August 10th marked our two year anniversary in Cambodia. I got my dates mixed up and so we celebrated today. Just like last year, we splurged on lactose free ice cream in the mid-afternoon.

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In 2020, Crystal started us on a daily routine of writing a gratitude for the day on a notecard (you can actually see the original format in the background of the 2020 photo) but at some point that morphed into a folded paper that we each draw/write a daily gratitude on. To commemorate this year’s anniversary each of us selected two gratitude cards to share from this year.

This was also a good for us to remember what we were grateful over the last year. Lots of good memories and lots to be thankful for.

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Charles

In this daily gratitude card, I was grateful for activities with the girls; you can see Charlotte painting water colors and Catherine climbing the tree at our new house. Crystal was grateful for the outside space at our new house; glad that we were able eat and be together outside. Charlotte was grateful for a massage from her mom. I’m not sure why Catherine was grateful for a bat. A very, very colorful bat? She was a little young to understand what we were going for but, as always, she was eager to be included and did her best.

I picked this one to share because of Charlotte’s fantastic drawing of the tree, the wind, and the rain. It’s just fantastic and one of my favorites of hers. I was grateful for being able have a nice talk with Mom upstairs while listening to the girls play downstairs. I remember that they were playing so sweetly and it really cute, but also that I so glad for this new house where we can hear them no matter where we are. It was often hard to find them in the house we spent most of our first year in. Crystal was grateful for the MCC team. The grid of people probably means this was a Friday when we have our weekly all-team Zoom check-in call. Catherine was grateful for Kings, Queens, and a ghost.

Catherine

In this one, Catherine was grateful for Sailor Moon. One of my mistakes last year was letting the girls watch some vintage 1990s Sailor Moon episodes during a lock-down and they have never let me forget it. Crystal was grateful for our Peace Coordinator, Rory, and our Connecting Peoples Coordinator, Clivia. I was grateful for wrestling with the girls. Catherine loves this drawing of them pummeling me which is why she picked this one. Charlotte – just beginning to sound out words and write for herself – was grateful for tiny Legos.

I’m not sure what Catherine was grateful for in this one – we forgot to write it down – and she doesn’t remember. I was grateful for a fun adventure with Catherine. This was during a break in COVID-19 restrictions, so we went out to the bookstore and park for the first time in a long time. Charlotte was grateful for listening to an audiobook on jeremyPad (the iPad that my brother Jeremy gave us before we left). I think this one must have been a Saturday. We had a no audiobook during the week rule for most of last year because Charlotte would get so excited listening to them that she couldn’t sleep and would be up until 9PM. Crystal was grateful for peaceful days, girls playing, and rest.

Charlotte

I don’t think we did a blog post about this – it was pretty stressful – but early in 2021 Charlotte swallowed a large Lego and had to spend a night in the hospital to have it removed. It was a pretty traumatic event for her (and us). Crystal spent the night with Charlotte in the hospital and I spent the night with Catherine who was very concerned. It went very well and the hospital was great, but it was the first time Charlotte had to be put under by anesthesia. So, here, Charlotte picked the gratitude card for the day after. Crystal was grateful for the support community Charlotte. I was grateful for Charlotte being healthy and for the hospital helping her. Charlotte was grateful for the “Doctor taking good care of me.” And Catherine… Catherine was grateful for girls and boys guarding each other from the rain and the other bright girl hugging them.

In this one, Charlotte was grateful for getting to her goal in climbing the coconut tree. Her goal was to reach a spot about six-seven feet up. Now that she’s mastered climbing the mango tree she’s very interested in mastering the coconut tree but we’re more cautious because the skills to go up a coconut tree are different from the skills needed to come down. So we’re set some goals to climb up to and down from. I was grateful for breakfast with my family (this was after a few weeks of early mornings at the office working on that grant proposal so I was glad to be back with them). Catherine was grateful that she’d learned to draw/write X. Crystal was grateful for Charlotte’s progress, Catherine’s good attitude, and a good meeting with the MCC Area Directors.

Crystal

Here Crystal was grateful for a good day with her girls. I was grateful for Charades! I came home from the office at lunch to find Crystal and the girls playing a wonderful game of animal charades outside. Charlotte was grateful for Catherine and her organizing their boxes. Charlotte really likes to organize and decide where things go. Catherine was grateful for boys and girls protecting each other from the wind.

This was one from December 2020. Crystal was grateful for Christmas in our new house. I was grateful for playing Ticket to Ride with the girls. Charlotte was grateful for happy tears, the cats Sumo & Miso, books, and drawing. Sumo had disappeared for a long time, maybe six weeks, and Charlotte was very relieved when he suddenly showed up. Catherine was grateful for Jesus.

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So that was a good way to remember our second year here in Cambodia. It was a year of COVID-19 restrictions and limited face-to-face time, but it was still a good year and we have felt very blessed.