Ever heard of Chikungunya? (Can you pronounce it?) The virus has new meaning for our family, since both Josh and Micah contracted the it, via mosquitoes, this month. Josh came down with it Saturday night, May 8th. Micah came down with it Tuesday morning, May 17. According to the CDC, “The most common symptoms of infection are fever and joint pain. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash.” Chikungunya is similar to dengue, but without the danger of dropping platelets. We diagnosed by symptoms. If you want an official diagnosis, you have to have bloodwork processed in Phnom Penh.

Josh had the fever, chills, headache, joint and muscle pain, and the rash. Two weeks later, he’s almost completely symptom free. Micah’s fever started suddenly and continued for three days, ranging from 101 to 103.89 (armpit). Micah had red limbs and swollen toes, diarrhea, and some throwing up. I was in contact with a friend, who is a pediatrician, and kept her updated with Micah’s symptoms. She concluded that Micah was a textbook case of all the symptoms described for Chikungunya in children. Once we confirmed that Micah had Chikungunya, I was quite relieved. We can deal with fevers and discomfort – dealing with unknown sicknesses leaves you wondering. It was a long four days, but by Friday Micah was fever-free and more like himself. He broke out in the “chikungunya rash” on his face on Saturday, but by Tuesday it had cleared up. It was never evident that his rash bothered him, but a few times he seemed to be trying to get to the back of his neck.

Thankful for the recovery of both my men. So thankful that they had mild cases of this virus. I’m so sad when my any of my children gets sick. I cannot tell you how happy I was when Micah’s fever broke! It’s rainy season now and we’ll have to wait another week to see if the mosquitoes pass the virus on to any of the rest of us. For now – we’re being very diligent in killing mosquitoes and have sprayed the dark areas in our house.

In other news, Ezra fell down some stairs on Friday. No one saw it and he had his moto helmet on. He recovered pretty quickly.

Our littlest man turned 6 months on Sunday – amazing! Micah continues to be a delight. He army crawls all over the house and loves getting into things. He’s discovered that our house has more than one room and is always determined to get into the kitchen. He’s completely ruining his clothes on our floors, which are impossible to keep clean. My life is quite a bit busier now making sure he’s not getting into things. He laughs so hard when he thinks he’s been caught doing something bad.

The other day Micah started making buzzing sounds with his lips. He loves to copy us when we do it. Ezra thought it was the funniest thing to watch. The other day I said “Boo!” and Micah copied a “b” sound. He still cannot stick his tongue out of his mouth, but his tongue-tied-ness hasn’t hindered him from nursing, so we’ll continue to wait and see what happens.

Everyone continues to love our littlest member of the family. He’s been sleeping from 10PM to 5AM. But last week he started getting up at 3AM to nurse – it’s been hot here, so maybe he’s been thirsty. He also has developed a dislike for thunderstorms and has been up two different nights disturbed by the thunder and lightening.

Time has flown too fast and Micah’s army crawling has made him seem older than he really is. I keep wondering where my little baby has gone. Looking at each of our children, I’m reminded that each one is a gift from God. They are given to us for a short time to point them to Christ and to help them learn how to thrive in the world God has put them in. I’m often filled with gratitude for our 6. There was a time when I thought we wouldn’t be able to have this many children (Becca’s premature birth, c-sections, miscarriages). But God has fully blessed – so thankful!

This year my kids made me a lovely Mother’s Day Countdown Calendar for the 11 days leading up to Mother’s Day. They were very diligent this year to make sure there was something special planned for each day. One of my favorite days was Thursday night when the kids performed an original, hilarious play with four scenes depicting how each child would act if he/she were a parent. At the end they stated they were thankful I wasn’t like the parents depicted in the play. I laughed so hard I was crying. Other gifts included nuts, pictures, and homemade gifts. It was all very special.

