This is one of those weeks I’m scrambling to post and don’t really have anything to post, so I’m just looking on the camera and posting some random pictures. Maria continues to be a very funny little girl who enriches the life of each individual in our family.

The girls have gotten back into using sponge rollers. I’ve started a Girls’ Bible Study with our girls Friday afternoons. Maria is always very excited about “Bible Study,” since she wants the snacks. We’re using Sarah Mally’s Speak Truth in Your Heart. We’re writing tunes for all the Bible verses we need to memorize, and sometimes Clara plays the ukulele along with our singing.

Last Friday Josh led a hermeneutics review session for all the Jarai Pastors’ Institute students. We also opened it up to the people at our church. I was really pleased that several ladies from our church attended. The second picture is of one of the ladies I taught to read Jarai. I’m now having her help teach the kids when we break up into small groups. She was so nervous, but this is her third week helping me, and she’s doing great!

Micah loves riding his bike. He’s also quite the artist. Recently he’s started making coloring pages and now makes copies of his pages and gives people coloring books!

Isaiah and Ezra are doing great…they have just somehow avoided the camera this week!

Last week we had our monthly Music/Art/Prayer time. The Smedleys couldn’t make it for the classes, but they joined us for lunch and the ladies’ prayer time. The music lesson introduced eighth notes and was about Brahm’s Hungarian Dance in g minor No. 5. The kids did great. Becca did a watercolor painting lesson with the kids.

We were actually planning to meet a few days earlier, but Micah ended up getting sick for a few days. When he was feeling better we were able to schedule it for Friday (Thursday evening), thankfully everyone had open schedules.

We celebrated Valentine’s Day a day early (since Saturday night we’re busy with our Khmer service). It ended up being a day full of celebrations. Friday morning we went to the wedding of Plin and Loai. Loai is Pastor Chuol’s widow, and Plin is a widower who lives in the US (Khmer Jarai American citizen). We had them over for dinner the Tuesday night before. Josh preached the wedding sermon.

Josh took the boys to BL in the late afternoon (originally he was planning to go to take a baby to see a doctor, but the parents didn’t show up). The boys did errands, and Josh bought flowers for all his girls. The boys got to pick out candy at the store. When Maria got her rose she said, “Daddy, you’re a good Dad.”

Friday evening we made heart-shaped pizzas for dinner and ate sugar cookies for dessert. We were planning to decorate the cookies, but everyone was full and decided we could decorate the big cookies another day. Josh read our book about St. Valentine, and then we passed out cards. Passing out cards takes quite a while as each person gives out his/her cards individually, and then the person receiving the card takes time to look at it. Maria was very pleased to be able to pass her cards. It was a very fun time for all of us. After the cards, we gave each kid a new book and then Josh read two of the books aloud.

It’s good to have fun work to do!! January, which is usually a slower month for us, went by really fast. Josh was involved in a special government meeting to accept the Jarai language into the multi-language curriculum for early education. The men at our church had a “party” to celebrate the end of their study of 1 Timothy and Philemon. Our girls had a Ladies Literary Society Tea Party. The boys are working on having a special boys’ club. I’ve started a girls’ Bible Study with our girls Friday afternoon. And life just keeps being full with people and family.

Friday will be our 120th day of school. Everyone did a great job getting back into school after Christmas break, and we’re clipping along. This past Wednesday we had a history/music/art day with a Chinese theme, since that’s what the past few history chapters have been on recently. We made Chinese lanterns and made peanut butter chicken for lunch. Music class didn’t focus on Chinese music, but we did spent some time watching a video of traditional Chinese music being performed.

In music class, we’ve learned to recognize 15 pieces of classical music – from different genres and time periods. The kids are doing great with recognizing these pieces. They are also thriving with their rhythm reading.

Becca and Isaiah are busy with their jr. high and high school work during our history/music/art days, but they often smile as they walk by and say “I remember doing that!”

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.

Last weekend we decorated the Christmas tree. We had a special meal for supper with apple pie for dessert. Then we enjoyed decorating the tree, which happens pretty fast with each kid putting up their own ornaments.

Last week we had our monthly elementary Music & Art day. These two families drive about 45 minutes from the provincial capital to participate. I teach music, Becca teaches art, we eat lunch together, and then the women have a time of prayer together while the kids play. This month we had a Christmas theme and the new music concept was tempo using Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker for examples. Micah and Maria helped decorate the room the day before.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving celebration last Friday – a day later so we could have a break after Becca’s birthday. It was a very nice relaxing evening, since I was able to get all the cooking done by 2pm. After we ate we had a time of singing and Scripture reading. Clara made a apple pie for dessert. (Also noticed the Thanksgiving embroidery Clara finished just in time for the holiday.) We’re so thankful for the many blessings God has given to us – Thank be to God.

We’re studying the Middle Ages, and two weeks ago we had a jousting tournament. The boys really got into it – I’m glad they had helmets with visors to protect their eyes! Maria especially enjoyed being a “pretty lady” at the event.

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.

October 28, 2025 we finished our second read-through the Bible. (The last time we finished was June 5, 2021.) This time the kids wanted to read through chronologically, which was a little more complicated to keep track of, but we did it. We do our Bible reading during breakfast, usually just a chapter a day. Sometimes we read a section of a chapter, if there was a lot to talk about. What now….back to Genesis!