A Bunch of Burts

This Sunday it was Ema’s turn to sit in the birthday chair!

She was happier than she looks in this picture. She just wanted to get to those presents!

Actually, we celebrated her special day on Saturday the 20th instead of her actual birthday, the 21st. Sunday was going to be a super busy day, and our guests (yippee!) arrived on Saturday afternoon, so we gave her ‘the chair’ on Saturday instead.

Ema is the only one of the kids who likes coffee, and steals a sip from Daddy every chance she gets. Except on her birthday, she does not have to steal. It is the one day a year that she gets her very own cup, and she looks forward to it all year.

Enjoy it girl! Your birthday is only once a year!

Ema is 12 now, one year away from being a teenager. In Thai, from ages born to 12 they are called koo-ap, and from 13 on the years are called bii. Ema is eager to become bii next year, but I am still content to have her one more year as koo-ap.

We love you Ema! Happy Birthday!

I have not posted a WFMW in a while. Sometimes I just don’t have anything clever to share, but I still enjoy visiting Shannon’s site and checking out all the other wonderful ideas the bloggy ladies, and a few men!, have to share.

This is a hectic time of year, and I thought someone might appreciate our Sunday night dinner standby. I cannot claim credit, we have borrowed, stolen or appropriated this idea from a couple of other families here.

Our menu:
Popcorn
Apples and other cut up fruit
Cheese ( I am sure this will appeal to you Scott)
maybe muffins if I am ambitious,
and a movie!

Lately we have also been supplementing with market food, but you probably don’t have a great Thai market near you to buy a bag of sticky rice and spicy papaya salad. That’s OK, you can get along without it.

We all enjoy Sunday dinner, I don’t have to cook. Not to mention clean up is easy as well, and there are usually no leftovers to deal with.

I used to make a big Sunday dinner like I used to eat at my grandmother’s house every week as a kid, but this is just as appreciated by my family, and I like it to!

Don’t forget to go to Shannon’s and see what other wisdom is being peddled.
Merry Christmas!

P.S. if this is not what my link said, all I can say is I have no idea why the words say something other than the link I entered. I can only use the technology as long as it does what I say, I cannot fix or troubleshoot!

I would give some clever excuse and justifiable reason why my last post was in October. eek. But I won’t. My friend Kathy said it here much better than I can. Feel free to read her, I mean our, reasoning.

But the 14th birthday of my firstborn is definitely worth sharing and posting a picture or two about!

Ema is counting down to when she gets to sit in the birthday chair, 6 more days!

Leah turned 14 today and some days I can hardly believe it. She already has it figured out how old she will be when we go home on our first furlough and how old she will be when we return and how many years left until she graduates and on and on.
Mostly I prefer not to think too much about that right now, just enjoy the time right now with her.
I try to convince her not to rush through her time as a child only marking time until she is ‘older’, that these years are precious, and once she moves to the land of adulthood, she will wish she had kiddo-years back. But the mind of a teenager often thinks they cannot grow up quick enough, and we know better with our hindsight, that yes indeed, it is quick and it is quick enough.
But for now, she is still my little girl, although she measures almost daily to see if she has finally grown taller than me. I still have just a smidgen on her.
Leah, we love you, and are so thankful that the Lord gave you to us as our first-born and has blessed us with 14 years so far with you.

She woke to her traditional birthday chair and fun presents and her choice of breakfast.
Biscuits and gravy.

If there is a breakfast that is more American and un-Thai than that, I cannot think of what it would be. The biscuits and gravy were a hit with everyone, but only because it has been so long since they had them made properly that no one remembers what it is supposed to taste like. hahaha.
I am not a gravy-maker, I try, but it is not my specialty. Greg’s mom, now she can make gravy!

Happy Birthday Leah! We love you very much!