This past Monday, Micah celebrated his 7-week birthday by getting his US passport! We made a trip to Phnom Penh to pick up his passport and work on his Cambodian visa. Unfortunately, with the border crossing required for a 1-year visa and all the Covid-19 tests and quarantines, we were unable to secure his visa. The Department of Immigration told us to wait a few months and see if the situation changes. So we continue to pray that God will provide the right visa for Micah without requiring that we leave the country and return.

In other exciting news, Micah started smiling last week and since then has been getting quite good at it. He also started making coo-ing noises. It’s so sweet and makes him even more lovable! Also – his eyelashes have gotten longer, the hair on the top of his head has started growing, and it looks like he’s going to keep his blue eyes.

Thanksgiving Day (November 26) was Becca’s 11th birthday. This year we did not have a big neighborhood party, since we were in Phnom Penh for Micah’s birth. Instead we celebrated with friends in Phnom Penh.

Thankfully, Micah was born 10 days before Becca’s birthday, so it didn’t interfere too much with Becca’s day. She still had a two week birthday countdown calendar with a baby brother as one of the gift days! We fit in her birthday sleep-over before Micah was born. Our night included playing games, doing facials, and looking at pictures from Becca’s 11 years. We rented a room in the guesthouse where we were staying and Josh bought us a lovely breakfast in bed in the morning.

Since we were in Phnom Penh, we were able to enroll Becca in a four-week horsemanship class with an international school in the area. It was such a blessing that they allowed us to tag along, even though we had no direct connections with the school. The lessons were Becca’s main birthday present. We were so delighted she had this opportunity!

Becca invited three family units to join us for her birthday dinner of tacos and fajitas. This year Becca wanted to be involved with decorating her cake. She planned out the design and we worked together at frosting the cake. She was very pleased with how it turned out – tasted good too!

We enjoyed our evening with friends and celebrating Becca’s birthday!

Becca’s birthday was quite different than the Thanksgiving she was born – that day was a day of tears and wondering if our little baby was going to make it, wondering if she would live a normal life, wondering if we’d be able to have more children. This year we celebrate a happy, healthy, gifted young lady who can now share her birthday month with a little brother. We’re so thankful!

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 

⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Thanks be to God!

Last month we traveled to Phnom Penh for Micah’s birth. We packed up our house the first week of November and left our home on the afternoon of November 5th and travel to Stung Treng and spent the evening visiting with our friends. (No pictures from our time there.)

The next day we made the rest of the trip to Phnom Penh and arrived at the CMA Family Home late afternoon. The next evening – Saturday the 7th – we attended the CMA Thanksgiving get together. We had a lovely evening with everyone and enjoyed lots of festive foods.

While in Phnom Penh, our kids were able to take daily Khmer lessons with some friends of ours. We are very thankful for this opportunity they had for about four weeks. Anna was able to spend an afternoon at a Vietnamese school where our friend was teaching the kindergarten class Khmer. Anna loved it!

There were many great things about being in Phnom Penh versus Bangkok for the birth: we saved money (not needing taxis, transportation, visas, food, etc), we knew the language and culture, we’re were able to get lots of errands done (including some needed car repairs and another seatbelt added), and more I can’t think of right now. Our accommodations were perfect – two joining bedrooms with two bathrooms and a kitchen, access to two other kitchens, access to two large common rooms – one of which we could spread out in since there were usually no other guests, plus a large area to play outside. The staff was lovely. The ladies were so helpful and kind to our family and would lend a hand whenever they saw I needed help. They were also very interested in anything I did with Micah and would stop to watch me bathe him, etc.

But the best things of all was being in a place where we knew people and had friends. In Bangkok we knew no one and we’re on our own. In Phnom Penh we had a community of other ministry families – many of whom we didn’t even know that well. I had loads of face-to-face English conversations with other ladies…probably more than I’ve had all year. It was refreshing.

Being at the CMA meant we got to visit with other missionaries passing through. We also got to have a meal with the Whitaker family (pastor of the international church we attended when in Phnom Penh), ending with a Christmas carol/song sing together.

In Phnom Penh, one of my closest friends in Cambodia lived a stone’s throw away from where we were staying and our kids could play almost everyday together. Our girls were so happy to have friends. I was so happy to get extra time with Ayra. We made Christmas cookies together with our kids, chatted, prayed together – I was spoiled. 

The CMA family put together a meal train for us after Micah’s birth and provided us meals for about two weeks – it was amazing! I felt so spoiled. One friend even came and made pizza with the kids. 

To sum it up, we were very blessed by being surrounded by people who are all apart of our family in Christ. We’re so thankful – so blessed. Note – all pictures were taken after Micah’s birth.

