You open the fridge and poor yourself a glass!

We had a full week celebrating Christmas. Thursday night Josh read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. We started at the table with frozen smoothies and ended on the couch. I think Ezra lasted a few chapters before he fell asleep.

Friday the kids decorated the giant gingerbread people. It’s fun watching the kids design their masterpieces. I think Micah most ate his candy and frosting, but he was happy and content!

We chose to have our Christmas Eve Monday and Christmas Day on Tuesday, since the 24th and 25th were too full with church activities. Monday night we had our traditional meal of tacos (a friend sent up hard shells and beans from PP, which made it extra delicious). After dinner we sang carols and drank hot chocolate with Christmas cookies. Then we watched The Muppets Christmas Carol.

Christmas morning we had a special breakfast and then the kids exchanged gifts. I made cinnamon rolls – but they were just an extra snack. Becca worked extra hard on homemade gifts this year. She made the little boys Russian nesting animals. We bought the wooden forms and she painted them. Becca made the other kids I Spy Books – she’s been working weeks on setting up pictures for the books.

The Crowleys came for lunch and the kids’ Christmas play. This play is completely put together by the kids, I don’t have any involvement, except for providing some of the costumes.

We had a lovely lunch of buffalo roast, mashed potatoes, rolls, and salad. In the afternoon we played games and then after supper we gave gifts to the kids. It was a lovely day – everyone was happy and content and that makes Christmas special. We’re thankful for the gift of Jesus to us all…for he shall save his people from their sins. Thanks be the God.

Our church has their Christmas Eve and Day service on the 24th and 25th. The evening service went from 6:30 to 10pm, starting with a meal. The service consist of preaching and many different groups getting up to sing.

Christmas Day the service went from 8:30 to 11:30, with a lunch at the end. This year both Becca and Isaiah were in the Christmas pageant, I figured if we were directing I could ask for our kids to be included. Isaiah was a sheep and Becca was an angel. There are two readers and the rest just act. The readings were taken from Matthew and Luke.

The two kids groups and adult groups sang different Bible verse songs I’ve put to music. Genesis 1:2-3. Matthew 11: 28-30. Matthew 9:12-13b. Matthew 1: 23. Our kids sang as well, but since they are taller they are in the back.

Josh preached at the morning service. (Notice Josh behind the boys.)

Afterwards we enjoyed a great lunch and taking lots of photos with friends: children’s teachers & ladies teachers.

It was a good day. We came back and rested in the afternoon. Then we had our Khmer Bible Study in the evening. Because of all the services, we moved our family Christmas celebrations to the 26th and 27th.

December 2nd we had our Christmas decorating night. It was a very exciting night, as this year all 6 kids were putting ornaments on the tree. I divide all the ornaments up beforehand, so each child gets a bag with his/her own ornaments. It keeps it from turning into a grab-for-all. Our tree is filling up with homemade ornaments our kids make every year – it’s so full of personality. This was Micah’s first year to put the star on the tree. He wasn’t sure what to do at first.

We started our Christmas Countdown Calendar two weeks before our Christmas. This week we’ve been making Christmas cookies – one day to make all the dough and one day to cut out and bake all the cookies. 7 batches of cookie dough. 3 types of cookies. We’ll decorate them later this week. This was the first year Ezra rolled out and cut out his own cookies. When you have 6 kids working on cookies, you give up the idea of having perfectly cut cookies. We’ve got some very thick cookies and some very strange looking cookies, and they will all taste great! (Micah spent his time eating his cookie dough…but he was content!)

Wednesday we made wrapping paper. Greet feet-prints and red handprints. 10 large sheets. It’s a very exciting time with 6 sets of green feet running around. We had to spend a little time scrubbing the floor where feet missed the paper.

During the Advent season we sing Christmas carols and songs every night. Each kid gets a turn to light the candles, and every night each person gets to choose a song – that’s 8 songs a night. Four of our kids can accompany a few songs each on the piano, so if those songs are chosen they get to play the piano while we sing. Last night we had a concert with all the songs everyone knows how to play. It took over an hour. We got out the other percussion instruments, so everyone could play along or sing. It was loud. It was chaotic at points. It’s a fun a memory.

On October 29, Isaiah brought in this very bright, very hairy caterpillar. Those hairs sting and cause itching, so beware! We decided to see if we could hatch it to see what ind of moth it would be. Five days later (Nov. 4) it made a most unusual cocoon out of its hairs. It was as though it had made a mesh bag to hatch in, very unlike a normal butterfly cocoon.

Five day after it entered the cocoon phase, the moth appeared. It wasn’t as amazing as we expected, based on its bright colors as a caterpillar. It was really fun to discover and observe.

