Saturday, June 1st, was Isaiah’s 7th birthday! After celebrating his birthday early at Elijah’s Harbor, he had another party the eve of his birthday. Isaiah designed his own cake. A highlight of his party was getting to light his own candles. This boy misses building fires in Cambodia. One highlight on his actually birthday was having Uncle JD, Aunt Kim, and Nat show up as a surprise!
This year Isaiah lost 4 teeth (most recently the top two). In the past year he learned to read chapter books. He has grown in showing leadership with his sisters and he now has a little brother.
Thankful for Isaiah and the gift he is to our family!
After we had our family vacation we settled into the Hampton Park missionary house for our time in SC until the end of June. We had a lovely meal with the Casillas family (May 21). The following Sunday we were at their church. Cleveland Park Bible Church is always a highlight for our family.
We enjoyed a lovely lunch Thursday, May 23, with Dr. and Mrs. Bell. It was wonderful to have dinner with our Hebrew professor and friends. For me it was a great honor to be with our entire family in the home of a highly respected professor. It goes down as a furlough highlight.
Friday night we had a lovely meal with Donna and Amy. So good to catch up with them both.
Saturday we got together with my brother Jon’s family. We had a great time at a park and then eating at our house.
May 13-18 our family took a vacation, just the 7 of us. While we’ve enjoyed visiting with people, we were all looking forward to being together as a family without anyone else around. We rented a four bedroom house with a large yard and creek in the back. Very peaceful. It was great to just be together without any extra demands.
The kids loved the break from having to be places or with others doing things. Becca especially loved having her own room and being able to tuck herself away to read. The kids loved exploring the creek.
When we arrived I had a bad head cold. Even though I was bummed out about being sick on our vacation, I was glad to have the extra time to rest. By the last two days I was feeling much better. Josh and I enjoyed the days without a set schedule and enjoyed the extra time we had to talk with each other. It was really refreshing and we both needed it.
On Thursday Josh took Becca horseback riding. Below is an article Becca wrote about the experience.
Becca Nearly Scraped off a Wild Mustang!
In Tennessee, Becca went horseback riding and rode a wild mustang. But it was very lazy. It kept trying to eat grass on the trail for there was no one leading the horse. The horse, Nugget, suddenly ran the wrong way and under a low branch. The branch scraped Becca’s neck. Reporters rushed in from Ratanakiri, Siem Reap, and Phnom Penh.
Note – Publishers admit that the reporters are fictional.
Just let this little boy melt your heart! He’s just as sweet and happy as he looks. He always gets compliments from church nursery workers and regularly naps in their arms. And no, we’re not letting anyone keep him!
Ezra has done great with all our travels. We’re so thankful that the Lord gave us this baby for such a time as this.
The last week of April Ezra cut his first tooth – bottom middle. Shortly afterwards his second tooth right besides the first. Along with the tooth came a bad cold. It was a rough 2 weeks.
Two weeks ago Ezra started sleeping through the night. I wasn’t expecting it to last – but he’s done great since then. I’m one very happy Mama – with the extra rest.
With all our traveling, I haven’t had time to keep up with Ezra’s month posts. So let me catch up.
On April 25th left Wilson, NC to head to Burlington, NC. On the way we had lunch with our friend Nathan Rittenhouse. The next evening Nathan and his wife came to have dinner with us where we were staying.
April 25-29th we stayed in Burlington, NC at the missionary house of Beacon Baptist Church. Saturday ad Sunday we enjoyed visiting with our friends the Councilmans and some of the pastors from the church. We also stopped by the Alamance Battlefield.
Monday morning, April 29th we drove up to York, PA to participate in the Mission Festival of Church of the Open Door. We stayed with my parents that week, since they live nearby. Isaiah got to go to first grade with my mom.
We had a wonderful time at the COD Mission Festival (April 30-May 5th). It was great to see people, meet new people, and fellowship with other missionaries. Josh went to the Bible Museum with the church. Our kids loved the Saturday evening Street Faire – highlighting different missionaries and countries. I enjoyed the special missionary ladies pamper morning. One special treat was being with Rosa, a missionary who I met when I was 17, and watching my kids interact with her – their favorite Tea Lady from the Street Faire.
Tuesday, May 7th, we drove down to Arlington, VA to spend some time with the Gustafsons. It was great to see them again.
Wednesday morning, Mr. Gustafson dropped us right outside the entrance of the National Museum of Natural History. We had a great morning looking at lots of things. For lunch we met our friend Rebekah for a picnic out on the Mall green, rode the carousel, and spent a little bit of time at the Air and Space Museum. The three older kids drove the Metro with Rebekah back to her apartment and the rest of us were picked up by Mr. Gustafson to get back to our car. We’re very thankful for his generosity to us with all the time he spent driving us around.
