Last week we had a 6-day trip to Georgia. We started on Wednesday with an afternoon visit with cousin Mike West and family and then went to their Wednesday evening service to present our ministry. After the service we drove to Josh’s Grandma Martin’s home in Marietta, GA. We spent Wednesday evening through Saturday afternoon with Grandma Martin. Thursday morning Josh presented at Grandma’s once-a-month church 10:10 (seniors’) get-together. Friday evening we had a get-together with extended family in the Atlanta area to share what we’re planning to do in Cambodia.

Saturday afternoon we headed to Macon, GA, and stayed with the Gottwals family. The Gottwals own several used bookstores and we took 4 boxes of books to trade with them. They were very generous in their trading and with the gift card they gave to us. We got lots of books for the kids, and they have been very helpful during this week’s travels! We enjoyed staying with Shane and Abbey – they were delightful hostesses and treated us royally. Shane was glad to finally meet his twin.

Over the past several weeks, both Becca and Isaiah have graduated to a new level of big sister/little brother playing. Becca has become more deliberate in playing with Isaiah and making up activities for him to be involved in. Isaiah loves playing with and following Becca. When the house becomes quiet, I know they are up to something. Just the other day I was starting to wonder where they were when I heard Becca say, “Isaiah, this is great fun!” They were enjoying the lavender hand sanitizer and were decorating each other with it.

Becca is 31.5 lbs (18.7th percentile for her age) and is 3 ft & 3 in tall (29.7th percentile for her age). She loves books: being read to as well as reading to herself. Going to the library is a highlight. We’ll miss public libraries when we move to Cambodia. Becca has a vivid imagination and is a great storyteller.  Her current  favorite story is The Christmas Carol. She regularly acts out the Bob Cratchit family and pretends she is Scrooge. Becca is very excited about having a little sister and thanks God during every prayer for saying yes to her request. She is now praying for a little brother for Isaiah. We have been encouraged with Becca’s growth in willingness to ask Jesus for help when she’s having trouble, and we continue to see her grow in her understanding of the Gospel.

Isaiah is 24 lbs (15th percentile for his age) and is 2 ft & 7.6 in tall (11th percentile for his age). He is a bundle of fun and always on the move. He seems to endear himself to everyone wherever we travel. He has followed in the families’ footsteps in loving books and in Becca’s love for Scrooge. Isaiah has a growing vocabulary and is starting to have two syllable words. He also has many different intonations: he has a very cute way of saying no and mine and a very monster-like way of saying the same words.

This past weekend our service was only an hour’s drive away, in Anderson, which meant we get to be in our own home for over a week. This month has been very busy with traveling up north, appointments when we’re home, and visiting with friends and family. Tuesday was the first day we planned nothing to do, and I told Becca it could be a complete Mommy and kiddos play day with no errands, extra projects, visiting, or visitors. We started out the day by making oatmeal cookies and then eating them fresh out of the oven while reading books. (Isaiah was especially excited about making cookies – he went right over to the mixer when he heard the phrase making cookies.)

Last week we celebrated Amaris’ 4th birthday party. We had to miss her birthday the previous week due to sickness, but we were glad we could go another night to celebrate. Becca enjoyed dressing up like a princess. We had the Wynns over for dinner the next evening. Both Mr. & Mrs. Wynn were Josh’s teachers at Hampton Park and we enjoyed our evening together.

We’ve enjoyed more visiting with friends and family on our travels. This week, while at home, we had dinner with Mrs. Burch. Mrs. Burch fed me countless Sunday meals when I was in grad school, and I/we value her friendship and prayers for us. I’ll add that she wins first prize for cooking a meal that the kids loved. I don’t think they’ve ever eaten so much at someone else’s house.

While driving from NY to PA visited with my older brother and his family who have recently moved to Goshen, NY, to take a senior pastor position. Sam and Ashley are expecting a little boy in March. Becca enjoyed playing with Colette.

While driving from PA to NY we visited with the Cassel family. Rachel and I have been friends since high school and were roommates during my sophomore year. Josh and Rachel were in the same choir at BJ. We enjoyed meeting Rachel’s husband Rob and their two little girls, Carmondy & Rosamond.