Last week Becca turned 13 – we have a teenager in our home now! Becca started the day with a bike ride with Josh and they rode all the way to Saom Kaning Village. I was busy all morning preparing lunch and the birthday dinner meal – lasagne, salad, & garlic bread. I ended up enlisting the other kids to help me. We had to grate a lot of cheese!

Becca designed her cake the day before. All the brown frosting is peanut butter frosting. We had a lovely dinner meal, then did gifts, then had cake, and then watched a slide show reviewing Becca’s past 13 years of life.

Becca’s countdown calendar included a Mother/daughter night away in Ban Lung at a hotel the weekend before her birthday. We played lots of games, ate dinner and breakfast out, gave Becca a make-over, drank special drinks twice, and stayed up until midnight watching Sense and Sensibility. We had a fun time and Josh and the other survived at home without us.

We’re thankful for our first-born daughter, Becca. And excited about starting these teenage years with her.

Last week our little man turned 2! Leading up to his birthday, I kept asking him if he wanted a cake or gifts, but his answer was always no. But he did approve of my singing Happy Birthday. He felt quite differently when I showed him his tiger cake to see if he could recognize it and then put it back in the fridge. Micah loves tigers.

Micah was not cooperative for picture taking. He seemed to think it was a game. He also has a terribly funny awful smile when he’s posing for a picture. It’s a joke in our family to try to imitate it.

We had hotdogs and macaroni & cheese for dinner with cake afterwards. Micah was such a delightful gift receiver. He got a few box of poppers and ran with them one by one to throw them over the edge of the porch so they could pop. It was so cute, and he was so happy. He really was a joy to watch receiving his gifts.

Micah is a sweet fun boy who is full of fun and trouble. He loves to have a good time. We’re so thankful for him.

For 10 days we have all even ages!

This week we had a wonderful few days having the Nhoemvan girls as our guest. Josh and Nal were in Ban Lung teaching at the Pastor’s Bible School. Ayra and the girls came up from Phnom Penh with Nal and spent Sunday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon with us while they men were teaching at Bible School.

These were very full days with non-stop fun. Lots of game playing. The kids did two different days of cooking outside over a fire. On Monday they made soup. On Tuesday they made baked sweet potatoes and popcorn. They also adapted, directed, rehearsed, and gave a performance of Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale. The kids all get along so well – even Isaiah who is the only older boy really enjoys the fun. So glad the kids could have this time together.

And the moms…we talked constantly and had times of prayer together. Ayra is my closest friend in Cambodia, and it was such a gift to have face to face time with her. And I love that our kids are such good friends. We all feel blessed by their visit and look forward to next year’s Bible School with hope that they will come again!

We celebrated our 9th annual Cambodian Coronation Day last week. The morning was full of crown-making and face painting. Isaiah didn’t want to have his face painted. Micah added a bunch of green glue glitter to his face after I was done. We ended the morning with a coronation ceremony. Micah was extremely pleased to be included this year. He was so proud to have a crown placed on his head. Part of the coronation entertainment is me singing and dancing. (I hide the speaker in my shirt and then lip-sync Largo Al Factotum from The Barber of Seville.)

We had a pizza dinner and afterwards had a presentation night. Each child did a presentation on a planet: Becca – Saturn; Isaiah – Mars; Anna – Jupiter; Clara – Venus; Ezra – Neptune; and Micah did one on the Sun. All the kids did great!

Other things included: Becca playing a piano set by David Kraehenbuehl. Anna gaving a poem recitation A Tragic Story by William Makepeace Thackeray. Both Anna and Clara receiving their All About Spelling Level 2 completion certificates.

It was a fun day and evening, complete with ice cream for dessert!

Some friends told us about this lake 30mins from our house, so we decided to try it once we had some sunny days. Last Saturday was the perfect day to visit the lake. We packed a lunch (complete with Coke) and spend several hours swimming. Nice place with a great tree to jump into the water from.

Two weekends ago I did a sewing project with Ezra. We turned a favorite t-shirt of his into a “pillow.”

We have a 5:30AM (of before) club in our family. These boys can’t seem to sleep in…so one of us usually sits out on the porch with them until the others wake up for the day.

They pick. They sting. They bite. Beware. Our kids are always telling us about “fuzzy” caterpillars. I finally got some pictures of two different kinds. As in the USA – avoid!

Also – Isaiah found a preying mantis exoskeleton that had been shed. It’s a wild world!

This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this: Micah is almost 2 years old and finally his right bottom lateral incisor is coming in. Normally it’s one of the first 8 teeth to come in. But Micah’s molars came in before this little tooth started popping through. For months I’ve wondered if he even had a baby tooth there. But it’s finally appeared. Weird!

