This has been a crazy month, so we celebrating things all out of order. Last Saturday we celebrated Josh’s birthday (about 2 weeks late due to a full schedule and sickness). We’re also postponing Easter a week and are celebrating Holy Week this week. So while the world was celebrating Easter, we were starting Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

Josh’s meal was hamburger – with real ground beef from a part of a cow friends had given us. Part of his party included decorating our Resurrection tree. I was especially pleased with how the cake turned out (making a strawberry cake from scratch can be complicated).

We’re thankful for our man – husband, father, and friend. So glad he’s the head of our home.

This Monday we celebrated Anna’s 8th birthday. The celebrating started on March 31st with Anna’s Birthday Countdown Calendar which included: gifts, snacks, movie night (Annie), and special visitors.

Our very good friends, the Nhoemvans, came to visit from Phnom Penh, Friday-Tuesday, while the men taught at Bible School. I kept their visit a secret until they pulled into our yard on Friday morning – surprise! It was a very exciting few days for our kids as they played together.

This year Anna chose tacos for her birthday meal and a panda cake. We had a great time celebrating.

Anna is a very energetic girl who is full of life and loves adventure and acting. She’s finished all her 2nd grade work and is already into 3rd grade math. She is currently reading The Little House on the Prairie books. She is now in the middle of The Long Winter. Anna loves to sing and is enjoying her piano lessons. She loves to play outside and she’s tough when she gets hurt. She still loves her dolls and wanted her birthday present to be “one last doll,” so she could have 10 dolls. Anna is very good with taking care of children. I often see her walking around outside holding our landlady’s almost 1-year-old daughter. And she holds another baby at church. She’s also very helpful with Micah at home and at church. She’s a little mama.

We’re so very thankful for 3rd child and 2nd daughter. We’re blessed to have her and love that she’s ours.

Two weekends ago was haircut day for the older boys; Micah needed a nap before I was ready for him, so he missed his chance to match. We’re keeping that baby hair for a little longer.

While Isaiah and Ezra favor each other, Micah looks more like Clara, especially if you compare their baby pictures.

Our Micah is a load of fun – always ready to laugh and make others laugh. This month he’s becoming quite resourceful with finding ways to get the things he wants. He’s an expert problem solver when it comes to moving around chairs and stools to get to high places. He’s also very good with climbing up and getting down from places. Micah’s hair is growing much faster than Ezra’s did. His hair is longer now than Ezra’s was at 2 years of age. With the heat and humidity rising, I’ll probably have to give my baby boy his first haircut soon.

I can’t tell you how thankful I am to have these two boys close together. I love watching their friendship develop – it makes me so happy. It’s funny how different they look from each other. Micah looks a lot like Clara.

Two weeks ago we had a friend visit from Phnom Penh for two days. She’s looking into a change of ministry location and made some time to see us during her trip.

During Clara’s birthday week we decided to surprise Josh at work with a picnic. We packed our lunch, drove to his office, snuck around to his office window, and the kids shouted surprise! He was surprised. We enjoyed our picnic lunch in the cashew grove next to Josh’s office.

This month Clara celebrated her 6th birthday. The celebrating started on the first of the month with her birthday countdown calendar which included: cold Coke, water balloon fight, small gifts, a river adventure with Daddy, swimming, watching Sight & Sound Esther, party at Crowleys, and a picnic in the Saom Kaning cashew forrest (surprising Daddy at his workplace).

For Clara’s birthday party we spent the night at the Crowleys’ and invited the Kane family to join us for a hotdog and chicken kabob dinner. Clara chose a doll cake for her birthday and was very pleased with how it came out.

Clara chose her birthday meal and the guests, but she was quite embarrassed when they arrived and when we all sang Happy Birthday to her.

Saturday morning we went swimming. And then Sunday night (the actual day of Clara’s birthday) we had cupcakes after our evening Khmer Bible study. It was a weekend full of partying!

Clara is our bright little firecracker who loves life, adventure, and playing. She’s reading at about a 2nd level. I’m always impressed with the words she figures out and with her expressiveness when she reads. Clara wants to have a bakery when she grows up and is learning how to make biscuits and other baked goods. We’re thankful for our girl and look forward to watching her grow another year.

Two weeks ago our kids decided to create a mini-golf course in our backyard. (Becca was inspired with the idea after watching the younger kids play hockey with sticks.) First, they cleared the land and roped off the area for the course. Then they plotted where the holes would be and dug them. Lastly they marked each of the 10 holes with a paper flag connected to a stick.

The kids were creative in finding golf clubs and balls. They also made their own score sheets. They had a blast playing. We were in Phnom Penh this week and were able to buy real golf balls, so the kids are going to recreate the course and play some more. I just love it that our kids came up with this idea all on their own! I love the creativity, resourcefulness, and team work. Makes my mama’s heart happy.

We had our family Valentine’s celebration last Friday, complete with heart-shaped pizzas, card exchange, gifts, dirt dessert, and playing hide-and-go-seek in the dark! The kids have been working on their cards for a few weeks. Even Micah had fun hand-painting cards for everyone.