Josh was sick on Mother’s Day – but thankfully he had made Mother’s Day breakfast the day before, since he knew there wouldn’t be time Sunday morning. For supper Isaiah helped me put together chicken kabobs that I roasted in the oven, and Isaiah grilled hotdogs over charcoal outside. After supper the family gave me cards and gifts.

Being a mommy is a wonderful gift – from God and from Josh. Having six children is an incredible gift and privilege. There are many joys, encouragements, and lots of laughter. But it’s not all smilies – there is also exhaustion and weariness and discouragement. But it’s a good life work – a work that is worth it and that is filled with love and loving. It’s a lifework that is teaching more about who God is and about His love for me and my need of Him. I’m thankful God has given me my husband and my six precious children. Thankful for these gifts.

Sometimes I can’t believe it – I’m a mama for six children. Blessed!

This year we joined The Hands-on Homeschool co-op, and we are loving it. Our membership includes over 100 prerecorded classes in Art, Music, P.E., and STEM. It’s been a great help to me to not have to plan and prepare lessons for these “extra” subjects. I’m very thankful for the team who prepares and teaches all the lessons.

Our kids’ favorite subject is Art – they love the projects and our walls are now covered with their weekly projects. Often the kids do other projects with the techniques they’ve learned for the week. Sometimes I go back at night and try the project myself.

In PE, we’ve studied overhand and underhand tossing, juggling, line dancing, jump roping, hitting with a racket, and soccer skills. Not everyone is always excited about warm-ups.

I’ve added Music Memory to the Music class. We are making cards for each composer/piece we’re learning and then I quiz the kids to see if they can identify excerpts from the pieces. I’m very thankful for this opportunity. There’s no way I could have included all these classes with home schooling 4 children and having a toddler and newborn this year. I’ve been very pleased with The Hands-on Home School and would recommend it to anyone looking to add these subjects into their weekly teaching routine.

Our littlest man is on the move! On the day Micah turned 5 months old, he was playing on this mat while I was sitting on the floor a few meters away working on my laptop. While I was working, he successfully turned himself around and made it all the way to me. It was he first time I’d seen him move deliberately and successfully to a spot that far away. Watch out world! Since then he’s all over the place and is starting to get up on his knees as well.

Now that he can move around our house, Micah isn’t too happy to sit in his chair or to be up on the couch with us. But this means I’ve got to keep reminding his siblings to watch out for him and I have to keep an eye on what he aiming for. He loves playing on the floor and is so happy when we get down and lay with him. I usually spend time every afternoon playing with him – he laughs and laughs.

Sunday, April 11, we celebrated Anna’s 7th birthday! We started two weeks before with her birthday countdown calendar, which included gifts and treats for the 12 days leading up to her birthday. This year Anna’s birthday movie was Pollyanna.

This year Anna drew 3D cakes to make her own birthday banner. We put it up over her bedroom door the night before her birthday. (I drew the sign in the middle of the banner.) Anna’s really doing well in Art class. I always enjoy seeing her projects and the extra projects she makes after learning how to do the process.

One gift I worked on for Anna was a matching doll dress from some fabric she bought last year for a dress. Our local seamstress made the dress for Anna, but said she wasn’t sure she could make doll clothes. I’m wasn’t sure I could either – but it worked.

This year Anna requested tacos for for birthday meal. We all enjoyed her choice! Since Anna’s birthday was on a Sunday we had her meal during lunch. We started the day with our home church service (church meetings are canceled due to Covid) and then the kids played Phase10 with Josh while I worked on lunch. We did gifts from parents before lunch and gifts from siblings after lunch. It was a fun day!

We’re thankful for Anna and the gift she is to our family. She’s had a great year of progressing in her reading skills. She often takes books above her reading level and works at reading them. I’m amazed at the words she figures out. She loves math. She love laughing. She loves her dolls – all 9 of them! She is a good helper and will hold Micah for a long time. She also loves writing and illustrating original books. She did her own hair for her birthday pictures.

