Celebrating Nathan- 10 Years as DAD

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Hiking the Rice Fields

What an incredibly beautiful area this is! We spent the whole morning hiking through the rice fields around our village. Most of the fields have been plowed already, and the rice will be transplanted once the seedling rice paddies have grown another couple weeks.

There's a lot moving around in there...

Stopping for a rest

Enjoying the view from another rest spot

 Zach lost his shoe right in the crack where he's pointing. He stuck his hand into the water, fished around, and pulled his shoe up again. I thought it was a goner.

Coming back on the main road. Umbrella to block the sun. The picture doesn't quite do justice to the heat!

 

These are the Days

One day, I'm going miss all these kids. I'll miss waking up first thing on the weekend to hear kids calling through the gate to come play.  I'll miss 30 kids running through our gate and the constant noise of laughing and playing everywhere. Kids here have been great friends to our kids, lifted my spirits on many low days, and broke me of my need for my time and days to go the way I choose. And they're always the first to come out and welcome us to a village. We are blessed, blessed, blessed.

10 years! Happy and Blessed.

Party in the Village

 3 shots from a party the kids and I attended with our friend. It was truly so much fun, such friendly people, and the kids were happy as clams. Too bad we didn't get many photos. Here's at our friend's house before we walked to the party.

The kids were so into the food.  Especially Elijah... not sure how many plates he ate.

Random Shots from School

 finding places on the map

spelling

making maps

circles of latitude

flashcards

Zach designs his own coats of arms

Elijah's reading through his Bible for the first time

working on Lao... but maybe need to work on that English :)

phonics, oh yeah!

More Lao

More and more and more Lao

Happy 8th, Elijah! You're so fun to celebrate!

Elijah's 8th birthday was memorable in that it was the first time he wanted to invite all his Lao friends to a party, so we dropped by the village school a day before his birthday and invited the boys in both the 2nd and 3rd grades.

Elijah was so happy. He came by a couple times with a big smile to say, "This is the best ever!" 

Eva and I worked on the cake together. Elijah saw it in the fridge beforehand and his reaction was priceless, "How did you EVER do it?" Which made all the work worth it, haha!

 Games with Dad are the best! Highest jump, best balance, running and swinging, everything Elijah loves.

Our 3rd loses his 1st and 2nd

Breakfast

 This morning was just right for breakfast at our favorite Chinese place. We had to make a quick run to town first thing, which took us right by the bustling Chinese restaurant. Suddenly the soups and dumplings began to sound like just the thing.

Elijah is a master dipping sauce creator.

And Zach just wouldn't be Zach if he made it out of the house with matching footwear. Cutie pie.

Jump back to Christmas

For Christmas this year, we surprised Elijah and Zach with a crossbow!

 

 warrior pose

The arrow shot right through the board

Target practice, day 2

Trying it out on Christmas Day

Day 2