Wednesday evening through Saturday morning we were with Richard and Rebekah Yamada. We enjoyed getting to spend time with them both. Good to catch up with Rebekah in person and get to know Richard better.
Thursday, May 9th, Josh took the older three kids to Mount Vernon. They had a great time.
Friday we drove to have lunch with Bob and Anne Headley. Bob is the author of The Cambodian and English Dictionary. Josh has enjoyed corresponding with Bob. They were a delightful couple to be with.
Saturday, May 11, we drove to Engleside Baptist Church and spent time with the Smith family. Our kids loved playing with their children. We enjoyed our time with the Smiths and with the church people on Sunday.
Tired yet? We were! So the next thing we did was to head to our long awaited vacation (see next week’s post). On May 12 we hit our halfway mark for our time in the States. Less than three months until we get to go home!
Due to Grandpa Hess’ funeral, we had some extra time in Greenville from April 8-13. We took a trip to the Columbia Zoo with the Floyds and Mom J.
April 13-14 we were in Wilmington, NC visiting Grace Baptist Church. We had a lovely visit with the Martindales.
On Monday, April 15 we drove to Charleston to visit with friends and family. It was great to see my childhood friend Steffanie and meet her children.
We also spent time with Josh’s childhood friend, Joshua Pregram. Everyone got along so well we could have stayed all day.
Our main reason for visiting Charleston was to see Uncle David and Aunt Sandy. We enjoyed the time we got to spend with them from Monday to Wednesday.
We arrived back in Greenville Wednesday evening. The next morning everybody (minus Clara, Ezra, and me) went to see The Horse and His Boy. Everyone loved it! (Thanks Grandma!)
Thursday evening, I took Becca to see BJU’s Living Gallery. We enjoyed getting dressed up (I didn’t have the proper shoes to wear so I wore my Chaco flip flops that I normally wear in Cambodia. 🙂
Friday morning we decorated eggs at Grandma Jensen’s house.
We enjoyed the Easter service at Hampton Park and then a lovely afternoon with Josh’s side of the family. The kids did an Easter play and enjoyed hunting for eggs.
Sunday evening we had Uncle Joey over for supper.
Monday we enjoyed visiting with the Simpson family again. We had a picnic at the park and ice cream back at our house afterwards. Wish they lived closer.
Monday evening we enjoyed visiting with Michael our friend we met in Thailand. We are thrilled that he’ll be studying at BJU next year with his children.
Wednesday, April 24th, we set off on a 3.5 week trip to NC, PA, VA, & TN. Wednesday evening we visited Peace Church in Wilson, NC.
April 6-8 we were in Florence, SC with our friends at Berean Baptist Church. We enjoyed our time with them. A highlight was using Pastor Don’s canoe!
On Monday the 8th we traveled back to Greenville to attend Grandpa Hess’ funeral. Grandpa Hess was Josh’s adopted grandfather and lived to be over 100. He was a faithful man to the end.
On Thursday, March 28th, we drove from Lubbock to Alvarado to spend a few days with our friends the Martins. We became friends right after we both got married. Our families have grown in the past almost 11 years. So good to spend time with our friends.
Sunday afternoon we drove to the Dallas area to visit with the Kroegers, one of Josh’s PhD advisors. We had a lovely time visiting with them.
Monday we drove to Mississippi to visit with the Parkersons. Tuesday morning Dr. Parkerson checked all our teeth – no cavities. Thankful for their generosity to our family.
Wednesday morning we drove to Atlanta and arrived at Josh’s grandma’s to celebrate Josh’s 38th birthday.
Thursday, April 4th, we drove to Greenville, SC. We had another birthday celebration with Josh’s family.
Saturday as we headed out for another church we stopped by to visit Josh’s grandpa.
Thankful for a good trip to Texas – it was good seeing so many friends. Thankful for time with family.
Our original plans were to head to Houston on Friday (March 22), but Karen convinced us to stay an extra day and have fun in Fort Worth. We had a great day at the Fort Worth Zoo with Karen and three of her grandchildren. Not only did Karen treat us to the zoo – but she also bought tickets to ride the carousel and the train AND bought ice cream. The kids were thrilled. (Thanks, Karen, for suggesting we do that, it was great!)
Saturday we drove to Houston and had dinner with our friends Michael & Katie and their son. So good to catch up with them.