We’re thankful for our Anna. Her birth was my unexpected VBAC that allowed me to have our next three children without surgery. Thankful for that gift from God. Thankful for our middle daughter and all the joy she brings our lives!

We started our Holy Week celebrations by decorating our Resurrection tree and beginning our nightly singing and reading from Noel Piper’s Lenten Lights.

Palm Sunday we did a play of Christ’s triumphal entry. Monday night we did a play of Jesus cleansing the temple.

Wednesday night we had our traditional egg hunt. We had enough eggs for each child to find 17. After they found their eggs, they traded them in for merchandise at our little store. We did the whole process twice. Big favorites at the store this year were 3-in-1 instant coffee and poppers. We went outside and the kids used all their poppers – it was fun to see the sparks in the dark.

Thursday night we had our Maundy Thursday service with feet washing. The older washed the feet of the younger. Ezra ended by washing Josh’s feet. Our feet are always very dirty so it took some scrubbing to get them clean.

Friday morning we did a Resurrection art lesson over video chat taught by a fellow MK in Cambodia.

Sunday morning we celebrated Easter with the Crowleys and some others. We were sad that we couldn’t be with our Jarai church (churches are closed because of Covid), but we were glad to be able to be with other believers. Thankful that Christ is Alive and that He’s ours forevermore!

April 3rd we celebrated Josh’s 40th birthday! We started the celebrating exactly 40 days before with a small party and presentation of 5 envelopes. Each envelope contained a statement signed by all saying that we would do certain chores of Josh’s for the next 40 days: 1.) Wash the supper dishes; 2.) Make the morning coffee; 3.)Crack the breakfast eggs; 4.) Fill the water filter; and 5.) Make the morning oatmeal. That was his big gift! We also watched Sargent York together the week of Josh’s birthday. It was the first time for the kids to watch a war movie and they handled it well. Of course, the fighting scene is a very small part of the whole movie.

The morning of Josh’s birthday we drove to Ban Lung to spend the day/evening with the Crowleys. In the evening we grilled hotdogs and chicken kabobs and had a picnic with bakes beans and veggies.

After the meal we had a program for Josh. Each of the kids prepared a original gift for him. Clara wrote a poem called My Daddy’s Birthday Poem. Anna wrote and illustrated a story called My Daddy. Isaiah wrote, typed, and illustrated a story called Daddy’s Bike Adventure. Becca wrote a list called 40 Reasons Daddy is Great. Each of the kids read their gift aloud. Ezra didn’t want to be left out, so he sang Christ is Mine Forevermore.

Afterwards we ate dessert. It’s always a bit tricky making cake during hot season. This year there was the added excitement of transporting the cake to Ban Lung.

We’re thankful for Josh and the 40 years God has given him. Thankful for all he means to us and to everyone else he comes in contact with him. Happy Birthday my Man!

Over the years we’ve enjoyed watching Becca develop her art skills. This week I’m highlighting some of her projects.

Becca painted this canvas of our family for my Christmas gift.

Becca bought some modeling clay and worked on this horse last month. It was her first time try a project like this1

Last year Becca painted some wooden people.

We’re thankful for the abilities God has given Becca and for her work in improving the gifts God’s given her.

This last picture is of Becca and Isaiah at about 5:45 in the morning. They get up to read their Bibles and drink coffee.

Last week our little man turned 4 months! This past month he’s gained a lot of neck strength and now has no trouble posing for photos. Below are pictures of Ezra and Micah both at 4 months old. The picture with Ezra wearing the matching shirt is when he was 3 months. As you can see, Micah is a bit smaller than Ezra was.

Micah’s new trick is rolling over from his back to his stomach, so now he can roll both ways. He can also move in a circle and has started making a little progress inching forward on his belly. He loves to grab things and can pull the hanging ring on his chair to make music play. He stopped sleeping through the night shortly after his last moth birthday. Typically he gets up around 3 or 4am to nurse. About twice a week he sleeps past 5AM. It’s unpredictable.