Check out those big blue eyes and long lashes! I keep telling him his nursing days should soon be over….but those eyes are hard to resist!

Micah is a very sweet and cute boy. He’s very good at imitating his siblings when they are unhappy or complain. He gets to tones just right. It’s hilarious, since he seems to be making fun of them. This month he’s really started talking and trying to use words. Too much cuteness. He loves his siblings and has also learned to tattle on them. He brings much laughter to our home. Thankful!

Last week we celebrated International Talk Like a Pirate Day. We were a bit late, due to other things in our schedule, but we still fit it in before the month was up. In the morning the kids rehearsed their play for the evening, and then we made hooks and watched some pirate videos.

In the evening we had hotdogs, mac&cheese, and beans. Afterwards we read some pirate books, did some pirate dancing, and then the kids performed a special play. In history several weeks ago we studied the Oregon Trail, and I found the old computer game onlin, The Oregon Trail, and the kids enjoyed playing it. We wrote a play based on the game and surprised Josh with it. To make things fair, all the kids “died” at once, instead of dying one-by-one along the trail. (If you’re familiar with the old game, you know what I’m talking about.) And that wraps up another Pirate Day.

Last Saturday I spend the day at a meeting for ladies’ church leaders within the Jarai and Tampuan churches in Ratanakiri. They meet twice a year for encouragement, and this time I was asked to be the speaker (I did this once before a few years ago). I spoke from Ephesians 5:1-21 on Walking Like God. Since there were different language groups present, I spoke in the common language – Khmer. I had so much fun teaching and working with these precious ladies. It was a gift to be with them. After lunch, each church gave a report on their ministries and asked for prayer for areas where they felt weak.

Josh stayed home with the kids. After his morning, he texted and said he didn’t know how I get any homeschooling at all. The kids did well and everyone was happy!

Four days each week we have different language learning taking place in our home. Becca studies Jarai with some young ladies form our church one afternoon each week. She does a great job learning and speaking during her hour lesson. I plan and supervise the lessons, since there is no Jarai language learning resources, and I’m teaching the girls how to teach.

Anna and Clara study Khmer two mornings a week with Davi. Davi is doing a great job growing in her language teaching skills. At first I had to be heavily involved, now I just plan the lessons and provide the ideas for teaching. Both girls are growing in the Khmer speaking skills with adults.

I also study Jarai one afternoon a week with a friend from church. I’m finally to the point where I can prepare and teach Sunday School lessons to the Jarai ladies in Jarai, instead of Khmer. It’s much easier to teach in Jarai than have a conversation in Jarai, since the range of vocabulary is huge among speakers, so I still prefer to do my more complicated conversations in Khmer.

In case you’re feeling sorry for the boys…Ezra and Micah wander in and out of the girls’ Khmer lesson and participate when they feel like it, and they also spend time cooking with our helper. Isaiah is not interested in extra language study at this time, and we’re fine with that right now.

We love the Manfreds and are always happy to visit with them, even if it’s only for a few hours.

I took this picture right after breakfast this morning. Our kids usually get up starting at 5:30, and we have breakfast around 7. I usually start school with the younger girls before 8am, since everyone is up and ready.

Breakfast consists of oatmeal and eggs. While eating, we read our daily Bible chapter – right now we’re reading through the Bible chronologically – and pray together. We always try to pray something from the Scripture we’ve read, and each child gets to start the prayer circle on a different weekday.

We typically finish all our school before lunch – that’s what happens when you start before 8am! 🙂

Last year when studying French Sun King in history, we had a masquerade ball. This year we happened to make paper-mache masks for a history project and decided to have another masquerade ball along with a poetry performance night and dessert buffet.

The kids all memorized poems, and even Micah wanted to get up and recite. Micah recited by standing on stage and breathing in and out very loudly a few times. It was very entertaining. Both Isaiah and Anna had started feeling badly in the afternoon, but they put their best performance forward, and we were impressed with how well they did, even when feeling poorly.

After the poems we had some dancing, which was hard to do with masks on! Then we enjoyed our dessert buffet with all our can et doughnuts, chocolate chip cookies, and popcorn balls.

I am going to take a moment to add a bit of “reality” into this post, lest some go away thinking how amazing we are and how easy everything is. These fun events we have are a lot of work. I often am frustrated with the complaining and lack of effort and everything that falls on my shoulders. Sometimes I wonder, “Is all this work even worth it?” When the event comes, our kids enjoy it, but I’m often frazzled by all the preparations. But it is worth it to me because we’re making memories and learning that things take effort and careful planning if we want to do well. Sure – it would be much easier and more restful for me to skip these kind of things, but I hope that someday our kids will look back on these nights with fond memories and joy.