One of the last things we did before packing up and moving to Phnom Penh for Micah’s birth was celebrating Cambodian Coronation Day the last week of October. This is our 6th year celebrating and we continue to enjoy the tradition of making crowns, dressing up, and having a coronation service to crown the new Kings and Queens of Cambodia.

Ezra was not into dressing up or getting his picture taken. He did however, join the procession to the coronation and walked quite regally to his throne.

In the evening we had hotdogs, Mac & Cheese, and baked beans. We also celebrated Isaiah’s completion of All About Reading Level 4. He chose Qwerkle as the game of the night – (thank you Whittakers!).

For the first 11 weeks of school we studied birds in science class. We had great fun doing different projects. The kids enjoyed making nests.

We had a great lesson trying to break a chicken egg. After each student had tried two times, Isaiah dropped the egg and it got a tiny crack in it. Becca was out of the room at the time, so we let her try one more time when she came back. The howls of laughter from her siblings when the egg broke was priceless. She also enjoyed being the star of the show.

In case you’re wondering where is Ezra during science class….he’s usually napping. It’s challenging to teaching science when he’s awake. And other times during the day…if he’s not with others, here’s a few snapshots of what you might catch him doing…. (The bucket bath pictures of after supper and always supervised. )

We welcomed Micah Ebenezer Jensen to our family on November 16, 2020. (More details to follow in a later post – I’m a little busy right now!) Thankful.

Today – Thanksgiving Day – we celebrated Becca’s 11th birthday. Becca was a preemie, born on Thanksgiving Day, 2.5 months before her due date in February. Thankful.

Last month, Anna pulled both her top front baby teeth out, within about a week from each other. She pulled her top, front, right tooth out on October 8, 2020. It was her first time to pull out a tooth by herself. One of her bottom ones fell out on it’s own and the other bottom one was pulled by Gloria F. When Anna pulled out her own tooth, she thought it was the Best Day Ever!

On October 15th, 2020 Anna pulled her top, front, left tooth out. She thought it was hilarious! SO brave. We usually don’t even know she’s pulling out her tooth until she’s laughing later on. She’s so cute with her missing teeth!

October 16, 2020 we had a party for Anna & Clara to celebrate their completion of All About Reading Level 1! Our party consisted of each student reading a story from their Vol. 3 book, a presentation of certificates and gifts, and each girl got to choose a game for us all to play together. Anna chose SkipBo, and Clara chose Clue the Card Game.

Teaching reading to Anna & Clara together has been really fun for me. It’s nice to have two students to work with and they are usually the best of friends!

Ezra wasn’t too interested in playing games, so he just read on the couch. Isaiah decided to dress up so he could match Josh.

It was a game-playing day, since earlier in the afternoon we played Querkle.

Usually, Becca watches Ezra during the time I teach the 1st graders. It works great, since Ezra can tag along while Becca brushes her teeth and fixes her hair. But Ezra often escapes and tries to join 1st grade too.

Awhile back I saw it was National Daughter’s Day…with three girls, everyday at our house is daughter’s day. God has blessed us with three beautiful girls ages 10.5 (soon to be 11), 6.5, & 4.5 years old. We have three very fun, creative, crazy girls that each have different personalities. May God give us grace and wisdom to point each one to Christ.

One of my greatest hopes for our children is that they will remain close throughout life. Twenty-some years from now (if the Lord allows us to stay in Cambodia), our children will all be halfway around the world and we’ll be in Cambodia. My hope is that they will be close and the best of friends and will enjoy each other’s company as well as weather the storms life together. I love it when our kids play together and laugh and enjoy one another’s company. I pray they will always do so.

October 2, 2020 we had our performance night for September, since was it was the end of the week. Clara and Anna performed Work, and Hearts are Like Doors, both by Anonymous.

Isaiah performed A Tragic Story by William Makepeace Thackeray. I was most impressed with his improvement the last few days before the performance. He went from being embarrassed to being very confident and expressive. Isaiah also performed a piano piece – the last piece in his method book.

Becca gave a book report on Our of Hiding by Catherine Farnes. Becca also performed two piano pieces. And a highlight was Becca and Isaiah performing their first duet together. They did great!

We added a new performer – Ezra, who performed Eric Carle’s book From Head to Toe. He loves to bow and pretend to say his sister’s poems all the time – but this night he had a little stage fright.

After Josh and I gave book reports, we ended with a play by the Jensen Children entitled Courtship Tips from the Birds. The kids and I came up with the idea during our science lesson about male birds and their attraction techniques. The kids did a great job! We didn’t tell Josh about the play topic and so we could surprise him. He laughed several times, so we knew it was a success!