While in PA, Josh and I were able to enjoy his and the kids’ Christmas present to me: a night at a Lancaster Bed & Breakfast. The snowy weather added a perfect touch for our stay at the Lovelace Manor. It was a great way to review the past year, plan for the year ahead, get some extra rest, and enjoy extra time together.

Becca and Isaiah enjoyed staying with my parents during our night away. Becca did some extra baking and had a tent sleep-over with Aunt Emily by the Christmas. (A few nights later Becca and I had a tent sleep-over by the Christmas tree. She was so excited she could have stayed up all night talking.)

We enjoyed the snow in PA. The kids enjoyed playing in the snow. Becca and I found a large puddle to ice skate on. A big highlight was eating snow for breakfast!

One special thing Becca enjoyed playing with at my parents’ home is my African dolls.

We spent about three weeks in PA. We had three Sunday services and one Wednesday evening service in the area (PA & NY), so we used my parents’ home as a base to travel from. We’re very thankful we didn’t have to make the extra trips to SC between the weekend services.

The day after Christmas we drove up to PA to celebrate Christmas with some of my family. (A big thanks to Joey for all his picture taking.)

Uncle Joey came through with giving Becca her yearly candy cane. She had recently been talking about how Uncle Joey does that without asking Mommy!

We celebrated my dad’s birthday (Christmas baby). Isaiah was more than happy to help eat Grandpa’s birthday cake.

Christmas morning we started with breakfast. Becca was especially pleased with the surprise cinnamon rolls for Daddy. The morning before, Becca had climbed into our bed and said she was excited about Christmas Day. When I asked her why she said, “because we don’t have to have oatmeal for breakfast!” After breakfast Josh read the Christmas story.

Everyone enjoyed opening gifts. Isaiah just loves opening presents. We got him juice boxes and fruit snacks and wrapped them individually, so he had lots of presents to open. Becca went shopping with Josh for me and with me for Josh. She was excited about the gifts she was getting everyone. She was especially excited about the gift she picked out all by herself for me. So excited she had me open it Christmas Eve. It was neat to see Becca have joy giving gifts to others. A special present for the kids this year was blocks Josh made for them, with help from his dad.

After the kids had some time to play, we headed to Dad and Mom Jensens’ for lunch and fellowship with the whole family.

We ended our day at home with a Christmas candle-light dinner. We often eat by candle light and Becca thought it was fun to have a Christmas candle-light dinner. After putting the kids to bed we packed and got ready for our trip to PA.

An extra note: we enjoyed visiting with some friends during the Christmas season, including some time with the Hess family the Thursday before Christmas, and later that day, dinner with the Wynn family.

Not counting the Christmas when Becca was in the NICU, this was our first Christmas to be in our own place Christmas morning. Becca was really excited about having “real Christmas” at home. Back in the first week of December, we enjoyed decorating our tree (on loan from the Casillas family).

We spent Christmas afternoon with Josh’s family. Today we head up to PA for Christmas with the Sutter side and more partnership development services. (Pictures from Christmas will come next week.)

The Saturday before Christmas, we went down to Florence, SC, where Josh’s sister lives and celebrated Christmas with the whole Ken Jensen Family. First time for all to be together for Christmas in a very long time.

Friday the 6th, I gave Isaiah his first haircut. He did great sitting for it. . .thanks to three Disney Silly Symphonies. When we were finished I took Isaiah in to see Josh. Isaiah was all smiles until Josh was sad that Isaiah’s curls were gone – then Isaiah’s face fell. As soon as Josh told him how nice his hair looked, Isaiah was happy again!

One thing Becca wanted this year was to have matching Christmas pj’s with Mommy. It took quite awhile to find them, but we finally found some girls size 14 pj’s for me to wear that matched 3T. Becca is delighted!

Last week we went to Spartanburg’s Christmas Parade. It was very cold and we also noticed Isaiah was a bit droopy (except when he saw dogs). The next day Isaiah started a 5-day nasty cold. We’re thankful he’s feeling better and back to his normal happy self!

