This month we celebrated Anna’s 12th birthday! We started out the celebrating with her countdown calendar (which overlapped with Passion Week and Josh’s birthday). Anna chose to delay her birthday movie (Caddie Woodlawn) until the week after her birthday, since things were so full, and that worked well with Josh being away at Bible school too.

We celebrated Anna’s birthday a day early, since we have a ministry commitment Saturday nights. Then on Anna’s birthday she went to an all-day KEC regional youth event, so that was special for her. Anna chose to have a different cake this year than her normal panda. She made a beautiful hibiscus flower (peppermint frosting with homemade dark chocolate accents). She did a great job decorating it. Anna’s three siblings made her birthday chalkboards (Becca, Micah, and Maria).

Anna’s birthday meal was tacos. It’s avocado season, so we could have fresh guacamole! We also had a bag for corn tortilla chips from our time in Siem Reap. Everyone ate so much at dinner that people only had a little bit of room for the cake, and we ended up only eating 1/4 of the cake (which is unusual for 9 people!).

Anna is a very sweet girl. She is helpful, and I often find her with one of her younger siblings doing an activity or something else they needed assistance with. She’s creative with crafts and art projects. She’s a diligent piano and flute student. She is also very diligent in accomplishing her daily school tasks. Anna is our “sleep-in girl.” We found out that if Anna sleeps past 8, she avoids getting daily headaches. Anna is doing really well with her Jarai language learning and is bold to speak to others and practice her language skills. WE love our girl and the gift she is to our family.

We had an unusually busy Passion Week this year, with the addition of an overnight guest, Josh’s birthday, and Anna’s birthday countdown calendar. It was also a very hot week – hard to sing songs each night while sweating! But we were able to keep up with most of our family traditions and we survived the heat. Each night we read from Noel Piper’s Lenten Lights. Palm Sunday we decorated our tree and reenacted Palm Sunday. Monday we had our Jesus overturning the money changers reenactment. Maria was a little shocked and we made sure her table was not overturned. Everyone enjoyed a chocolate coin afterwards. Tuesday our guest arrived. Wednesday we had Josh’s birthday. Thursday was our Maundy Thursday service, and Friday we celebrated Good Friday.

Sunday evening we combined our Easter celebration service and Easter egg hunt (since we couldn’t fit it in on any other day). It was a long evening! Maria especially enjoyed using her eggs to buy things from the “store.” To end the evening we exchanged cards and gave the kids gifts. Thankful for the life-changing resurrection of Christ!

Last week we celebrated Josh’s 45th birthday. We had an evening meal of hamburgers (have to grind our own beef) and chips. Everyone enjoyed the meal. Afterwards we gave Josh his gifts and cards. Last week we also had a guest with us for a few days. Lap is the man who helped Josh study Jarai (the dialect they speak in Vietnam) for his dissertation research. Lap was visiting with the Cambodian Jarai to learn more about their language and culture.

We’re all thankful for Josh and the way he leads and loves our family.

A few weeks ago we decided to plan a little vacation to Siem Reap. I feel like we’ve been going non-stop since October and the next few months are pretty full. We were able to squeeze in a getaway from March 21-25. The trip was part of Clara’s and Anna’s birthday countdown calendars – “swimming.” It’s been harder to find a clean pool in Ban Lung for swimming, so to Siem Reap we went!

I didn’t take many pictures. Our goal was to rest. We swam a lot, ate good food, took hot showers with good water pressure, and went to bed. We were also able to visit with the Burkes for a few hours.

The kids love this pool. Sadly Swensens no longer exists in Siem Reap – but Josh found some really good Australian ice cream at a store, and the kids ate their fill. We also found a really good Mexican restaurant and went on their Taco Tuesday.

Our kids were so delighted with our getaway, which Josh started calling Spring Break, and they said thank you multiple times a day for the different things we were able to do. I especially appreciated the break from daily life and ministry. Thankful!