have been to serve the Lord in Cambodia.