Saturday and Sunday nights we stayed with the Kinghorns. The kids loved learning about honey bees!
We enjoyed our Sunday with North Houston Baptist Church and an afternoon and evening with the Brays
Monday (25th) we traveled back to the DFW area and visited with our friends the Woods. The Rylands came over for dinner as well.
Tuesday we drove to Lubbock to visit our friends the Siu. Lap helped Josh with his dissertation research on Vietnamese Jarai. On Wednesday we visited Texas Tech University Museum. We also visited the National Ranching Heritage Center. The kids loved seeing all the houses from to the old west.
On Friday, March 15, we crossed into one of our favorite states and the birthplace of Becca & Isaiah – Texas.
I realized I made a scheduling blunder when the day before I contacted the friends we were planning to stay with and found out I had told them we were coming a week later. Thankfully, our hosts were very gracious and still able to keep us for the night. We had a good time visiting with Steve & Kelly.
We left Saturday late morning to spend the afternoon with our friends the Bennetts. The kids enjoyed harvesting, preparing, cooking, and serving onion grass.
From there we went to Arlington to spend Saturday and Sunday nights with the Gamblins. We enjoyed visiting APC on Sunday and seeing many of the friends we had when we attended there.
Monday (the 18th) we had lunch with our friend Leon.
Monday late afternoon we got to Gary’s & Karen’s home, our home for the next five nights. Our kids got their first taste of March Madness.
Tuesday we had lunch with the Olsons.
After lunch we headed to UTA to visit our old stomping grounds. Lots has changed since we were newlyweds – we’ve gone from 2 to 7! Lots of memories. Becca was happy to visit a favorite tree.
Tuesday evening we got to see the Countrymans.
Wednesday we made a visit to my OBGyn. She was delighted to see Becca, Isaiah, and all of us.
We then went to visit the NICU. The nurse at the desk recognized us immediately. They were delighted to see Becca and us all.
Wednesday evening we got to visit with the Johnson’s.
Thursday lunch we met with one of Becca’s NICU nurses.
Thursday late afternoon (March 21) we met with our program coordinator at The Seed Company and enjoyed eating/playing at a park.
And that sums up our first week in Texas! (Tired yet? 😂)
On March 7th, after a three night stop in SC, we headed to Georgia. Our first stop was lunch at the Floyds (Josh’s oldest sister’s family).
Then we drove on to Warner Robbins to spend four nights with our friends the Gottwals and visit Central Fellowship Baptist Church, one of our supporting churches. We’re all enjoyed our fellowship together.
Monday morning we headed to Marrietta to spend two nights with Josh’s Grandma.
That Tuesday, Josh and three three older kids went to Gainesville to have lunch with Great Uncle Ellis.
On Wednesday, the 13th, we drove to stay with Josh’s uncle & aunt. We had supper at a cousins’ home. Four out of five of his cousins in that family were there.
Thursday, the 14th, we started our two-day drive to Texas. Life is an adventure! Thankful for friends, family, and God’s protection.
We left Buffalo on Sunday, February 24, and drove to South Bend, IN to visit some friends for 4 days. They put us up in a lovely B&B. Between our two families there were 10 kids. We enjoyed our time together.
On Thursday, February 28, we drove to Indianapolis IN and had lunch with Dory’s family. Dory and I were friends at BJU. Two years ago Dory was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. As a family, we’ve been praying for Dory multiple times a day. It was very special to spend time with Dory’s family and for our kids to meet. (9 kids between the two of us!) Anna especially wanted to meet Dory, as Anna has very faithfully prayed for Dory.
After lunch we drove to Dayton Ohio to spend one night with my sister. It was great to see Aunt Emily and Uncle Daniel.
On Friday, March 1, we drove to Cincinnati Ohio to visit our friends the Lyons (9 kids between us both). We arrived right in time for home school roller skating. Our four older kids were excited about trying and we were so impressed with all of them. The next day we went to Jeremiah’s basketball game. We had a great time being with our friends.
Saturday, March 2nd, we drove to Lexington KY to visit our friends there for two days. We had a great time with all of them! There first night we were with then we made smores outside. Sunday we had snowfall.
Last Thursday we left Dover, PA to start our adventure visiting friends and family in America. Our first overnight stop was Syracuse, NY to be with my Grandma. We had a lovely visit. The kids enjoyed sleeping by the fireplace. Friday, we had an incredible morning sledding. It was a great hill that was icy! The kids and I had a blast!
Friday after lunch, we drove to Buffalo, NY to visit our friends the Simpsons. Our kids had a blast playing with the girls and we enjoyed our two days of fellowship with them.