And now for the video!

After delaying cutting our little man’s hair, October 3, 2020 was the day for his first haircut! Where’s our baby (he’s almost 26 months)? It’s time to get ready to be a big brother!

Ezra was not the most compliant boy for his first haircut. But we survived – with the help of gum, mango, movies, and sprinkles.

Here’s a shot of Isaiah who had his first haircut at 18 months.

As long as we can remember, Anna has loved praying mantises. She loves when they fly into our house and she can catch them. We have seen at least three different colors of praying mantis: green, dark brown/black, and recently an army camouflaged one. (Also note – Anna can now braid her hair by herself.)

These photos capture some of the joy Anna gets from having a praying mantis friend for a time!

This month Ezra’s speech has really taken off. On September 18th he woke up in the morning calling for Mommy and Daddy, and overnight we went from Mama & Dada to our official names. It’s so cute to hear Ezra say two and three word phrases. He’s always making us laugh. Some of our favorites are: Mama, watch me! More, again. Shiver me timbers! Moto ride. Joke! He loves to try to say the poems his sisters are learning and then he bows at the end. It’s amazing to see how his speech has taken off.

We had our second annual celebration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day this month. It was an exciting day for all. Pirate singing, pirate painting, pirate stories, pirate plays, and hotdogs & beans!

On the eve of our celebration we had a torrential downpour and our gutters (which were way overdue for a cleaning) overflowed into our room…right onto Josh’s sleeping face (our mattress got soaked). We spent 2 hours moving things, cleaning up, and setting up a bed on the floor in our main room to sleep on. We said it was like we had to abandon ship during a storm. The kids slept through it all (even those we were also moving things out of their room too). They woke up to find our “pirate ship” set up on the main room. Exciting start of the day!

In the evening, we had hotdogs and beans – per Ezra’s request. Dessert was lime bars made by Becca. After dinner each of the kids did a show about pirates. Each child used different things for his/her show. Clara used magnatiles and wooden people that Becca painted, Anna used playdough, Isaiah used his family, and Becca used stick people which she painted to look like family members.

We ended the evening watching two episodes from a 1950’s Robin Hood series. Arrrrrr!

This school year we’ve started having monthly performance nights. We had our first performance night on August 28, 2020 – it was Poetry Night. Each grade level prepared a poem to recite. The first graders (Anna & Clara) recited The Caterpillar by Christina Rosetti. They made caterpillar sock puppets, paper toads, birds, and butterflies to enhance their performance. The girls each performed by themselves and then gave a class performance.

Isaiah recited The Land of Nod by Robert Louis Stevenson. He turned his poem into a play and had lots of props to act out the different lines. Becca recited all three parts of Northway Passage by Robert Louis Stevenson. We were very impressed with her recitation. The kids loved her use of a candle. Even the parents recited. I recited The Cat May Look at the King by Laura Richards. And Josh recited The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Our last performance was some piano pieces performed by Becca. We were celebrating her completion of Alfred Level 1 Piano Method Book. We ended the night with chocolate covered ice cream bites.

And now for the video!

One day a week we have history day, when we spend the morning going through a chapter of our history book, doing coloring and map work, and doing activities that go along with the chapter. Last month we had a Chinese Day as we studied Genghis Khan and his grandson Kublai. The kids made Chinese lanterns.

We made Chinese chicken with peanut sauce. The first graders cut up all the cucumbers. Isaiah made the peanut sauce. Becca stir fried the chicken. We ate under our lanterns with chopsticks and drank raspberry leaf tea. Isaiah’s comment on the meal: “I thought it would just be fun to make, but it was fun to make and good to eat!”

Anna and Clara are enjoying 1st grade. They are memorizing Christina G Rosetti’s poem – The Caterpillar – so we did some face painting.

On July 27, 2020 we started the 2020-21 school year! I spent hours preparing goals, lesson plans, and curriculum for the new year. This year Becca is in 5th Grade, Isaiah is in 3rd Grade, and Anna & Clara are in 1st Grade! Ezra turned 2 on August 13th. Exciting time!

In July we enjoyed an afternoon and dinner with some C&MA missionaries talking an orientation trip of Cambodia. It was good to spend some time getting to know the families.

We had a lovely day with the Burke family celebrating the Fourth of July! The Burkes prepared a wonderful meal, including hotdogs, hamburgers, macaroni salad, potatoes, chips & dip, watermelon, and fruit punch. Our kids provided the decorations!

The kids enjoyed the Burkes’ yard and especially enjoyed petting the rabbits!