Monday Becca and I finished our shopping for our boys. Becca did a great job wrapping and writing the names on the gifts. The gifts are now all wrapped and our stockings stuffed.

Tuesday Becca worked on her gingerbread house. After eating some of the candy she said, “This is my delighted!”

Wednesday we made a star for our tree and did some more cookie baking.

While in Buffalo and Syracuse, we enjoyed our first good snow of the season. It started snowing on Becca’s birthday (which we decided was a birthday gift from God). Wednesday we went outside and played in the snow for about 45 minutes. Becca especially loved eating the snow. Isaiah loved holding snowballs. (Literally — he just sat there, holding snowballs.)

In Syracuse, Becca got to shovel Great Grandma’s driveway and then had her first official sled ride (official meaning a real sled and not a TX laundry basket). We walked to a park with a great hill for sledding. We enjoyed some great slides down the hill. I was surprised when Becca said she was willing to climb to the top of the hill by herself. Then she decided to try going down by herself and ended up doing so several times. I was so proud of her. (I think reading the Frog & Toad story about sledding helped.)

Saturday was our first Saturday home since September 21st (and our last for the rest of the year). It was really nice to have a whole Saturday home to do Christmas stuff with the kids. Josh was away the whole day, but the kids and I made Christmas cookies. I knew Becca would enjoy it. . . . I was delighted with how much Isaiah loved it.

After lunch we decorated the cookies. It took quite a while and we have some sprinkle-filled cookies, but all enjoyed the process! And we’re all enjoying eating our tasty cookies!

Tuesday we returned from a 12-day trip to PA and NY. Both weekends were spent presenting our work in churches in PA. In between we visited with some friends and family. We started out our trip staying with Jonathan & Heather Overstreet and their five little girls. Becca especially enjoyed having so many sisters for our 4 days there. We enjoyed spending time with Jonathan and Heather and being with their family.

After our time in Pittsburgh, we drove to Buffalo, NY, to visit with Steve & Lish Simpson and their two girls from Monday to Thursday. We visited an arboretum on Becca’s birthday and made panda cupcakes. The next day we enjoyed snow (more snow pictures next week). We enjoyed visiting with Steve & Lish – Josh catching up with Steve and me getting to know Lish and the girls.

Thanksgiving day with drove to Syracuse, NY, to spend two days with my Grandma Buecher. Grandma made us a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. Friday morning we went sledding and Friday evening we went to a famous hotdog place and enjoyed Lights on the Lake. Saturday we headed to stay with my parents while we presented at a church about 45 minutes away. Sunday evening we helped decorate my parents’ Christmas tree.

Happy 18-month birthday to Sai-Zai! Our little man is growing up in so many ways. Isaiah’s a little climber now. The other week I found him standing over Josh’s dinner plate with a knife in one hand and a fork in the other, ready to chow down. Actually, he was standing there waiting for Mommy to notice him. He’s quite the little tease.

Isaiah is bursting with words for: hot, hat, chair, cracker, snack, Mama, Dada, Baba (Becca), truck, car, grape, help (which comes out more like haaaa), bye-bye, pumpkin, ball, bath, potty, nose, eyes, sit, tree, pencil, color, chair, knock-knock, night-night, thank you, and hi, among some others.

Sai-Zai continues to be a very happy boy who loves living life. He loves copying his big sister and enjoys teasing her. We’re so thankful to have Isaiah as our little boy.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Jensen 5. This year we’re very thankful for the new little girl we get to meet in April. Becca is especially thankful for the little sister God is giving her after her many months praying. She nows reminds us to thank God for her little sister each time we pray.

This year we have many other things to thank God for: (to name a few) Josh’s successful completion of his Ph.D., our survey trip to Cambodia, our smooth move to SC, the many churches that have been open to hearing our ministry plans, safety as we’ve traveled thousands of miles for partnership development, health, Becca’s good health report (no more MRI’s), and much more. I am especially thankful for the husband God has blessed me with, and Becca, and Isaiah. My family is a precious gift from God. Happy Thanksgiving – next year in Cambodia!!