Ezra continues to enjoy Micah and is a good brother to him. He even shares his favorite bunny (Malone) with Micah. If I’m holding Micah and Ezra wants to play with me, Ezra asks me to put Micah to bed.

The other day I took these pictures and they reminded me of some similar ones I got of Clara and Anna when Clara was 1 month old. I’m thankful for these pairs and that they have each other. I’m praying that they will be good friends for the whole lives.

Love our littlest man and all the joy he brings into our lives!

We celebrated Clara’s 5th birthday this month. We started on March 1st with Clara’s countdown calendar, which included small gifts, an afternoon at a pool with slides, treats, a movie, and more. On Clara’s birthday eve we gave her a birthday dress, and we all watched the original Parent Trap.

Clara wanted to invite Uncle JD and Aunt Kim to her birthday Saturday, so they came for a hotdog, mac & cheese, baked beans, and veggie lunch. Clara designed her own cake this year. She is the first child to ever request a haystack included on her cake. After lunch we did gifts.

Clara’s big present from us was a new bike. We usually give our kids their first bike when they turn 3, but since we were in the States that year, we didn’t. The bike is a little big, but it’s sturdy and should last her for many years. We put it outside Clara’s bedroom door so she saw it in the morning when she woke up. She was pretty excited!

We very thankful for the ways we’ve seen Clara grow this past year. She’s doing well with learning how to read and is working on her math. I’m amazed at her range of expression when she reads stories. She’s become a better helper. She’s growing in self control. A year ago at this time, going to church was still exhausting for me, since Clara still needed a lot of attention. She now is able to attend the children’s classes and participate without any help. We are very encouraged at the Lord’s working in her life.

We’re very thankful for our Clara and the ways she’s growing up. She’s a vibrant little girl full of energy and life. Happy Birthday, Clara!

Caught these pictures of our three youngest sitting on the couch before we left for church. Should have taken an after picture, since they always come home from church quite dirty. 🙂

We had our family Valentine’s party on the 12th, since the 14th was a Sunday. In the morning, I did the girls’ nails.

In the afternoon, we decorated heart cookies. We invited our neighbor who is one of Isaiah’s close friends to join us.

Late afternoon the kids made their heart-shaped pizzas. It takes a while to cook 5 pizzas!

We had a heart-shaped carrot cake for dessert. Then we exchanged cards – one of the highlights of the evening. Everyone puts a lot of time into designing his/her cards for each other.

This year we tried something new for our evening event. We all participated in a Valentine’s art class (see picture at top). I forgot to take a picture of the one Josh and I did together. Afterwards Josh read the story of St. Valentines.

It was Micah’s first Valentine’s Day!

The next day was Saturday and we had our neighborhood Bible Club. We didn’t say a thing about Valentine’s Day, but we did decorate heart-shaped cookies with the kids for snack.

Micah turned 3 months old on February 16th. It’s amazing how fast babies change in such a short time. He has such a sweet and fun loving personality. Loves to laugh and play. We just love him!

On the 16th Micah still wasn’t keeping his head up much, but since then I’ve seen him holding it up for longer periods of time. His new trick this week is rolling over from his stomach to his back. He does this by sticking his bottom in the air and pushing his shoulder over. It’s really cute and he’s really persistent about it. The only problem is that once he’s on his back, he won’t go to sleep.

Micah’s biggest milestone of the month is sleeping through the night! The week before Micah turned 3 months he started sleeping from 10PM to 6AM. I was holding my breath, thinking it was too good to be true. But since then he’s continued to sleep all night, every night, occasionally getting up around 5 to eat. I’m so thankful for this development! As I tell my friends and neighbors here, it’s a very special gift from God to me. Our first three kids started sleeping through the night around 4 months. However child #4 & #5 didn’t sleep through the night until they stopped nursing. That’s exhausting. I was determined that we wouldn’t do that again (but sometimes it can’t be helped). I’m so thankful for the extra sleep! Of course, if it’s not the one it’s the other. I’m still awaken during the night by other kids – Ezra seems to be getting his 2-year old molars. But I have hope that I can start catching up on the past years of lacking sleep. Haha! Thankful!

