Hi all. Sorry for the delay in this latest update. We were off for a week of school and enjoyed a nice break in kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I haven't had the time to write until now, a full week later, but will let you know what we were up to.
Malaysia is such a wonderfully culturally diverse country, with many mixes of races and religion who all live together in harmony. I felt like being back in Canada, like vancouver or I imagine Toronto is very much like this, seeing every form of asian, indian, middle eastern, african, all at the same place and the same time--just living there! I have never been in such a Muslim culture either, and we saw many women in full burka's and with heads covered. Sure makes you think, and I really felt for those women. They would be dressed nicely, wearing jewelry or make-up, yet they had to completely cover their head and hair. In the washrooms, they would look at themselves in the mirror just as you or I would, but instead of primping their hair a bit, they would adjust their scarf, make sure it looked nice. It was interesting.
We toured the city to see the big tourist spots which allowed us access to the National Mosque. Although being Christians, we were not allowed into the prayer room area, we could walk through the halls, read all the literature, and I'm sure you'll all love the pictures of Dean and I "covered" in our purple robes! The attendant had to ask Julia how old she was to see if she needed to cover her head, too. Anyways, it was a priviledge to be able to walk about that place and pray to Jesus, claiming Him King over all this, even if Muslims don't realize it yet!
There are many large buildings in this modern city, so we enjoyed some modern conveniences that we don't get on a regular basis in PP. The Petronas Twin towers were beautiful and impressive, and the parks and monuments were just such a breath of fresh air, from the third world garbage and broken up streets we see so much of here.
Some of the funnier (they're funny now, at least) aspects of our trip included our difficulties with accommodations. Booking off the internet never gives you a true sense of what you're getting! In the 6 nights we slept in Malaysia, we stayed in 4 different rooms. The first place had common bathrooms and the tiniest room with 2 bunk beds (a double on the bottom of one) which was not to Dean's delight. When we put our luggage on the floor, there was actually no room to step (for one, let alone 5 of us), there was no window either, and the metal bunks squeaked at EVERY small turn of the night. None of us slept well so that was the first room.
THe second place was a budget hotel one street over who had a family room for just one night, and was a little dingy but actually a bit cheaper, with an attached bathroom and tv. The third night, we had to move to a smaller room, a double and a single pushed together for our ENTIRE family! (kissin' cousins that night!) When we entered this room that evening and turned the light on, you guessed it--the scury of little cockroaches fluttered around the floor. We precisely asked the front desk for spray and were ruthless in our attempt to eliminate sharing our room with these little guys. Praise God they were babies! I would never have lasted with the big ones!
This was also the night I was not feeling well and tossing and turning all night. We did have a bit of sickness on this trip, which again sort of add up to a rather amusing tale. Maya complained of a sore tummy the morning we were going to go up the KL (Kuala Lumpur) tower, a big tower like the CN Tower or the Seattle Space Needle, so she didn't eat much breakfast, a good thing in hindsight! Yes, as we were actually ON the big elevator going up to the top of the tower, Steph exclaims, "look at Maya!" and we need not tell the the rest of the gory details! At the top of the elevator ride, the door open to this beautifully dressed Malaysian woman saying, "Welcome to the KL Tower---" She stops cold. "Could you show us to the nearest toilet?" I exclaim! haha. Maya was totally fine after that, running around looking out the windows! She just smelled like barf for the rest of the day, but then again, so did Dean and I for trying to help her out!
Maybe she was just really fatigued, or had a bit of a stomach thing too, but Julia, late at the end of that same day, relieved herself of the small supper she too had eaten, in a garbage can in the mall! I'm sorry, this is really gross, and at the time, I was horrified (as I usually am at this type of sickness,) but she too was fine after that and a good sleep. THAT was the night I felt sick all night, and slept off the better part of the next day. It was around then, that Dean started to catch a cold, and we came back to PP to find that SO MANY of the staff members and students got this same bad cold right around the same time! So, it might have been in the works before leaving? Who knows! He's still actually, battling it--it's been a long one.