December 2, 2021 the girls completed All About Reading Level 2. It’s been great to see their progress. They also completed All About Spelling Level 1 in November. Last month we handed out their certificates of completion.

Both girls read books above the level they are currently in – Anna is almost done reading Farmer Boy. She’s reading Babe – The Gallant Pig as well. I’m especially pleased with their expression and voices when they read.

Micah is now 14 months. He’s never still enough for me to get an in-focus picture! Always moving. So much fun!

The best climbing trees in our yard are the tamarind trees. Our kids climb them all year long and are especially excited when its fruit is in season. They eat it before it’s ripe and when it’s ripe. (Check out Wikipedia for more info on tamarind.)

One pod has multiple seeds and there’s very little fruit around the seeds, which look like small stones. But they kids love them.

It’s amazing how high our kids get in these trees.

All outside pictures by Becca.

Two Saturdays ago the girls and I went to the morning part of a Khmer wedding in our neighborhood. I won’t go into detail about Khmer weddings, but being invited is all about money. It’s a very fancy affair. The part we participated in was a fruit walk from the grooms house to get the bride (this is traditional….actually we just walked down the road from the bride’s house). Afterwards we ate breakfast in the large tent outside the bride’s home.

This week our neighbor is harvesting her cassava in the field behind our house. The kids have had a blast helping: pulling, cutting the cassava off the stalks, peeling, and cutting.

Take a peek into our world. Here we are – this morning before breakfast, a little before 7AM. It was in the upper 60’s, so some of us were cold.

New Year’s Eve we had a small family party including: carol singing, french fries, chocolate cake and cocoa, a picture slideshow from 2021, and sparklers. The kids slept by the Christmas tree, and Becca and Isaiah stayed up until 12 to ring in the new year by throwing poppers over the edge of the porch. Micah and I were up as well.

We had a lovely Advent and Christmas season celebrating the birth of Christ. We started on the first Sunday of Advent with our nightly candle lighting and carol singing. This year our three oldest children each learned a few piano accompaniments, and it was a special joy for me to sing while our children played.

We started our Christmas countdown calendar two weeks before Christmas. It included three different ornament makings (we made polymer candy canes this year for our tree…no rats or ants will eat those!), movies (we watched a lovely performance of Handel’s Messiah), cookie making, reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and other activities.

Christmas Day we had the Crowleys over for the kids’ play and Christmas lunch. It was a day full of activities and traditions – sibling gift giving, cinnamon rolls, Becca’s recitation of the Christmas story using Little People, gifts from parents at night, etc.

The next day, Sunday, was a full for us. Josh preached at our church in the morning. In the afternoon we had a neighborhood Christmas party with games, singing, and a piñata. In the evening we had a meal for our Khmer Bible Study.

Monday afternoon we headed to another province, Stung Treng, for an EMU get together. We had two meals together and a wonderful time of singing. Tuesday afternoon we headed home and had our church Christmas celebration Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.

We are thankful for the wonderful season God gave us. Thankful that we could meet with God’s people to worship. Thankful for our kids and our family. Thanks be to God.

We couldn’t make it to the annual expat Christmas bonfire, so we had our own, right in our backyard. My biggest concern was providing enough food so our kids didn’t feel cheated. We had hot chocolate with marshmallows, cut-out Christmas cookies, gingerbread cookies, candy cane cookies, popcorn, banana muffins, hotdogs, and stuffed bread. The kids were stuffed and there was still leftover food (we did eat supper first). After we were done eating we sang carols. A success and perhaps a new tradition…only time will tell.

Advent has begun in the Jensen household. Singing every night around the Advent candles. The Jensen Christmas Countdown Calendar. Baking. Gift-making. We love this time of year!

We had a great two weeks celebrating Becca’s 12th birthday. The Saturday before her birthday we had a visit with the Carson ladies, complete with lunch, 12 cupcakes, gifts, and painting together.

Her countdown calendar included: making tie-dye shirts, watching The Ten Commandments, small gifts, a mommy/daughter sleepover, snacks, and her yearly haircut. Becca decided to try something new this year.

This year Becca chose to decorate her cake based on the book Sweep: The Story of a Girl and her Monster. This was a last minute decision and the first year Becca had something other than a panda or horse. She did a great job capturing the setting and main characters. Pizza was the meal of choice!

We’re thankful for our Becca. She gets up at 5:30 every morning (her own choice) to read her Bible and drink coffee and then practice the piano. This year she has excelled in playing the piano musically. She continues to develop her art and craft skills. She’s been teaching Anna and Clara Sunday school on Sunday evenings – she plans lessons and craft for her sisters during our Khmer Bible study. Becca also has grown in her love for her little brothers – she spent a lot of time this year preparing Ezra to give a poem on raccoons and a presentation on sea turtles. We’re definitely seeing Becca grow in her teaching skills. SO thankful for our firstborn – Becca!