This week we celebrated Becca’s 16th birthday. The celebrating started two weeks ago with her countdown calendar, which included a night overnight in Ban Lung with me doing a mother/daughter online conference (Seeking Christ), gifts, bike ride with Josh, birthday movie (Fiddler on the Roof), and other things.

Becca decided to go with her Jane Austen countdown calendar theme and have a coordinating cake. She did a great job designing and decorating her brownie cake (which included some peanut butter frosting). For her birthday dinner we had soft tacos and home-fried corn chips.

We decorated our downstairs room for the party, and when it was time, Josh escorted Becca down to see her ballroom. After our meal we tried our hand at square dancing and did some other ballroom dances. Then we had cake, gifts, and ended the evening with a slideshow of Becca’s 16 years. One thing our girls love is making things fancy and another thing is having balls.

Becca is a beautiful young lady who continues to grow in the beauty of Christ. She is diligent in completing her school work. She works hard to communicate in Jarai and is now involved in teaching the Jarai Bible verse to the children at our church a few times a month. She regularly makes time for her siblings. She faithfully serves at home. She looks to include people who are left out. She has a heart of compassion. We thankful for our darling girl, Becca.

This week we celebrated Micah’s 5th birthday! Micah was very excited about his birthday and his siblings were all excited about giving him the gifts they’d bought for him. We started Micah’s birthday 14 days ago with his birthday countdown calendar: lots of little gifts, swimming, movie: Pete’s Dragon, making cookies, etc.

Micah wanted the Queys to come for his birthday, so we had them for lunch (chili and a monkey cake). Becca made Micah a pin-the-tail-on-the-monkey game for the party. She traced Micah. It came out really cute, and the kids enjoyed playing after lunch. The kids had a good time playing together.

In the evening we had another birthday meal: bratwursts (because we couldn’t buy hotdogs – though they were just like hotdogs!), mac&cheese, and baked beans. We had the rest of Micah’s monkey cake with peanut butter frosting, did gifts, and ended with a Micah slideshow. (In the afternoon, Micah fell off his bike and hit his lip – hence the swollen lip.)

Micah is a very energetic little man. He’s quick at figuring out things and quick to notice mistakes in other’s speech. He loves to play outside, and he also loves to be inside being read to. He’ll often come inside during the afternoon and asks me to read to him. We thankful for our youngest Jensen man!

Last week we started Micah’s birthday countdown calendar, and this week we start Becca’s (so the two calendars will overlap about 5 days). We’ll wrap up Becca’s birthday and jump into Advent four days later.

Maria is a hilarious little girl. She is a talker and puts all these little phrases together that cause much laughter on our home. She’s also great at pretend play. For a few weeks now, Maria has been diaper-free (day and night). And I think I can say, she’s finally starting to sleep through the night.

Maria is consumed with “pretty girls.” She loves “pretty girls.” But if we ask her, “Are you a pretty girl?” She replies, “No, I’m Maria.” We’re not exactly sure how she defines pretty girls; in other words, it’s not exactly a compliment if she calls you a pretty girl. For example: we’re currently reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and when Maria saw a picture of Grandpa Joe she said, “Look! A pretty girl.” Grandpa Joe is not pretty at all nor does he look like a girl. Other things she’ll point out as being a pretty girl are also rather perplexing to us. Be as it may – Maria loves anything with pretty girls. Now we just need to refine her tastes!

Last week Josh was also participating at the Ratanakiri Pastor’s Bible School.

Last Friday we celebrated Cambodian Coronation Day in our traditional way. Everyone made his/her crowns the day before. Friday morning we did face painting. Becca helped paint all the boys’ faces, while I did the girls. This takes a long time! By 10am we were ready for our coronation ceremony. The princes and princesses had a procession into the ballroom and were then crowned the new kings and queens of Cambodia. Afterwards there were refreshments served and entertainment…which includes me pretending to sing Rossini’s Figaro (with a speaker hidden under my scarf).

In the evening we did something new; we had a Psalms & Tea evening. We set up the room downstairs with lights, candles, and round table set for tea. Three different kind of store-bought cookies were served with tea and limeade. During the evening, each person got up and recited a Psalm or two of his/her own choosing. You were allowed to use the Bible if you needed it. It was a lovely night and everyone enjoyed it. Maria, of course, was a ham. When Josh got up to recite Psalm 2, he wanted Maria to pay attention, so he said, “Maria……Why to the nations rage?” Maria quickly answered, “Because!”

This week we had a visitor – a friend of a friend of mine – who is doing a 6-month internship in Phnom Penh. When she asked to come up and visit with us, I told her we had nothing to offer her except the big-family experience and attending Jarai church with us on Sunday. She came anyway. 🙂 Kathryn was a very easy guest and interacted well with our family. She was with us Saturday morning through Monday at 5pm when the night-bus picked her to go back to PP. Maybe someday our paths will cross again.