Finally, the last place we stayed was actually a pretty good budget hotel right beside the Sunway Lagoon waterpark and theme park--the Asian version of a small Disney. The waterpark was really fun, very clean and loaded with people. I can almost guarantee that Dean was the ONLY blond male sighted that whole day in the entire park. There were a couple blond women, a few kids, but no guys! Talk about a minority! Asian of every kind and color was there.
Asian culture for swimming, incase you didn't know, is SO very different from North America. Many, if not most Asians, swim either fully clothed, or very clothed. Add to that, the Muslim aspect of the culture, and there actually is this type of swim suit that has been nick named "the birk-ini" because it totally covers the whole body and head. The women look like they're going to go snorkeling in a full wetsuit, with a skirt on it! It's sure different. Even our kids feel way more comfortable swimming with a t-shirt and shorts over their suit. Otherwise, there's just so many looks, at least here in PP. (Actually, I found there was much less staring at us there in malaysia, than in Cambodia.) While we were at the park, there were large corporate groups with matching t-shirt, having "team building day" or "family day" there at the park. So, did I mention there were lots of people? haha. It really was packed.
We arrived safely home, and almost all of us exclaimed how good it was to be "home." Funny, eh? How Cambodia can feel like home to us already. Even just driving home from the airport, I couldn't help but think how much more "interesting" Cambodia was than Malaysia! The neat streets, orderly traffic, big building don't hold a candle to tuk tuk's, random traffic and motos loaded with 4 and 5 people! It had been Water Festival in Cambodia that week, and that is when everyone from the provinces comes to the big city to watch the boat races. Apparently the police were stopping all the big vans, taxis and buses of people at the outskirts of the city, and forcing the people out, so they would have to take a tuk tuk or moto into the city. (yes, with all their luggage, etc.) This was to clear some of the traffic congestion that is even worse during the festival. This may have explained the tuk tuks full of up to 20 people that we saw coming in from the airport, and the reason the van that picked us up, was blocked from using certain streets, until they could explain that they lived there and then we were let through. Never a dull moment. Even one of our staff members coming back from Ho Chi Min was forced to get out of their bus, I think, and find an alternative method of getting into town.
That, then, is the looking back over the last two weeks. Then, well, the week just got away on us, having school only from Wed to Friday. So nice to have a holiday. A very different "halloween" than many of you celebrated back there in North America. At one point in one of the many amazing malls we were in, Dean says to Julia, "is that Darth Vader? No, it's only a woman in a Burka!" Very funny. Well, i know what my next halloween costume is going to be...
Looking forward is very exciting and somewhat daunting. Now that school has resumed adn it's November, I'm starting to practice for the Christmas concerts, something the kids just get so excited for and it's something this country really needs--Celebrate, tell the story of Jesus birth! It is quite exciting.
Dean continues to be swamped with necessary preparations for the new school. He is daily trying to look for supplies, make decisions regarding the final stages of construction on the building. It's taking a bit of a toll, I mean he really enjoys it and puts in alot of effort, but it's often to find out that things can't go as he was originally told they would. Dean has spend countless hours in tile shops trying to pick tiles for the pool and other areas of the school. After decisions are made, he is told the tile in unavalable, or just "can't do." This happened with paint and paint colors, things he is told are Ok, suddenly can't happen and changes have to be made after so many hours have already been invested. It is challenging and frustrating. Then there is still the regular job of running the school, on top of the construction issues, so it's alot right now. You can pray for him to make wise decisions and to get rid of this cold, and to be able to breath out of his nose, as his chronic nasal polyp problem is currently blocking his breathing which makes sleep difficult.
The Asian Hope Newsletter has a great link to see the school, which I'll include here.Visit www.AsianHope.org and click on ‘Newsletters’ on the left to read this month's issue of The Flame.
