The second full week in November we took a trip to Siem Reap. We had a few reasons for going, but one of the highlights of the trip was horse riding. Last year we gave Becca a one-hour horse ride for her birthday. Since then, she’s been saving her money to go again. We were really proud of Becca’s careful saving of her money for a year to go horse riding again.

We had a lovely morning at the horse farm. Becca had a half-an-hour lesson in the ring before she went out on her ride. The lesson was mainly for helping her get used to riding the horse and riding a gallop.

This year Isaiah decided to ride with me. It took some convincing, but he finally agreed to go. He was so thrilled to be up on the horse. For the first 10 minutes he waved at everyone who passed us.

Josh, Anna, and Clara rode in a horse cart. Clara insisted on wearing a helmet most of the trip.

Becca had a delightful time and was thrilled with her horse and the ride.

Some other fun things we did were swimming in the hotel pool (Clara was amazing with how much she loved jumping in the water), eating a Burger King, and shopping.

We have so much to be thankful for that I am overwhelmed with the thought of listing the many things we can thank God for. So for this week, I’ll just focus on one: our family. Look at them – I am so blessed by the life of each individual in our home.

My husband – who is a kind, patient, humble, loving leader-lover He’s my best friend – the person I’d like to spend all my free time with. He makes me laugh. He keeps me going. He’s proud of me and encourages me. He loves me – and that’s the most amazing thing of all.

Becca – our first born daughter who has taught me so much about being a mommy. I love her creativity and her imagination.

Isaiah – his laughter and desire to help. His hope to someday conquer his sisters with an army of brothers.  His big grin.

Anna – her forlove  life and her sense of humor. Her desire to have sleep–overs every night. Her craziness.

Clara – her adventurous spirit, her desire to do everything everyone else is doing. Her jokes. Her singing.

Those a just a small spattering of things I’m thankful for in the precious family the Lord has given me. Such joy flows in our home because of each one of them. Now – I will add that we are by no means perfect and we have our issues and frustrations (we’re a normal family!) – but that’s not the point of this post. I’m thankful for so much when it comes to the wonderful people who fill our home. Thanks be to God for the gift of each of them.

Josh was away in Ban Lung at the Pastor’s Bible School from Sunday afternoon (Oct 29) until Friday evening (Nov 3rd). It was the longest he’s been away from us since moving to Cambodia. I tried to make it a special time for the kids, so it wasn’t just life-as-normal minus Daddy.

Each child had his/her own special night to stay up with me for a sleepover. They each picked their own snack and activities for the evening. Anna’s night was Sunday. We popped popcorn (without the lid on for a little while to see the popcorn fly out) and read lots of books.

Isaiah’s party was Tuesday night. He wanted to make coffee (decaf) and eat cookies. He made the cookies Monday morning as part of our Cambodian Coronation day celebration. So we drank coffee with ice cream and whipped cream and ate cookies. Then we read books and chatted. Isaiah actually made our morning coffee for us all week long. He was glad to take Josh’s place drinking coffee and praying with me each morning.

Becca’s night was Thursday. We made baked apples and played Monopoly. It was Becca’s first time to play and the game lasted over two hours until I was completely bankrupt! On Wednesday we had a special party for Becca celebrating her completion of the All About Reading curriculum. We had special pedicures, played games, and had ice cream sundaes. The party lasted all day long.

As for Monday night – I was worn out and went to bed as soon as I was done talking to Josh on the phone. Wednesday night I did a few projects.

Two different days while Josh was gone two middle school age girls came over to learn how to make banana bread. I found a recipe using the stove-top, instead of an oven. It came out quite well, and I was excited that I could show the girls how to bake something they could actually reproduce in their own kitchens.

Friday night Josh came home and we were all happy to see him. The kids made him special banners. I was delighted to get my best friend back and have an adult around who could speak English. I probably talked Josh’s ear off for the next several days.

The Church of Saom Kaning

We are thankful that the Lord has led us to worship and fellowship at the church in Saom Kaning. The village of Saom Kaning is one of the largest Jarai villages in the area and has one of the larger churches, as well. However, because of Pastor Chuol’s sickness these past two years, the church leadership has been in something of a crisis. In the last few months the church leaders seem to have made marked progress in their exercise of positive leadership. We thank God for these men. Last week, seven men from our church attended the Ratanakiri Pastors’ Bible School for a week of classes on systematic theology, called Theology for Worship. Josh taught four lessons and stayed with the students during the evenings. It was a great opportunity for him to get to know the Jarai men better.

Please pray that the Lord would encourage the church leaders at Saom Kaning and give them wisdom to lead the church without an official pastor. Please pray that they would grow in their understanding of God’s Word — how to apply it in their families and in our church.

If you look closely enough you can find Clara (right)and Becca (left) in the back of the group church picture.

The pictures above are from Bible school. One is of a session, the other is of Josh’s sleeping spot for the week.

Every other Friday afternoon I get together with the ladies who teach the ladies Bible class at our church. Right now we’re going through the book of John. Each week, I go over two lessons with the ladies and then they teach the lessons the following Sundays. We communicate in Khmer, but the ladies teach the class in Jarai.

This month we got ahead (partly because I taught the Sunday class one week and partly because we were able to go over three lessons in one meeting). I thought we could use the extra time to get together at our house for a time of fellowship. When I invited the ladies to come, you would have thought I had invited them to a hanging…they gave me all sorts of excuses for not coming. Finally, I convinced them to come. I told them it would be short.

