Since Ezra’s birthday, we’ve been chugging along with life and a few guests thrown into the mix. Last week the Williams spent one night with us. We enjoyed our time with them. They brought a strategy game (Wingspan) for the kids to play and left it, so they could continue playing it. Om Puimeng happened to be in country and stopped by to say hi for a little while; it’s been a few years since we saw her.

This is corn season and several of our friends have been giving us corn. It’s a bit tougher than American sweetcorn, but the kids really like it. We’ve continued our Music/Art/History Day on Friday. We recently made a meal of bread and lentil soup so we could eat like European monks.

The boys love helping to count the offering after church.

Maria continues to be a happy little girl. Until just last week there were only a small selection of books she would listen to, including There’s a Nightmare in my Closet. I think we were reading Amelia Bedelia and the Baby several times a day. Last week I convinced her to listen to a Frog & Toad book and some Frances books – and she now loves those characters and is enjoying different books.

Last week we celebrated Ezra’s 7th birthday! Our man was very excited about his birthday countdown calendar. This was his first year to get a bike ride with Daddy, and Ezra did a great job on the ride. He especially enjoyed riding through water and seeing a bomb crater.

Isaiah wanted Jonathan and Samuel to come to his birthday, so we had a birthday lunch so their family could drive out from Ban Lung to join us for the celebration. Jonathan made Ezra a piñata, and the kids had a blast breaking it open.

Ezra requested spaghetti for his birthday meal and a dinosaur cake. In the beginning I was just planning on a 2D dinosaur, but the more pictures I showed Ezra, the more evident it became that he wanted a cake exactly like his stuffed dino, not a flat picture of a dinosaur. It took a bit of creativity.

In the afternoon, Ezra got his “big” birthday present. We had a bed made for him. Since coming back from the States, Ezra and Micah have been sharing a bed, and it’s been fine, but Ezra’s been waiting for his own bed. I found some pictures of a bed I liked, and Josh took the pictures to a metal worker near our house, and the man did an excellent job making the bed! And it comes apart! Ezra was pretty excited when it arrived and he figured out what it was. There’s a desk underneath for the two boys to share.

In the evening we had the same meal (leftovers) and then did gifts, cake again, and a birthday slideshow. So it was like Ezra had two parties.

Ezra is a fine young man. Just this month, he’s started burning our trash, which he loves to do. He also takes our laundry downstairs each morning and starts it going in the washer. Ezra is a good worker and likes to solve problems. He’s a very kind brother to Maria and will take her downstairs to play while I’m teaching school in the mornings with the other kids. We love that Ezra and Micah are such a good buddies! Ezra is advancing in his reading and writing skills and he really likes math. We’re thankful for our second son Ezra. It was great celebrating his birthday all this month!

We are in our third week of school and everything is swinging along – keeping a very steady pace. I often feel like I’m running a marathon every morning, trying to get to each student’s work and keep the younger kids happy. It’s a lot.

This year I’m doing an Music/Art/History Day for the elementary & preschool students. I did this with the older kids a few years ago, and I decided this year was a good time to start with the younger kids. Maria absolutely loves it and is a pretty good student with the others. She especially loves music class. After our second music class, Ezra asked disappointedly, “When are we going to have music class?” When I asked him what he thought music class was, he replied, “Playing trumpets.” I’m planning on teaching the kids how to play the recorder (but I don’t have the recorders yet) – I guess Ezra is anxiously waiting for real music class to begin.

Our first History Day Class included cooking and eating like Roman soldiers. Unfortunately the meat and veggies got overcooked in the fire, but I think everyone had fun. Last week both Becca and Micah were sick. We suspect they both had dengue fever. Becca managed ok; Micah was very weepy and took extra TLC every afternoon. Thankfully by Saturday they were both on the upswing. So far everyone else has remained healthy.

Our spunky, beautiful girl turned 2 last week! Maria was very excited about her birthday. She’s been watching her siblings have birthdays and has been anxiously anticipating her special day. She loved making her cake and was thrilled about the special birthday dress we had made for her. She loves wearing “pretty dresses.”

For Maria’s birthday we had chili for lunch and hotdogs for supper. Two year olds are very easy to please. After dinner we did gifts. Maria is still at that sweet age where she’s excited about each gift and wants to play with everything (rather than throwing down the gift and asking for the next one). Gift opening took a long time. Each of Maria’s siblings were very happy to see how much she liked his/her gifts. (Isaiah was a little worried about Maria kissing him.)

Our Maria is a bunch of fun. She’s a talker and has lots to say. She loves to sing. She loves to do anything that her siblings are doing. Maria often asks to “play cards,” which means she wants to play a game from the game closet. Though sometimes you can hardly set up the game before she’s ready to move onto a new game. Maria loves to be read to and she loves looking at our family blog books. She’s done a great job with potty training. Maria is loved by all and brings joy to all.