The girls are very well. Julia has had her friend Emma sleep over last night, Maya was at a little birthday part for Noah,her friend's brother after school yesterday. Those kinds of things are fun for them all. We are starting to get excited for Christmas and will put up our tree soon, as this helps us remember that even in this heat, it is actually Christmas time! it's actually been a bit cooler these morning, with a wonderful breeze. The rainy season is on it's way out now, so we'll have cooler temps for a few months, then the hot season.
Ministry wise, we are still thankful to be out here. I find myself with a different kind or amount of contact with the kids this year, so need to remember to pray more for them specifically. Dean usually finds his "desk" job removed from the kids, and now that his title this year is "elementary" principal, he gets out in the mornings now, to mix with the smaller kids and get to know them a bit. The staff here is just exceptional this year, especially our Gr. 1 teacher, who is doing such a better job than we did last year! I'm so thankful for the kids! Many here with big hearts for the kids, not just for their academic growth, but mostly for their spiritual growth and their hearts. It's just awesome to be a part of this!
Looking back, it is easy to see God's hand in our lives, even when it's not always obvious at the time. Looking forward, when we don't know what the future holds, we have his past faithfulness to remember. He is never leaving us to our own devices, even when we probably deserve it, but he's teaching, guiding, and we need to listen.
Thanks for all your love and prayers. Keep e-mailing us with info on your lives. We love to hear from you.
For now, in Christ,
L
PS A quick funny story from Steph. She has a friend "Pree" in Gr. 8 who we have seen previously, driving to school in an SUV, with her driver or Dad riding shotgun. THis was mostly last year. This year, she drives HERSELF to school in a car! No kidding! Anyways, one morning before school started, Steph runs up to me and says, "can I go?" I don't know what she's refering to, but on further investigation, turns out Pree is going for an iced coffee run before school, and wants Steph to go with her, IN HER CAR, WITH HER DRIVING! When I finally realize this, I'm torn. The kid's been driving forever out here, she's probably a good driver, but let's be honest, she is still only 13 years old! Maybe 14 if she's lucky! I exclaim, "Do you have a licence?" Sure enough, she did and showed it to me,"How did you get this?" "Money," was the reply. I didn't let Steph go, and she was mildly disappointed, but I don't think she thought she would be allowed to go in the first place! She's got a good head on her shoulders. Funny, hey? Just another tale for the "only in Cambodia" list!
Take care all!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
No News is Good News...
Whoa, who changed the screen?? Do you see green? Everything looks different to me! I guess Dean's got in here. Cool. If it looks the same to you, something has changed on my blog page! anyways...
Well, no news is good news. Seriously, we have very little news to report in the area of general life out here, since we last wrote. Things are going very well. The kids are all fine, Maya is really reading words, so everyday I get all excited about that. Dean is still continually heading out to the new school to work on the progress there. There is ALWAYS alot to do in our library, from fine tuning the current library, to preparing for the new space, which is HUGE in comparison to our small space now.
And if anyone's looking for a special project to donate towards, the Logos library just might be it! We are in need of shelving, some desks and furniture, a magazine display--most things you can imagine in a new library. And our budget is... $0.
I had a certified librarian from OMF come out and look at our new facility, and she was just thrilled with the space and gave many good suggestions for it's use. We will continue to work with her a bit, and hopefully get something really special up and running to serve the school and the community, as libraries of any quality, are few and far between here.
Everyone keeps asking... are you guys staying on for another year? Are you going back? What are your plans? What do you guys think you're going to do...? We certainly don't blame everyone for the questions, and it's nice that they're interested. I'm sure all of you are to a degree as well. The answer to date is: No news is good news! Seriously! We've been asking God, trying to listen, and we honestly still don't know what His path is for us. That's ok with me--we still have some time. haha. (Am I still going to be so easy going about things in a few months from now?)
What I can say though with certainty, is that God has a very definitive plan, and I can see some of the pieces starting to come into play. It's very exciting and I look forward to sharing with all of you when we know the anwers. No news, so far, is good news, because everything about God is good, so when he is ready to share with us, it will be good news, even if it's not. (do you get what I mean??)
