This week we had elementary Music/Art Day (with a prayer time for the moms afterwards). During music, we worked on rhythm, steady beat, and reading quarter notes and quarter rests. We also learned about the brass family, took a look at a trumpet, and listened to Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in Eb (3rd movement Allegro). The kids are doing great!

Becca did an art lesson – the kids drew owls and then added embellishments with white crayon; then they used watercolors to paint the scene.

We enjoyed a chili lunch together and then us three moms had a prayer time together.

A few weeks ago our Jarai pastor mentioned his one cacao tree had ripe pods. He wasn’t planning to do anything with them, so we asked Josh to request some pods. I wasn’t sure how complicated making chocolate would be, but it turns out that it’s quite easy. So far we’ve made two batches.

1). Take the fleshy seeds out of the pods and allow them to ferment for 3-5 days. 2). Roast the seeds in the oven for about an hour and a half. 3). Shell the beans and winnow them. 4). Grind the beans in the food processor until it turns into a pourable liquid. 5). Add powdered sugar. 6). Pour into a mold and put in the refrigerator. 7). EAT! Not bad!

This week we had a visit from the Yamada family. It’s been on their bucket-list for their time in Japan to pop over here for a visit. It was our first time to be with them since they had kids, and everyone enjoyed the visit. Josh took Richard to visit two rural Jarai villages on Friday, and all the boys took an outing to Ban Lung on Monday, while the girls stayed home since Anna wasn’t feeling well.

The boys enjoyed having playmates and kept busy playing outside most of the time, from early morning until supper time. Richard gave Isaiah daily trumpet lessons and enjoyed practicing the trumpet on our back porch. Richard also enjoyed having “Max” the lion visit Cambodia and talk with the kids.

It was great to catch up with Rebekah – we haven’t seen each other since summer 2019. The Yamadas left early Tuesday morning to take a van to Siem Reap to continue their visit to Cambodia, and we started back to school that same morning. It’s been a good Christmas break, and everyone did wonderful starting back!

Yesterday I spoke at the Ratanakiri KEC (Khmer Evangelical Church) Ladies Christmas Event. There were about 100 ladies there from about 10 different Jarai churches. Originally they asked me to teach in Khmer, but once I realized most of the ladies would be Jarai, I requested that I could teach in Jarai. (These days almost all my teaching is done in Jarai, and I do very little in Khmer…so I’ve lost a lot of my Khmer teaching language.) The event went from 8:45am-4:15pm, and my teaching was an hour. I taught on the Gospel, using Christmas and Genesis 3:15. So many of these ladies have been believers for a long time but have very little understanding of what the Gospel is. The first thing I did was pass out a sheet we created with 10 sentences that summed up the Gospel. Once we’d practiced reading these, I used them throughout the lesson and had the ladies read different the sentences every time they came up in my lesson. This kept everyone on their toes! My lesson also included props, having the ladies learn two songs, and my singing some of my Bible verse songs.

Josh and I created a book of catechism questions for the ladies to learn doctrine and for teaching their children. At the end of my teaching time I demonstrated with Becca how you would teach a child the questions and answers.

Our Christmastide started the Monday of Christmas week – though we still did Advent, we also start our Christmas activities a little early. We enjoyed our four weeks of Advent, each night singing and reading Bartholomew’s Passage together. The kids accompanied many of our songs with their piano, flute, violin, and ukulele playing. It’s a very special time for our family. One night we had an Advent Tea and Scripture night.

One thing we celebrated during Advent was Ezra’s completion of All About Reading Level 2. He received a Bible for completing this level. We also celebrated Micah’s completion of All About Reading Level 1.

Our Christmas Calendar included: wrapping paper making, movies (It’s a Wonderful Life), reading The Best/Worst Christmas Pageant Ever, making candy-candy cookies, making giant gingerbread cookies, making Christmas cut-out cookies, sleeping by the Christmas tree. Other activities included ornament making, hot cocoa, candy canes, etc.

Christmas Eve we had a friend over for lunch. In the evening we had our traditional meal of tacos and then watched The Muppets Christmas Carol.

Christmas morning Josh surprised me with my gift – a new stove/oven. My other oven is small and can only fit one pan at a time, which is a challenges with the size of our family. Now I can cook at least two things at a time! The kids exchanged gifts in the morning, and then they did their Christmas pageant. Maria thought she was the second narrator this year and every time Becca would finish, Maria would start narrating, “And then the pretty girl said….” She was pretty upset when “Mary” wouldn’t hand over the baby Jesus.

We had a lunch of cinnamon rolls, hot chocolate, oranges, and boiled eggs. In the afternoon we played a rousing game of Dutch Blitz ,with 8 decks going and Maria walking in the middle of it randomly. In the evening we had our dinner: roast, potatoes, bread, cucumbers. Then we did our Christmas singing. The last thing we did for the night was exchange cards and give the kids their gifts. Everyone was very pleased with their gifts and it makes us happy that they are happy with the things we give them. It’s nothing amazing – no electronics or amazing new toys, but our kids were more than pleased – and that’s a big gift to us.

The day after Christmas we had our friends the Queys over for lunch, and we decorated giant gingerbread!

On the church side of things: Saturday evening, Dec 13th, our church hosted the KEC Regional Youth Event. Over 600 people were there for the meal and service. Josh preached and we helped with the Christmas pageant. The youth and upper elementary kids at our church did the pageant for the youth event and for our church’s Christmas. Becca was an angel, and Isaiah and Clara were sheep this year. Josh spoke at our church’s morning service and at one other church for their evening service. Our church had their Christmas Saturday night and Sunday morning, Dec 27-28. I wrote five new songs for this year. The song for the adults was the Lord’s Prayer. I based the tune on Jarai tribal music, and they did tribal dancing along with the song. Maria really enjoyed helping wash the dishes after the Sunday meal. It was a good time for all.

We are still enjoying our Christmastide. It’s been a wonderful season with Advent and now Christmastide. We are filled with joy, celebrating the coming of Christ.