This month we studied Louis XIV and decided to have a masquerade ball. At first I thought we would just make masks, but by the morning of the ball we had decided to include a feast too. Becca made whole bakes apples, Isaiah made bialys, Anna & Clara made popcorn balls, Ezra made oranges, and I made Deviled Eggs. Everyone enjoyed the dancing and the feast afterwards – except Micah, who was very disturbed by our masks!

I celebrated my 39th birthday on July 20th. Isaiah carved a big “Happy Birthday Mommy” sign out in our front yard for me to see in the morning. Becca made cherry bars for dessert. Josh grilled chicken kabobs. We had a nice evening celebrating together!

At the beginning of July we planned a trip to Phnom Penh. Our two main purposes for going were to 1.) Obtain Micah’s visa, and 2.) Visit with some good friends who were preparing for a 7-month furlough. Traveling during the Covid season is complicated. We were told by our immigration officer that when we returned from Phnom Penh, we would have to home quarantine for 14 days. I spent the two weekends before we planned to leave stocking our freezer with enough meat from the market to last us 14 days. We also bought enough eggs to last us. The plan was to have our helper pick up produce when needed.

The two days before we planned to leave, we made pretzels, carrot cake, and sandwich rolls for our all-day drive to Phnom. We went to bed early Tuesday night (June 29th) with the hopes of leaving our house a little after 5:30am. We started out Wednesday great and had the car almost packed and were about ready to get the kids in the car when Isaiah came out of the bedroom and said he didn’t feel well. Turned out he had a fever. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but now that there are Covid check-points along the road – where they might take everyone’s temperature…you can’t travel if you have a fever! Who wants to have an unnecessary Covid test? So we unpacked the car and said we would try again tomorrow, hoping it was a one-day fever. The girls were very disappointed. Isaiah felt awful to be the cause of our delay (besides feeling crummy from a fever). And I was really hoping that the bread would stay good and that I wouldn’t have to remake all our food!

Unfortunately, Thursday morning Isaiah still had a fever and it turns out he had Chikungunya. It’s not a dangerous virus, but the fever usually last about three days. We kept waiting to see if we would leave the next day. I think we all felt like we were living in limbo – will we leave tomorrow? Will someone else get it? Will I have to make bread again?

Thankfully, by Friday night Isaiah was fever-free and fever-free Saturday morning when we got up to leave. We had a very good drive down to PP. We were only stopped at one checkpoint and only Josh had to get out. Since PP is where most of the Covid cases are coming from, it seems that the police don’t care if you’re headed to Covid-country.

We had some unexpected things come up while in PP with Covid cases limiting our access to certain areas in the guesthouse. It wasn’t exactly the week we had hoped for, but we had a good time and our kids enjoyed seeing their friends and spending lots of time with them. We even had a girls’ sleep-over. I enjoyed some great talking hours with my friends.

While in PP, we took Ezra and Micah to get their TDaP vaccinations. I also took Micah to an ENT at the recommendation of my pediatrician friend. I was visiting with my friend and asked her to look at Micah’s upper palate – which seemed unusually high to me. My friend thought that if we could fit a visit in to see the ENT, it would be good to have her check it out. I could see God’s hand in the timing of all this. If we had been on our original schedule, we would have been leaving the morning after I visited with my doctor friend. But because of our delay – we were still planning to be in PP a few more days and were able to see the ENT. The ENT confirmed that Micah’s upper palate is indeed unusually high, but she didn’t think it was a concern. She also recommended we continue to wait to see if he needs his tongue clipped. (He’s tongue-tied – but has no trouble nursing. We will reevaluate when he starts talking.)

Interestingly enough, Micah had a slight fever when we went to the ENT. They still allowed us to enter, when I explained he had just had a vaccination the day before. However, his fever continued for a few days, and I soon began to suspect it was not vaccination related. My doctor friend didn’t think it was Covid, and thought it was likely some sort of kid virus.

So once again, we were going to have to delay our travel plans because of a fever. We had been planning to leave Sunday, but since Micah still had a fever Saturday afternoon, we decided to wait until Monday. Then late Saturday night we found out that there was another positive Covid case in the guesthouse and this time it was someone who we had had contact with. Sunday morning we didn’t know what to do, as they announced that the guesthouse and property would be closing down for two weeks. We asked one of our leaders what we should do and she said get out of here. Basically, we could either leave right away or be stuck for two weeks. I still wasn’t comfortable leaving, with Micah’s fever, so I made a quick call to my doctor friend (who was now in the States visiting family). She picked up immediately and after listening to the situation, said that if it were her she would leave and go home. We made a mad dash and finished packing everything up and left. Thankfully, Josh had already packed the top of our car and I had already made sandwiches when we had initially thought we were leaving on Sunday anyway. I felt so frazzled by the time we pulled out – what an exit!

Turned out Micah was fever-free for most of the trip. I checked him a few hours before we got to our province, planning to give him some Tylenol if he had a fever – but he was still fever-free. And when they stopped us at the Ratanakiri border and made us all get our temperatures checked, they didn’t want to check the baby’s temperature!

So we made it back! What a trip! I still am shaking my head about the timing of the trip. We had a plan to go and then God stopped us. I prayed that He would continue to stop us if we shouldn’t go. Then when we were planning to return, He seemed to stop us again, only to have us tear out of there! God moves in mysterious ways and we can only trust Him to open and close doors. We get to walk the path He puts before us! It was sad that we didn’t get to say official goodbyes to our friends. That is in God’s hands as well.