Happy birthdays to my two beautiful nephews, Benjamin 6 and Emmett, 2. and to Justine, on her 12th Birthday. From the pictures I see, that's 12 going on 16! What a beautiful girl you are! You all are beautiful. Glad to have you in our lives. Congratulations also, to that small little bump on Tracy, that is going to turn into a much larger bump over the next few months! We are so excited for you and for us to be aunty and uncle again! yay for babies!
We are heading into a week long vacation, as the King's Birthday and Khmer Water Festival all line up together. We will be back to school Wed, Nov 3. Then I will really start gearing up for the two Christmas concerts I will be involved with--the elementary musical, and the middle/high school concert. Looking forward to both, although alot of work ahead to put together two Christ-honoring shows. We are blessed to be able to spend this coming vacation going to Malaysia, and spending 6 days in Kuala Lumpur. (this was my infamous, $0 ticket seat sale, booked way back last year! Seriously! 5 return tickets for just the taxes and fuel surcharge, which was $150!) So, we're going to enjoy a bit of civiliation--movie theatres, shopping malls and maybe a starbucks or two. The things we can't get here. (Ok, maybe 3 starbucks--we'll see how expensive they are out there!)
Will sign off. Thanks all for your prayers. We continually remember you as well. If you get any inklings from the Lord about our future, let us know. You may be part of the plan! Cool.
L
PS Oh ya, the mold is growing back on the girls' desks, and it's on their drawers (made of the same type of wood) and on a shelf in our downstairs. Weird. And Gross. I managed this weekend, by borrowing spices and a blender from Ilana down the street, to make 2 pumpkin pies from pumpkin that was cooked over the thanksgiving weekend, but never had enough time to put into a pie then. Quite delicious, if I don't say so myself! (Sorry mom, really wanted to save you a piece!) However, main part of my story--MOLD ON MY ROLLING PIN! It's true--this green, dusty-type mold, same as on the desks. It must be because we back onto a lake, that it's just that much more humid inside the house. Washes off easy, but still. No mold is good mold!
See ya!
Well, no news is good news. Seriously, we have very little news to report in the area of general life out here, since we last wrote. Things are going very well. The kids are all fine, Maya is really reading words, so everyday I get all excited about that. Dean is still continually heading out to the new school to work on the progress there. There is ALWAYS alot to do in our library, from fine tuning the current library, to preparing for the new space, which is HUGE in comparison to our small space now.
And if anyone's looking for a special project to donate towards, the Logos library just might be it! We are in need of shelving, some desks and furniture, a magazine display--most things you can imagine in a new library. And our budget is... $0.
I had a certified librarian from OMF come out and look at our new facility, and she was just thrilled with the space and gave many good suggestions for it's use. We will continue to work with her a bit, and hopefully get something really special up and running to serve the school and the community, as libraries of any quality, are few and far between here.
Everyone keeps asking... are you guys staying on for another year? Are you going back? What are your plans? What do you guys think you're going to do...? We certainly don't blame everyone for the questions, and it's nice that they're interested. I'm sure all of you are to a degree as well. The answer to date is: No news is good news! Seriously! We've been asking God, trying to listen, and we honestly still don't know what His path is for us. That's ok with me--we still have some time. haha. (Am I still going to be so easy going about things in a few months from now?)
What I can say though with certainty, is that God has a very definitive plan, and I can see some of the pieces starting to come into play. It's very exciting and I look forward to sharing with all of you when we know the anwers. No news, so far, is good news, because everything about God is good, so when he is ready to share with us, it will be good news, even if it's not. (do you get what I mean??)
Happy birthdays to my two beautiful nephews, Benjamin 6 and Emmett, 2. and to Justine, on her 12th Birthday. From the pictures I see, that's 12 going on 16! What a beautiful girl you are! You all are beautiful. Glad to have you in our lives. Congratulations also, to that small little bump on Tracy, that is going to turn into a much larger bump over the next few months! We are so excited for you and for us to be aunty and uncle again! yay for babies!
