Cameron's 7th Birthday!

Wow, it is hard to believe we have a seven year old! It seems just like yesterday that he was born and now he is such his own young man it seems, with interests, great ideas, and plans.   It is so fun to see him become the boy God created him to be and to help him grow in wisdom and stature. God has great things in store for Cameron and through him.  He is such a joyful,  thoughtful, observant, helpful, easy-going, boy who loves soccer and to run outside. We had a great day as a family celebrating him. It started off actually the night before when we took him out to dinner wherever he wanted to go. He chose a favorite Tex-Mex restaurant within walking distance. It was  a treat for all of us.  Yesterday morning he woke up to cinnamon rolls with blue frosting and some small gifts from his siblings.  After his Tuesday after-school ball games, he came home to his favorite meal...home-made chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, and cooked apples, and we topped it off with brownies and ice-cream for dessert!  During dinner we spent time telling him what we all appreciated about him and then I asked him a bunch of questions. IT was fun to learn more about him.  One of the questions was: "What did you enjoy doing this past year?"  He answered, "Books!"  I am so thankful he is enjoying books and learning to read. I let him write out the answers and one fun answer he had to "What do you like to learn in school" He wrote: 1 + 3 = 4.  (Math) :) What a fun, whitty kid! I had to do some translating, but Laura Cate said, " I am glad you go to school, Cameron, and I go too." She meant she was glad that he likes going to his school and that she gets to go see him there...oh, she is so proud of her big brother.  Cameron waited patiently to open some gifts from grandparents and us while we skyped with them. Being halfway around the world is not easy! We stayed up late and played with his newest LEGO set and ended our day together! We love you Cameron!  We are so blessed to call you our son.

Cameron enjoying his very own root beer while out to eat at Peter's for his birthday dinner

Us at dinner...Laura Cate was there but refused to get in the picture and I knew we had a limited window of time with William to do it...so, just us and our boys!

Cameron birthday morning waking up early to balloons

enjoying some dessert, soo yummy!

Cameron and Laura Cate

                         

                                    talking on the phone with Grandma and Granddad while opened their presents

us enjoying putting LEGOS together after William went down.  Even Laura Cate did a great job sorting and finding pieces for us. Of course, she loves doing whatever Cameron is doing. 

playing Monopoly as a family for the first time...Star Wars style...very fun! 

On Thursday I was able to go to his school and pass out cupcakes to his class. It was fun seeing them all together.  They sang and he helped pass out the cupcakes and then he finally sat down to his....before I insisted on another photo :) he really just wanted to eat the cupcake...come on mom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A GREAT GUY!
 We love you Cameron Jackson. We have had seven wonderfully blessed years with you and look forward to this next year. 

Our dog (on loan)

Kopou

Some dear friends of ours went to the States for six months and were desperately looking for someone to take care of their nine year old Golden Retriever.  At first the thought never crossed our mind to take care of a dog. Actually, it did, and it was more like, "I wish I could but I cant handle having another living thing to feed, walk, and talk care of." But then we suddenly moved apartments because our lease ran out and we ended up on the top floor with a roof and grass and a fence...the previous owners had a dog, so then we decided we wanted to be a blessing to them and take their dog.  We loved her! Her name was Kopou (pronounced Copo, or cocoa as other kids called her). She was a great dog for us and the easiest doggie ever! Our kids loved to take her on walks and feed her and she was so loved.  Even baby William got excited when he saw her.  We are thankful for the time we had with her. Sadly, though,I went to check on her and and suddenly noticed something that didn't look good near her bottom :(  Alan just happened to be at home so he looked at her and we knew she needed to go to a vet.  Laura Cate kept saying, "it's ok girl, it's ok." She seemed happy and not in pain at all...just her usual self.  Unfortunately, I did not know that that would be our last time to see her.

Cameron enjoyed running with her

Kopou had a tumor and we called her owners who decided it was too hard and to put her to sleep.  We will miss her, but are so thankful for the unexpected gift she was to our family! Thank you to the Sims who let us take care of her.  She was such a great dog! We are so sad for them and know that they miss her even more than we do.  It is still sad to go on our roof and not see her running to the gate, so happy and ready to play.

lucky William was right at nose level and got lots of licks. He loved petting her ears and touching her wet nose. We took her on lots of walk (sometimes she walked me if there was a cat around). 

Laura Cate was of course fearless and enjoyed playing ball with her

October Holiday

a typical house in the countryside

Our feast! 

October Holiday is the national holiday here and we enjoyed spending time at a friend's farm house. We grilled out and they made amazing fresh curry and other cooked veggies right from their crops.  The kids had a great time climbing the mountainside and just being outside.  I guess after living here for over ten years we should consider ourselves city dwellers, but oh, we still love being outside and having the kids run around.  We saw pigs, chickens, and even picked pumpkins!  We are so thankful for our friends to be so generous with their home and food.

 

some of the kids after they came back from their hike

some of us preparing food while the kids were hiking with the other adults

Cameron and Laura Cate

A friend, different than the one actually holding the chicken,  caught one of the chickens on the farm, bought it, and took it home to eat!  I didn't see it, but I heard it was quite a sight seeing our friend running around trying to catch the chicken!