We are delighted to celebrate Becca’s 4th birthday. We continue to thank God for bringing her through her early birth and allowing her to be cancer-free. We’ve seen so much growth in our dear daughter over the past year. (I hope to write more on Becca’s growth this past year, but presently my schedule is tight – maybe next week.)

With traveling, we had Becca’s birthday meal and celebration a few days before her actual birthday. Her yearly panda cake is really important to her. So important that when Grammy S had a little party for Becca last week, Becca started crying that it couldn’t be her party because it wasn’t her panda cake. I quickly assured her that she could have multiple parties. And she did have multiple celebrations. The Rodriguez family brought Becca a cake and Grandma J came for a birthday breakfast.

Becca asked for a family party with chicken, rice, carrot soup for dinner. What she was really excited about was finding out the gender of our new baby (see video). I think this was the highlight of her gifts. She was so excited to find out she’s getting a baby sister. Becca has faithfully – very faithfully – prayed for a little sister since July 2012. Almost every time we pray she adds on a request for a little sister. I cannot express how thrilled she was to open the envelope and see that the heart was pink.

Yesterday Amy had the sono that showed the gender (yes, we’re having a new baby, due April 13). We didn’t tell Becca right away. Instead, Amy told her we would write it on a piece of paper and let her open the paper at her birthday party tonight: blue for boy, pink for girl. Here’s the video:

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(Her birthday isn’t till Nov 26, but we celebrated tonight since we leave tomorrow morning for week-and-a-half-long trip.)

Early this month we visited with James and Deb Flowers and their two children Annabelle (3) and Nathaniel (3 months). Deb and I met my junior year at BJ and have been friends since. It was neat to meet both kids and see Deb in her role as mommy. Becca had a good time playing with Annabelle.

While in Charleston we went to see the Angel Oak Tree.Both kids enjoyed walking around the huge tree. I was wishing we could climb it.

The weekend we were in Wilimington, NC, for a missions conference, a family from the church took us to an aquarium. The highlight of the aquarium was divers in the huge tank. They played with Becca for a long time, and she loved it. Isaiah was a bit nervous about the divers, but he was willing to stand back a ways and play peek-a-boo with them.

So far our partnership development travels have gone well. We have been in a different church every Sunday since the middle of August and will continue to have a full schedule until we take two weekends off for Christmas. We start back the first Sunday of January with a full schedule until spring. We continue to thank the Lord for His faithfulness and protection as we’ve traveled. Currently we have 67% of our needed support. Please pray with us that the Lord will provide all our support by the spring so we can head to Cambodia in the summer (June, July, or August).

We took a “quick” detour to show Becca and Isaiah the ocean when we were in Charleston. It’s hard to keep little ones out of the water, so it wasn’t as quick as we expected.

Isaiah wasn’t sure about the waves but enjoyed playing in the sand while Becca and Josh braved the waves.

The kids finished our visit by rolling in the dry sand in their soaked clothes, while I sat pondering how we were going to transition to the car.

Last week Becca had her 4th post-surgery MRI. We were thankful that Becca continues to be tumor free. We were also thrilled to find out that Becca will no longer need MRI’s. Her doctor plans to check on her every 3 months and do an ultrasound in 6 months. He said (as long as things remain clear) that when we leave for Cambodia, Becca will be officially finished with her post-tumor check-ups. We are so thankful that the Lord has chosen to work this way – thrilled that Becca does not have to go through any more MRI’s or bloodwork.

On a recent trip to PA, I was able to pull out some of my dolls and let Becca play with them. It was so fun to share them with our daughter. We rejoice for God’s protection in Becca’s life and look forward to what he has in store for her.

Last Saturday we went to a pumpkin farm near my parents’ house in PA. It was the perfect fall outing and we all loved it. (And it was a real deal – kids were free, adults were $5 – all activities included.) A big hit was the hay bale maze.

The kids enjoyed watching the tractor pull our hayride.

We were glad to keep our annual corn maze tradition. . . even though we weren’t in TX. Becca really enjoyed figuring out the maze for us.

The Corn Box was really cool. (I just found some leftover corn in my shoes!)

We spent some time playing in the pumpkin field. It was a great day to spend time with the family and enjoy the fall weather.