We are heading into a week long vacation, as the King's Birthday and Khmer Water Festival all line up together. We will be back to school Wed, Nov 3. Then I will really start gearing up for the two Christmas concerts I will be involved with--the elementary musical, and the middle/high school concert. Looking forward to both, although alot of work ahead to put together two Christ-honoring shows. We are blessed to be able to spend this coming vacation going to Malaysia, and spending 6 days in Kuala Lumpur. (this was my infamous, $0 ticket seat sale, booked way back last year! Seriously! 5 return tickets for just the taxes and fuel surcharge, which was $150!) So, we're going to enjoy a bit of civiliation--movie theatres, shopping malls and maybe a starbucks or two. The things we can't get here. (Ok, maybe 3 starbucks--we'll see how expensive they are out there!)
Will sign off. Thanks all for your prayers. We continually remember you as well. If you get any inklings from the Lord about our future, let us know. You may be part of the plan! Cool.
L
PS Oh ya, the mold is growing back on the girls' desks, and it's on their drawers (made of the same type of wood) and on a shelf in our downstairs. Weird. And Gross. I managed this weekend, by borrowing spices and a blender from Ilana down the street, to make 2 pumpkin pies from pumpkin that was cooked over the thanksgiving weekend, but never had enough time to put into a pie then. Quite delicious, if I don't say so myself! (Sorry mom, really wanted to save you a piece!) However, main part of my story--MOLD ON MY ROLLING PIN! It's true--this green, dusty-type mold, same as on the desks. It must be because we back onto a lake, that it's just that much more humid inside the house. Washes off easy, but still. No mold is good mold!
See ya!
Monday, October 19, 2009
God's Power is not like that!
Hey all. Hello and want to fill you in on the last week.
Well, report cards came out last Friday. Good news all around. If it wasn't, I probably wouldn't be blogging it! haha. Everyone works pretty hard around here with school work, so we're blessed as parents. Attitudes are excellent. Grade are good or great, and where they're not good or great, future improvement is the goal. Even Maya had lovely comments about her unabashed enthusiasm for school. She's one big bundle of excitement. Today she brought home a big science experiment book from the library, and was begging me to try them all the minute we walked in the door!
Last week we had a power problem. We felt it a bit at school, with losing power here and there throughout the week, for not too long periods of time. But Thursday night, Dean was at ball hockey, I had just cleaned up maya and was ready to put her to bed (8ish) when there was a huge surge, and then 3 seconds later--nothing. Hoped it would be a short one, but unfortunately, 20 hours later, we received power again at the house.
Well, I brought lots of tea lights and some nice and functional candle holders from canada, so we were set for light. It's the heat that is unbearable. It was pretty hot that day, and it is just impossible to sleep with no airflow in the bedrooms. I decided to lug the mattresses outside on our deck and put up the mosquito nets and sleep outside! Yes, just like many cambodian's, sleeping under the stars. Except that we're rich beyond compare to them, and we had an overhang from the house, and our mosquito nets were "pop up," like an umbrella, AND we had padded mattresses--most people out here sleep on a straw mat, c'est tout!
So, the dogs barked incessantly all night. The illegal chop shop just down the street got a "shipment" that evening; some container full of cars and parts and who knows what all else. That was noisy. Then, sometime in the night, I saw lightening, but it didn't rain on us! (That would have been funny!). And the worst part is, we thought we were protected under our nets. Well, what I learned about myself that night is that I actually do get bitten by mosquito's, I guess I just don't feel it! 7 or 8 punch-drunk mosquitos, barely hovering inside my net when I woke up that morning--full of my blood! I killed them all, don't you worry! Unfortunately, some elbows or knees were sticking out, or holes in the seal of the nets, or the buggers are just so dang small they fly right through--whatever the reason, Steph and Julia were pretty damaged. You should see their welts right now! Nasty. Otherwise, they're ok.
Well, on sharing our torture the next morning (actually it was cool enough that Julia wanted her blanket in the middle of the night), seems we were the only area without power, everyone else at school was fine! Nice. Then others had to laugh, "why does this stuff always happen to you guys?" I guess we need fodder for our blog, I'm not sure.