The little girls enjoyed holding Micah. As long as they don’t move him around too much, he enjoyed it too!

Our kids woke up Monday morning, November 16, to missing parents and Aunt Ayra watching them. Ayra shared the news with them and they were all very excited. We called them once we got settled in the hospital room.

Our kids were very excited to meet and hold their new baby brother Monday afternoon. They were smitten. Clara was so amazed at how cute her new brother was.

Ezra was interested in Micah and said his name very nicely, but he was more interested in the massage chair in the room. All the kids made cards for Micah and me.

We’re very thankful to Sterling and MK Burke. They drove down from Ratanakiri as soon as they heard Micah was born to watch our kids. MK stayed for about a week to help us, and Sterling came at the end of a week to take her back home.

On Thursday we brought the Micah home and the kids made welcome home signs. The next morning they surprised us with a breakfast buffet. Aunt MK taught the kids to make breakfast.

We spent the next few weeks getting to know our newest family member! Ezra did really well with being replaced as the youngest. He really enjoyed going outside with the older kids and being a big boy.

And before Becca’s 11th birthday we took a special picture:

0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 year olds!!!

Whenever I had ultrasounds, the doctor could never see Micah’s face, since Micah always had his hand over his face. We found he still like the same position after birth.

Lastly – pictures of Micah on his due date – November 21, 2021. 5 Days old! Glad he came early, so we could start enjoying him!

Many precious days of holding our little infant and napping with him. So sweet. So peaceful!

There’s was a lot of uncertainty of how Micah’s birth was going to turn out. The main question was: would the doctor really allow me to have a VBAC, or would she end up pushing for C-section. There are very few stories of successful VBACS (vaginal birth after c-section) in Cambodia. I, for one, never felt completely at ease about having our baby in Cambodia. During the last weeks especially, I was really wishing I could be in Bangkok with my doctor there. But this was God’s good will for our lives. As the due date grew closer, I grew more anxious. And I was not looking forward to the pain in childbirth!

Sunday night, November 15, I began to have back contractions very similar to the ones I had had the week before. I had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for the next morning, November 16, at 8:30 and thought it was great timing. I thought I was sleeping in between the contractions, and I was too tired and lazy to time anything, but I should have realized that it wasn’t that far into the night. I got up to use the bathroom, and my water broke — it wasn’t much, but I knew the doctor said my fluid was low (my water broke with Clara seconds before she was born). Then my body started getting ready for pushing a baby out and I knew that the time was truly at hand. The problem was I was stuck in the bathroom, with all those feelings of transition: nausea, hot and sweaty, etc. I lay down on the bathroom floor and waited until I felt better, then I made my way back into the room to wake up Josh.

Josh woke up to find me kneeling next to the bed and he sprang into action. The first thing he did was go downstairs to the 1st floor and wake Dr. K and his wife C, a veteran missionary couple who were staying at the guesthouse that weekend. When we talked to them earlier in the weekend, we had joked about their helping with the birth. They told us to get them up at any time.

Josh came back up and we moved into an empty room across the hall so the kids wouldn’t be disturbed. Dr. K checked me and I was at a 7 or 8. He really wanted to take me to the hospital, so he went to change clothes while I knelt at the bed. His wife, C (who is also a nurse), put a cold washcloth on my neck. She could tell I didn’t really want to go anywhere and also seemed to think I had progressed too far to make a trip to the hospital. When the doctor returned his wife told him she didn’t think I wanted to go — so then we needed to make the decision. To go or not to go, that was the question! I didn’t want to have our baby in the car, which looked like a distinct possibility. Nor was I too keen about a hospital birth. Dr. K really wanted to take me, but when he said they would have to carry me down three flights of stairs, I was thinking, No way! So we decided to have our baby in Room #8 of the C&MA Family Home.