The day after we returned home, Micah broke out in a rash very similar to his Chikungunya rash. After some research, I suspect that the vaccination somehow triggered a relapse in Micah’s Chikungunya from the month before. He was back to normal about a week later.

We served our home quarantine time. Josh worked from home. The kids could still play outside, so it wasn’t much different for them. After about 5 days, the neighbor kids started playing with them too. Our helper brought produce four times during the 14 days and the kids helped me with all the food prep. Thankfully it’s rainy season, so I only mopped once!

We had a successful trip to PP. We were able to obtain Micah’s visa and visit with our friends. It wasn’t as restful as I had hoped it would be, but it was the trip that God had for us. We are thankful we did not catch Covid and that we didn’t have any trouble on the road. Thanks be to God! (And I don’t want to travel again for a long time!)

July 26, 2021 we had our first day of school for the 2021-2022 school year! We’re excited about all the things we’re planning to learn this year! Let the fun begin!

We love this Daddy!!!

July 2, 2021 Clara lost her first tooth! She was very excited to have a loose tooth and had been working on it for days. It came out when she was eating an apple for a snack. So fun! Her adult tooth was already showing through.

June 16-19 we held the Jensen Family Olympics. Each child created his/her own country flag. Wednesday night we had the opening ceremony which included a three-level family pyramid and the dart board and balloon hit competitions. Thursday evening we had competitions in bowling, basketball toss, and jump rope. Friday we had three types of races (dash, long, and obstacle course) and in the evening we had a paper airplane content. Saturday night we had our closing ceremony with medals.

Ezra was the cutest at the closing ceremony. He took it very seriously and was so excited to receive his medals! It was a fun week!

Right before Micah hit his 7-month birthday he started crawling. He’s now crawling, sitting up, and pulling up to stand. He’s all over the place and very content with his new skills. I looked up Clara’s 7-month achievements and found that Micah is following Clara’s steps almost exactly. He also looks very much like Clara, if you compare pictures at 7 months.

Micah is also enjoying chewing/eating cucumbers, mango, kidney beans, oatmeal, eggs, and anything else I’ll put on his tray for him to eat. Right now his “eating” is simply a fun activity for him to do while the rest of us are eating. He doesn’t want to be left out. He loves to babble and laugh! He’s so fun – thankful for our third little Jensen man!

Monday evening, June 7, we had our Jensen Homeschool Graduation and Recital. The kids have been preparing for weeks and were excited to perform for the night. We started the evening off with music. Clara sang All Praise to Thee My God This Night while Becca accompanied her on the piano. Ezra sang Christ is Mine Forevermore, while Isaiah accompanied him on the piano. Anna, Isaiah, and Becca all performed piano pieces. During Anna’s pieces we were inundated with flying termites and had to turn off the lights for about 20 minutes before we could resume.

After the music recital reach child gave a recitation: Clara recited A. A. Milne’s Nursery Chairs, Ezra recited Once I Caught a Fish, Anna recited Robert Louis Stevenson’s Foreign Lands, Isaiah recited Edgar Allen Poe’s The Bells, and Becca recited the entire Book of Ruth.

After the recital we handed out graduation diplomas/awards: Ezra – Potty Training, Clara – 1st Grade, Anna – 1st Grade, Isaiah – 3rd Grade, and Becca – 5th Grade. Clara and Anna received their first Bibles. Isaiah received a nicer copy of the Bible. Ezra and Becca both received books.

It was a lovely night and we all enjoyed it. Thankfully, Micah slept through the entire program, so I didn’t have to take care of him. We had the girls made new dresses with fabric each had bought in Phnom Penh when Micah was born. And I curled the girls hair with rags the morning of, so they had curly hair. After the program we had ice cream to celebrate!

I’m thankful for the good school year the Lord gave us and that we didn’t get too behind with the birth of Micah in November. Looking forward to starting next year with all our precious students!

Below is a video of our program. I recorded all the recitations the morning before, so I could enjoy the live program. At the end there are a few clips of the poems from the live performance.

June 5, 2021 we finished reading through the Bible, a journey that started 5 years ago. Our custom is for me to read one chapter Monday-Saturday at breakfast to the kids. We had several long break periods when breakfast wasn’t in its normal routine – furlough, birth trips, etc. Now it’s time to start again, which means that Micah will be 5 by the time we finish again.

On another note, Becca has been teaching the younger girls Sunday School when we have the teaching part of our Khmer Bible study every Sunday night. She plans her own lessons, including crafts and worksheets. This week the girls had a tea party to reward them for their good behavior in Becca’s class. The girls love the class! And I love that Becca is thriving in her teaching role!

Happy 9^th birthday to our first son! We had a great day celebrating Isaiah’s birthday. He started the day talking with both sets of grandparents and then we did Art and PE classes. Isaiah wanted tacos (with homemade guacamole, salsa, and black beans) for his birthday dinner and a chocolate cake decorated as a compass. After dinner we watched a slideshow of pictures of Isaiah from birth and then gave gifts. Isaiah’s siblings were very excited to give him gifts. They did a great job picking out things for him. We gave Isaiah a 6-man tent, which promptly went up and all the kids slept in it for the night. It was an exciting night! Isaiah told Ezra that his gift would be using the potty and somehow convinced Ezra to start wearing underwear…. pretty great gift for us all!

Thankful for our Isaiah. He’s a very thankful young man and expresses his appreciation often. He’s done a great job growing in his academic subjects – he loves to learn things. This year he read Fellowship of the Rings and has started the second book. He’s enjoying art class and often uses the technique taught to make other projects. He’s learning to touch type this year and doing a great job. He’s working on reading through the Bible. So glad we have this young man as our own!

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!