To make it more interesting, since there's no power, no way to make coffee in the morning and I don't want to open the fridge to lose what's left of the cool air, I figure we'll just head to school early, and pick up some snacky breakfasts on the way. No small task out here. The coffee shop made me a lovely tasting latte--the largest size stood the size of those mini can drinks, (I coulda had about 4 of them!) we bought these deep fried donuty type things that ended up being quite gross, I stopped at a western type place, but even though the shop was open, the owner was still sleeping upstairs, so no cinnamon buns, AND the quick stop at the local corner store produced some puffy Korean snacks, (don't know the name of them) and some crackers just like what we had at home! We should have just gone for the buns and PB in the fridge! Barely made it to school on time, but the kids were happy. Glad it was Friday!
Also, found the signs of a rodent in the back trunk of our car one morning. Like, droppings, a chewed up water bottle--I mean, to be on the safe side, let's call it a mouse. Does the thing LIVE in our car, or does it just GET IN at nights to chew stuff up??? Either way, I'm not too impressed! having the car sure has been nice, though, a huge blessing actually, now that I'm getting used to driving it. We're dry and quite frankly clean, by the time we get to school, AND I don't have to balance Maya on a bike afterschool when I'm beat! I'm not too bad at driving it now, either. You get used to creeping out into oncoming traffic to stop it so you can get through, edging people off the road, cutting people off, honking for motos to move, turning and racing to get away from the police--as just a normal part of driving! Somebody ask Ange Booy about my driving! She'll tell you how great it is!! haha
This losing power story just makes me think: At least God's power is not like that! He doesn't go out on us! He doesn't force his way in to our lives, the way I have to drive me car out here. He is constant. He knows what He's doing, and He's good at guiding. He knows everything, so why do we have to worry? He's got everything working together for a purpose. He is good, all the time. No matter what, whether I feel it or not, or whether it's obvious or not.
Fianlly, I am busy preparing the preparations for the christmas concert. I will have two to do this year--elementary and the middle school band will join the High school. Of course, my main goal for the elementary is to have a good strong message about the story of Christmas, which is so lacking out here. So far, things are going well. I'm a bit overwhelmed by a few work related things, but nothing too serious. Just want to get things done with small amounts of time--welcome to the club, right??
We've been ever so much enjoying the basketball season, with both our older daughters playing on the same team! It's so fun to watch. Steph is point guard and Julia, well, she's just always trying to steal the ball and take off for a grand slam lay-up! Saturday all morning was a tournament. Due to changes in the draw, the girls played the FIRST game of the mornign (we missed it, still at home) AND the VERY last game of the day at around 1pm. What alot of sitting around and waiting! Only two games and that was the timing of them! And there's no McDonalds to run to, or Tims to sit around and have coffee and bide the time. There was a nice playground at NISC, the host school, so Maya had a treat!
Will sign off for now. The new school is still progressing well--Dean and Dan head out there on a regular basis. We've been enjoying time with Ange Booy--a good trip to Russian market on Sunday was a blessing for all of us. I'm trying to send out e-mails to say hello to many of our supporters personally so bear with me. We are thankful for everyone who reads and prays for us.
Take care all, and love you lots!
Well, report cards came out last Friday. Good news all around. If it wasn't, I probably wouldn't be blogging it! haha. Everyone works pretty hard around here with school work, so we're blessed as parents. Attitudes are excellent. Grade are good or great, and where they're not good or great, future improvement is the goal. Even Maya had lovely comments about her unabashed enthusiasm for school. She's one big bundle of excitement. Today she brought home a big science experiment book from the library, and was begging me to try them all the minute we walked in the door!
Last week we had a power problem. We felt it a bit at school, with losing power here and there throughout the week, for not too long periods of time. But Thursday night, Dean was at ball hockey, I had just cleaned up maya and was ready to put her to bed (8ish) when there was a huge surge, and then 3 seconds later--nothing. Hoped it would be a short one, but unfortunately, 20 hours later, we received power again at the house.