I was a bit nervous that things wouldn’t go smoothly. About an hour before I picked the ladies up, I came up with a craft and activity to do. Josh and I just finished working on a song (Romans 5:8 in Jarai), so I taught that to the ladies and we made a simple craft with the verse on it. I think they all enjoyed doing it. Afterwards I served pumpkin bread (think a cross between bread and pie), brownies, and cucumbers (the pumpkin bread was the hit). It was fun to be able to bond a little more with these precious ladies. So thankful for them!

 Recently, the new activity has been building fires. Our neighbor kids are always building fires and “cooking” leaves, etc. One overcast day I remembered I had some mini marshmallows in a Tupperware. The kids loved them!

This week Clara turns 18 months! She’s one-and-a-half! One thing Clara loves is to play the piano…and she loves pressing all the buttons. Books Clara loves are The Hungry Caterpillar, several different animal photograph books, and If You Give  Pig a Pancake. Clara absolutely loves pigs and wants everyone to stop and look when one is walking through our yard. She says lots of words and is talking all the time. Clara now consistently wants to ride in the normal swing and isn’t content in the baby swing. And she’s just about done nursing. She’s a big girl now. Love her!

Homosexuality. We each have our own personal reaction to the word. We can tell you what it is, how we feel about it, and how we’re dealing with it and its ever growing—indeed, bombarding—presence in our society. We can’t ignore it . . . not even in the northeastern corner of Cambodia.

As I’ve thought about the issue of homosexuality and our dealings with people caught in that sin, I have been burdened by a truth in Scripture that I believe we need to keep in mind as we call homosexuals to turn from their desires and follow Christ.

In Matthew 16:24 Jesus tells His disciples that if anyone wants to follow after Him, he has to deny himself and take up his cross. That was easy for me. I was a young child when I made the decision to follow Jesus. Following after Jesus meant that I was accepted in my community – my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and teachers were all thrilled for me. But for the homosexual it can truly be a cross – dying to everything they know and are. It’s a cross to say, “I’ll forsake myself and the whole life I’ve created for myself for the sake of knowing Christ.”

You see, Jesus never promised that when we come to Him, He’ll remove all our sinful inclinations. He doesn’t promise that when a person with homosexual desires turns to Christ He’ll remove those desires and change them into heterosexual desires. Picking up the cross for a homosexual may mean fighting those desires every day and never being sexual fulfilled; it may mean never having even the hope for sexual fulfilment on this earth. This is a hard cross to bear.

In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul writes about a thorn in the flesh that he’s pleaded with the Lord to remove. The Lord says no. He tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, and my power is made perfect in weakness.” We don’t know what that thorn in the flesh was, but what if it was a specific temptation to sin that Paul had to fight every day? Something that constantly reminded him of his need for Christ. Christ wouldn’t take it away, but He promised the grace to live with it every day for the rest of his life.

This is a message we need to keep ever present in our hearts as we reach out to those in the homosexual community. Coming to Christ means picking up a cross that many of us cannot grasp the weight of. Coming to Christ doesn’t guarantee He will change your sexual desires, but He will give you the grace you need to fight each day.

I’ll never forget the look in a friend’s eyes as I shared these truths with them. It was the look of a lost child, who wanted something but understood what it would cost. Could one really forget everything that was behind and set aside every weight to know Christ and the power of His resurrection? This is hard. But our God is greater. He is enough. We must pray. This is war and Satan would love for us to cry out to people that coming to Jesus is easy and that everything will be okay. But that’s not what Jesus said. He said the world would hate us. He said it was a cross. But He promises us all the grace we need, and His Spirit, and a peace that passes all understanding. Thanks be to God.

May I encourage you my friends, in the midst of your world where you may feel bombarded with the homosexual agenda – to stop and consider the cost of what following Jesus means for these dear people. It’s not something for us to laugh at or to ignore. It’s something for us to pray about. To weep over. And to teach our children to weep over. May God gives us each the wisdom and ability to love, to weep, and to call all those who are weary and heavy laden to the rest that Jesus promises.

Last month we visited a new waterfall about an 1.5 hour’s drive from our home. We’re in the middle of rainy season, so the water was rough and very dirty. We’re looking forward to going back when the rains have stopped. It looks like a great place to play.

The kids enjoyed running about and climbing into a tribal wedding house that was on display.

Meet Scamper – the newest member of the Jensen household. We always assumed we’d get a cat once we moved to Cambodia, but until this year we really didn’t see a need for one. Unfortunately, we have rats/mice and traps just don’t seem to do the trick. Thankfully, our friends the Farmers had some kitten that were trying to find homes for and they gave us Scamper – a very friendly and already litter-trained cat.

We brought Scamper home on the 5^th of July and he’s been great. He must be the world’s friendliest cat. He sleeps in our beds (if he can’t get under the mosquito net he just settles down on top of it), follows us around, and goes outside with us when we play. He’s great with the kids and allows them to carry him all over. He even lets Clara walk around holding him (once I saw her pulling him by the ear).

It’s been fun to watch our kids love having such a friendly cat. For me it’s living out something that I always wanted as a child. I was supposed to get a kitten. When I was 6 my parents agreed. We spent weeks studying cats and cat care. We had a cat bed made and I put together a cat-care notebook as a school project. Everything was all set for us to pick up a kitten from the animal shelter one Saturday morning. I was so excited. Then early that morning my dad received the call that my grandfather had ended his life. Rightly so, the kitten was completely forgotten and I never got one. It’s all a memory. As I watched our children so excited about our new kitten and Anna dance around with delight, I got all choked up thinking this would have been me. And though I don’t usually put much stock in emotional healing, I wondered as Scamper curled up on my lap that night if this wasn’t some small part of some emotional healing that the little girl of 6 inside of me had been waiting for. Yes, I finally have my cat and now I can share him with our sweet children and watch their delight too. A sweet unexpected blessing from our Father.