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.