Crystal’s Birthday over Khmer New Year

This morning we celebrated Crystal’s Birthday during the closing day of the Khmer New Year holiday. It has been hot so we already had the pool set up for the holiday. We invited some of the team over to swim in the pool, play games, and eat cake. Crystal has been spending a lot of…

Charlotte’s 8th Birthday

Last month we celebrated Charlotte’s 8th birthday in isolation. All four of us had COVID-19 at the time but, fortunately, the birthday girl had the mildest symptoms of the four of us. She had been hoping for a birthday party with her friends from school but, while disappointed, was completely understanding of the situation. At…

Catherine’s 4th Birthday

It’s strange to look at photos from when we moved here in 2019 and realize how small Catherine was! She’s so big and strong now. She’s also four as of Saturday! I can hardly believe how fast my girls are growing up. After school on Thursday, Charlotte and I made a chocolate cake for Catherine’s…

Crystal’s Birthday in Lockdown

Yesterday we celebrated Crystal’s birthday in full lockdown. We’d been planning to go visit an elephant refuge in distant Mondulkiri province for her birthday but as the COVID-19 situation in country has worsened we had to abandon those plans. Then, when Phnom Penh went into full lockdown, it became clear that we’d need to celebrate…

6th Birthday

Charlotte turned six last month. Per her request, she had fried chicken for her lunch (at school) and spaghetti for dinner. The Area Directors were in town for our first country program review and joined the festivities. As parents, we enjoyed that Charlotte asked for birthday gifts like yoga mats and bean bag chairs. (Okay,…

37th Birthday

I turned thirty seven this week. Crystal baked my traditional birthday cake – Jewish Apple Cake – to celebrate and even found a place that sells hoagies in Phnom Penh. The Jewish Apple Cake was wonderful and the staff were quite impressed by Crystal’s baking skills! During my last term it was next to impossible…