With Maria’s and my birthdays being so close, we decided to delay my birthday to the end of the week and celebrate her’s first. This made things much simpler with focusing on Maria. It also allowed me to celebrate my birthday without thinking about everything that needed to get done the next two days.

We had a nice meal of chicken parmesan, salad, and fruit salad. Clara made a yummy apple pie for dessert. The kids did gifts and cards before dessert, and then we had a slideshow. I was very thankful everyone was healthy enough last week to celebrate both birthdays.

Maria celebrated her 3rd birthday this week. She has been looking forward to her birthday for a long time. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, multiple times she said “cards!” This year Maria got her first birthday countdown calendar. She loved opening the doors for a week. One of her days said, “New bed.” We finally moved Maria out of the pack-n-play and into a bottom bunkbed!

Maria started her birthday morning early with excitement about the signs and balloons, including a special ladybug balloon, at her door. She played with Clara and Anna in their beds and running back and forth letting the balloons hit her head.

Maria was delighted to decorate her cake. The day before we baked the cake, and on her birthday morning Maria put the sprinkles on to decorate her princess’s dress. Maria ate many sprinkles saying, “I’m just testing them.” This is our first child I let help decorate his/her cake this young.

In the afternoon, the kids played with Maria, and Anna gave her an early birthday present – bubbles, so they played with that. Dinner was hotdogs, mac&cheese, beans, and veggies, with a special drink. After dinner we gave Maria her presents. She was very happy with all her cards and gifts from others. I gave her one of my childhood dolls that was still in good condition. Then we had cake! And we ended with Maria’s birthday slideshow. It was especially cute to watch her laugh watching videos of herself.

Maria is a sweet, spunky little girl who is loved by all. She’s very clever and has an advanced ability to listen and follow books above her age level. She loves to be read to and is currently enjoying our reading of the Little House on the Prairie series. Maria also has a good imagination and does well playing with Little People or Playmobil and having her own adventures with them. She also loves listening to kids songs and singing along while dancing.

We started the new school year on July 6th. It was a bit of a wobbly start, and we actually weren’t sure until breakfast that morning, if we’d be able to start. I came down with dengue Friday afternoon and was out of commission Saturday and Sunday. But on Monday, I was at least headache-free and decided we should at least do what we could, since it was likely others would get sick later in the week. So for most of the week, I pressed through teaching in the mornings and then slept a good part of the afternoons. We cancelled all our afternoon appointments with our Khmer/Jarai friends. What a way to start the school year!

So – this is the reason we only have pictures of some of the kids and their signs. The others were still working on their signs when they got sick. Turns out Maria was the next victim (though a very short case), then Clara on Friday, Isaiah Saturday, and our latest to fall is Ezra this past Monday. Actually Micah was the first one to be sick before me. The rash and itching has been bad for some. Maria was up crying two nights because of itching, and I didn’t sleep well two nights due to my own itching (especially the feet). Hopefully we can post them next week. We’re looking forward to everyone feeling better and recovering full strength from post-dengue fatigue.

Clara just finished her sign today and even could smile for a picture!

Last week we celebrated 12 years in Cambodia. We celebrated a day early, since the next evening was our Khmer service. I made chicken cordon bleu, and we had salad. Then in the evening we had popcorn and played a game together. It was a fun time. We are thankful for God’s care, direction, and love for us as we’ve lived and served in Cambodia these past 12 years. Our family has grown, and we’re all grown in maturity and in loving God and others.

Sadly, during the late afternoon, I started not feeling well. We suspect I either had dengue or chikungunya. I’m recovering, but it’s slow going!

Sunday we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. Sundays are usually very full days for us, but my reading ladies canceled, so we had some extra time together. We played two games (both I’d not had a chance to play yet and one Josh hadn’t played yet), and we made and wrote our anniversary cards to each other. We bought beef for dinner for everyone for a family supper.

Thankful for the marriage and friendship God has given us. Thankful that we have each other “till death.”