Things happened pretty fast after that. My friend Ayra, who lives at the Bible school a couple meters behind the guesthouse, found alcohol and some other supplies at the school. The towels that had been given to us “just in case” by the guesthouse manager were spread all over the bed. Document clips were obtained to clamp the cord. And I’m pretty sure Dr. K washed his hands and the clips 100 times!

After a few pushes, out popped Micah. In the middle of my last push Dr. K told me to “hold it” — not what you want to hear in the middle of pushing. It seemed like a long time before he told me to go ahead, but I’m sure it was only seconds. That pause kept me from having any tears, which I’m very thankful for! There was a little concern about clearing out the baby’s lungs and getting him breathing, but he was fine. Dr. K was very concerned about me hemorrhaging. The placenta was delivered and we got ready to go to the hospital. Dr. K carried me down the stairs.

I found myself laughing — another guesthouse baby! Josh had once joked that he knew it was my secret plan to not go to the hospital and have another guesthouse baby. I told him I wouldn’t do that to him again. But this time Josh didn’t have to deliver and said he felt completely relaxed once the doctor took over. Funny — Clara was delivered in the Bangkok C&MA Family Home. Micah in the Phnom Penh C&MA Family Home. Each was the first birth in that particular Family Home. Guess we need to find another guesthouse in another country to christen!

Once at the hospital we were put in the ER. The pediatrician on call was very concerned that Micah had been born in a non-sterile environment and that his cord had been clamped with document clips. I felt bad for the guy. Micah ended up being put on two antibiotics via IV. He had to have his port in for about three days — our poor baby kept whacking himself with the splint. I was given one run of antibiotics as well.

The hospital staff was very nice. An ObGyn came three times a day to check on me, and a pediatrician came three times a day to check on Micah. We were there Monday till Thursday.

Reflections: I couldn’t have asked for a better birth. It was something I couldn’t plan (home-births are technically illegal in Cambodia), but it was just like I would have planned. I didn’t have to be at a hospital with people I didn’t know. I didn’t have to have unnecessary medical interventions or mediations. I was able to do most of my labor in bed, while I thought I was sleeping. One of the best things was that I had a sweet medical missionary couple deliver our baby. I really like this couple. They have five children of their own. Their youngest is a 17 year old girl. They home schooled their kids. The last baby Dr. K delivered was his own daughter 17 years ago. It was so nice to have Christian, native English speakers deliver our baby who have so much in common with us. Dr. K and his wife C visited us at the hospital the day after Micah was born. Sidenote – Dr. K & C’s first grandchild was born a few days before Micah – they had the same due date. They weren’t able to be in America for his birth, but they were able to deliver an MK baby together.

After six births — all different — I still don’t know when it’s time to go to the hospital. 🙂 I’m very glad that I was able to have another “home birth.” Very thankful that Micah was born without any medical complications. Thankful that I didn’t have any complications. Thankful!

In closing I want to include Dr. K’s write up on the birth, which he wrote for his prayer letter update.

C and I had to make a run all the way down to Phnom Penh (a 9 hour drive for us). We stayed at the Alliance guest house. The only other guests were a missionary family with 5 small kids. They were expecting their 6^th child within a week or two, and had come in from where they lived in the countryside in order to be within a 20 minute drive of the Cambodian hospital for delivery. When C and I arrived, the husband – a friend of mine – quipped that he was glad I was going to be in the guest house for a few days, just in case the baby came too fast for them to make it to the hospital. I laughed, but knew that that would never happen.