Well, I brought lots of tea lights and some nice and functional candle holders from canada, so we were set for light. It's the heat that is unbearable. It was pretty hot that day, and it is just impossible to sleep with no airflow in the bedrooms. I decided to lug the mattresses outside on our deck and put up the mosquito nets and sleep outside! Yes, just like many cambodian's, sleeping under the stars. Except that we're rich beyond compare to them, and we had an overhang from the house, and our mosquito nets were "pop up," like an umbrella, AND we had padded mattresses--most people out here sleep on a straw mat, c'est tout!
So, the dogs barked incessantly all night. The illegal chop shop just down the street got a "shipment" that evening; some container full of cars and parts and who knows what all else. That was noisy. Then, sometime in the night, I saw lightening, but it didn't rain on us! (That would have been funny!). And the worst part is, we thought we were protected under our nets. Well, what I learned about myself that night is that I actually do get bitten by mosquito's, I guess I just don't feel it! 7 or 8 punch-drunk mosquitos, barely hovering inside my net when I woke up that morning--full of my blood! I killed them all, don't you worry! Unfortunately, some elbows or knees were sticking out, or holes in the seal of the nets, or the buggers are just so dang small they fly right through--whatever the reason, Steph and Julia were pretty damaged. You should see their welts right now! Nasty. Otherwise, they're ok.
Well, on sharing our torture the next morning (actually it was cool enough that Julia wanted her blanket in the middle of the night), seems we were the only area without power, everyone else at school was fine! Nice. Then others had to laugh, "why does this stuff always happen to you guys?" I guess we need fodder for our blog, I'm not sure.
To make it more interesting, since there's no power, no way to make coffee in the morning and I don't want to open the fridge to lose what's left of the cool air, I figure we'll just head to school early, and pick up some snacky breakfasts on the way. No small task out here. The coffee shop made me a lovely tasting latte--the largest size stood the size of those mini can drinks, (I coulda had about 4 of them!) we bought these deep fried donuty type things that ended up being quite gross, I stopped at a western type place, but even though the shop was open, the owner was still sleeping upstairs, so no cinnamon buns, AND the quick stop at the local corner store produced some puffy Korean snacks, (don't know the name of them) and some crackers just like what we had at home! We should have just gone for the buns and PB in the fridge! Barely made it to school on time, but the kids were happy. Glad it was Friday!
Also, found the signs of a rodent in the back trunk of our car one morning. Like, droppings, a chewed up water bottle--I mean, to be on the safe side, let's call it a mouse. Does the thing LIVE in our car, or does it just GET IN at nights to chew stuff up??? Either way, I'm not too impressed! having the car sure has been nice, though, a huge blessing actually, now that I'm getting used to driving it. We're dry and quite frankly clean, by the time we get to school, AND I don't have to balance Maya on a bike afterschool when I'm beat! I'm not too bad at driving it now, either. You get used to creeping out into oncoming traffic to stop it so you can get through, edging people off the road, cutting people off, honking for motos to move, turning and racing to get away from the police--as just a normal part of driving! Somebody ask Ange Booy about my driving! She'll tell you how great it is!! haha
This losing power story just makes me think: At least God's power is not like that! He doesn't go out on us! He doesn't force his way in to our lives, the way I have to drive me car out here. He is constant. He knows what He's doing, and He's good at guiding. He knows everything, so why do we have to worry? He's got everything working together for a purpose. He is good, all the time. No matter what, whether I feel it or not, or whether it's obvious or not.
Fianlly, I am busy preparing the preparations for the christmas concert. I will have two to do this year--elementary and the middle school band will join the High school. Of course, my main goal for the elementary is to have a good strong message about the story of Christmas, which is so lacking out here. So far, things are going well. I'm a bit overwhelmed by a few work related things, but nothing too serious. Just want to get things done with small amounts of time--welcome to the club, right??