 A couple nights later, at 0300 AM, you guessed it, a loud knocking at our door awoke us from a deep sleep. Turned out that things had developed quite suddenly and that they didn’t think she’d make it to the hospital. (BTW, she had had two prior C-sections, and absolutely needed to deliver in a controlled, safe hospital environment where a C-section could be done within minutes).  With no other option, we decided to assist in a MacGyver home delivery. I found two strong paper clamps and a pair of office scissors to handle the cord. We had clean towels but no boiling water (isn’t that what they always ask for in the movies?). In a nutshell, she delivered after only 2 pushes. A healthy baby boy! We got momma and baby to the hospital, where, after a non-eventful inpatient experience, they were released back to the guest house 3 days later. May God use that baby boy in His service, just as his parents have done.

History day last week included the coronation parade of Queen Elizabeth. We had to do it three times, since we had three queens. And of course, we had to give the boys a ride too! 🙂

This picture was taken 8 days before Micah was born. When I was almost 39 weeks pregnant.

2020 – I think I knew almost as soon as Micah was growing inside, but in mid-March I began to seriously suspect that we were expecting our 6th child, it was right around the time Covid blew up in the States and Cambodia closed down churches and schools. I was hoping to avoid telling Josh until his birthday, but he asked before.

We had no idea back then how Covid would effect our birthing plans, but as things started to progress, I began to suspect that traveling to Thailand would not be an option this time. This led to a lot of research on birthing options in Cambodian. Our first two children were born by c-section. Even though I’d had three following births vaginally, many doctors would still require a c-section to avoid risk of uterine rupture. My desire was to avoid a c-section and find a doctor who wouldn’t require regular appointment (we live over 9 hours from Phnom Penh).

I finally chose a Khmer doctor in Phnom Penh who had a great reputation for working with foreigners and for promoting nature childbirth. We traveled in July to have an appointment with her to ask if she would be willing to allow me to have a VBAC. Thankfully, Dr. Li (pronounced Lee), was very agreeable to my having a natural childbirth, since I’d had three VBACS before. She seemed to have the attitude that this was my 6th child and I was an expert.

Dr. Li wanted me to come back in two months for a follow-up ultrasound. Not wanting to drag my family down to PP, I asked if we could skip the ultrasound and just show up at the beginning of November. The doctor explained she wanted to recheck a measurement in the brain. At the moment the area was measuring in the normal range (7mm with a normal range of 5-10mm). But she was concerned that in a few months it would be out of the normal range. After asking many questions to find out what would be done if the measurement exceeded the normal range, Dr Li finally told me that some people would not want a baby who had learning difficulties and possible seizures. Once I told her we would keep our baby no matter what, she said we could wait until November to come back.

We announced our 6th child once we had all our birthing plans in place. I told my mom on my 38th birthday. Interestingly enough – my mom gave birth to her 6th child on her 38th birthday.

Fast forward to September 1st – Josh and I were going away for the night while some friends watched our kids. We decided to get an ultrasound on the way ($5!). While there the doctor misunderstood us when we told him we didn’t want to know the gender and went on and on about how we were having a boy! Then he asked if the doctor in PP had told us about the problem in the brain. He said there was an enlarged area but that it looked like a slight problem – he called it hydrocephalus and proceeded to show us pictures and act out seizures. Very unsettling. Not the way we wanted to spent our getaway. The doctor said the problem might go away. So we just put that information aside and enjoyed our time together. Trying not to stress about it.

Once we returned home, I did lots of research and contacted a friend who is a pediatrician. She told us not to worry too much. What we needed was the exact measurement to know if there truly was a concern and how great the concern was (would there just be learning disabilities or would our child need brain surgery and a shunt for life). Five days later we returned to the doctor and asked for the measurement. The area measured around a 9mm. Very thankful. And I decided I was done with having ultrasounds up where we live by doctors who have had very little training. It’s very stressful to receive concerning information without all the data. They do their best up here with the training they have.

I had a pretty normal pregnancy – with afternoon and evening sickness that lasted all three trimesters. I started feeling Micah move around 12 weeks. Braxton Hicks started around 20 weeks. Due to my age the medical world classified me as a geriatric pregnancy, which I found really funny. Yes, I was tired and achey, more so than my earlier pregnancies, but I’m not sure what made the bigger difference – being older or having five other children to care for. The world does not stop for pregnant women. But it did! Church was cancelled. Bible Club was cancelled. Visits to Ban Lung were cancelled. Teaching the ladies Bible leaders was cancelled. Basically – everything was cancelled due to Covid for most of my pregnancy. All those cancellations were a relief to my tried pregnant body. I don’t know how I would have been able to keep up with our normal schedule.

We got to PP on Friday evening, November 6th. Our plans was to arrive the weekend before, but we found out the doctor was not available until the next week. Two nights later I had a lot of back contractions and we ended up going to the doctor Sunday morning for an early appointment, instead of Monday. Which ended up working out better, since the doctor wasn’t going to be in on Monday and we hadn’t been told yet. Had a great ultrasound with all measurements looking normal. I was dilated 2cm and the doctor had me do 30 minutes of contraction monitoring. She talked about admitting me, but I told her I didn’t think the baby would be coming in the next few days and I was sure I had time to go home (indeed I did, since he didn’t come for another week). I loved her response, “A mother usually knows her body best, but as a doctor I have to just check.” So after I did the monitoring – they let me go home. I only had one good contraction during that time and the worse part was having to be on my back!

And so the PP waiting began. Unfortunately, during that time. Cambodia had its first community Covid transmission in Phnom Penh, so we didn’t venture out a lot on outings. But we had a great time fellowshipping with others at the CMA guesthouse. Next week I hope to write about Micah’s birth.

Last week Micah celebrated his two month birthday! Love this little sweet man!

When I went to take this picture I found that Ezra was way ahead of Micah concerning neck strength. I had a very hard time trying to get Micah to lift his head. He just wanted to suck on his arms. And you can see at two months, Micah is our smallest boy.

Here’s a comparison with all six.

So right now I think Micah looks most like Clara, but often it just depends on the angle.

Happy to have Micah and all his siblings. Happy for the health God has given them all.

Our Christmas season started out a little different this year, since we didn’t arrive home from Micah’s birth until December 8th. We did begin our carol singing in Phnom Penh. During the month of December we sing Christmas carols and songs every night. Each night a different child (including Ezra) gets to light and blow out the Advent candles. Each person gets to pick a song for us all to sing – favorites this year were Go Tell it on the Mountain, We Three Kings, and Carol of the Bells.

On Friday, December 11th, we had our Christmas decorating party, complete with hotdogs and beans.

We had our traditional countdown calendar. One day featured playing with fake snow and a Christmas village. That was a big hit for all.

We did our traditional giant personalized gingerbread people cookies. Ezra mostly ate his decorations while putting them on. We all agreed that this year had the best looking people-cookies ever.

We decided to pass out Christmas fruit bags to our neighbors the day after Christmas, instead of Christmas Eve this year. This was a big help to me, since I didn’t have to try fitting in all the food preparations and visiting all our neighbors into the day before Christmas. Christmas Eve we had our traditional taco meal and had hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls for dessert while we sang carols, and then we watched the Muppets Christmas Carol (I mostly dozed during it – mom of newborn!).

Christmas Day we had a breakfast of pancakes with syrup and bacon. Then our guests arrived and we had cinnamon rolls and the kids did their Christmas pageant before our lunch meal.

It was a lovely Christmas season – so thankful for our six children. Micah’s first Christmas. Thankful for my man who journeys along with me. Sadly, we didn’t get our traditional “couple” Christmas picture before I took the tree down. Guess that’s what happens when you have six kids and one is a newborn. Next year. Thankful for a wonderful month celebrating Christ coming to save us from our sins.

Side note – our Church’s normal Christmas celebration services were cancelled due to Covid. They instead gathered in groups in a few homes to celebrate.