We've been ever so much enjoying the basketball season, with both our older daughters playing on the same team! It's so fun to watch. Steph is point guard and Julia, well, she's just always trying to steal the ball and take off for a grand slam lay-up! Saturday all morning was a tournament. Due to changes in the draw, the girls played the FIRST game of the mornign (we missed it, still at home) AND the VERY last game of the day at around 1pm. What alot of sitting around and waiting! Only two games and that was the timing of them! And there's no McDonalds to run to, or Tims to sit around and have coffee and bide the time. There was a nice playground at NISC, the host school, so Maya had a treat!
Will sign off for now. The new school is still progressing well--Dean and Dan head out there on a regular basis. We've been enjoying time with Ange Booy--a good trip to Russian market on Sunday was a blessing for all of us. I'm trying to send out e-mails to say hello to many of our supporters personally so bear with me. We are thankful for everyone who reads and prays for us.
Take care all, and love you lots!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Pics of Thanksgiving and other places.
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| From Thanksgiving09 |
Well I thought I would quickly share and let you know that we had a wonderful Thanksgiving as we hosted nearly 45 people on our rooftop. Marie Ens was the most experienced Canadian living in Cambodia (started in 1961). It was a nice evening as the weather was slightly breezy and nobody was sweating. Actually Mindy (formerly from TWU) was very cold and used a borrowed blanket. The evening temperature was still around 29C. So I have enclosed a number of pics to let you look at.
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| From Thanksgiving09 |
Some of the pics are random. Initially there is a pic of a bat that was just begging to come into our house one morning as it lay at the doorstep. After further investigation it had a broken wing. So we hit over the head and cooked it for breakfast. (Kidding-- the sad part is some of you thought it may be true, and that some how the Weiss' are going "tribal" barbaric).
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| From Thanksgiving09 |
Then there are a number of pics of the First teacher's retreat for Logos School. We took the whole staff of teachers and TA's (38 total) to the border town of Koh Kong. We stayed at a local hotel for $13/room -included breakfast for 2 called the Apex Hotel. What you will notice is some really nice pics of a Casino hotel we visited on a "free time" afternoon.
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| From Thanksgiving09 |
This place was really pretty much on the Thailand border and it was gorgeous. It cost us $1.50 to hang out there for the day.
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| From Thanksgiving09 |
Then some of the pics get random. A series of pics are of some sort of mold that suddenly showed up all over Julia's desk one day. The humidty etc.... not sure but whatever.
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| From Thanksgiving09 |
Some of the other pics included having some of the girls from the Asian Hope Girls House (orphanage with the school) over to our place for dinner. We made pizza together- Les made the dough and she found some Mozerrella cheese for the topping (although it was melting before we could get it on the pizza). The pizza was good and those girls are great pizza makers.
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| From Thanksgiving09 |
The neighbors got another puppy to replace a dog they got rid of. The other large dog "Buddy" they had was biting all the moto passerbys so they thought they should send it "to the farm". Not sure what that really means- I think it could mean they are letting it stay at a farm. However, it could mean- it is being used for a dinner? (I mean, its a big dog so it could be a wedding dog?)
The final pics are of course the Thanksgiving pics.
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| From Thanksgiving09 |
Actually today I wish I had my camera. As I was heading to the new school with a number of people this morning in the school van, I caught the last end of a large white cow hammering a moto driver off of his moto. The cow was somehow startled along with three other randomly scampering cattle when all the cattle suddenly just came off the side of the road and one lucky cow hit the unaware moto driver. The cow was alright and the moto driver was being assisted by some on-lookers. The driver was definitely shaken up. Apparently it is the cow owners fault but he was nowhere to be found. Just another day here in Cambodia.
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| LINK TO THE WHOLE ALBUM OF PICS |
By the way, for those of you that watch the Amazing race, those places mentioned on the show may be some of the nicest places that are here. As a side note: the place where the contestants had to go FCC to get a clue from 2 guys just reading a paper was also the very place where I took Les for her 40th birthday party- just one floor higher.
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