update

hi all. Well, my parents are home safe from their snow bird trip to Texas, so that's a good thing. Hello to all my grandparents out there, by the way, as well. All three of them will have birthdays this spring, so quite the milestones they are reaching.

A few dates for you to be aware of, things we are doing.
Next weekend, our family will be helping out with Patti and David's church's soup kitchen that they put on every saturday. We will sponsor the food, and then our teacher friend Anna has a khmer outreach puppet show that she does, and she and her crew are going to put it on for all the kids. My Love Cambodia team ladies will remember when we were there, and can imagine that a puppet show will be a big hit. So, we are excited for that.

We have been playing volleyball on Sunday afternoons with other families and it's been fun. Still going around to visit other churches. I get so refreshed going to Khmer churches, to see what God is doing in their lives, that I love to go, even with language barriers. We usually go to a place that has an english translation. We are welcomed so warmly whenever we go to a Khmer church.

Steph is going to an orphanage this wed. with her class, to take clothes, food and play. She is looking forward to that. Steph and I again visited House of Smiles, the home for disabled kids run by Hagar, and it was neat to take them all on a walk in their wheelchairs. Those kids are so sweet and happy, and enjoyed the simplicity of just going up and down the street for a bit. It was nice.

We have the day off of school tomorrow (Monday) but Dean will have to work as it's really crunch time for the school's ACSI documents to be sent off. It's a huge job, chapters and chapters of writing about programs and procedures, etc. So, once that is off this week, then it's waiting for the accrediation team, that will come after our Khmer new year break in April.

We are officially heading off to Thailand for the Khmer New Year break, for which we are exceedingly grateful AND really looking forward to. It's been a good long haul of work since January, with lots going on and we're really looking forward to the holiday. We will travel on a 6 hour bus ride, then a 1 hour ferry, to get to the island of Koh Chang. From there, nothing but R & R and swimming in the ocean for 5 days. We are blessed to get this opportunity.

Gotta run out the front. Our Landlord's have invited us to dinner to visit with their friends, the Gabriel's, who are the family that lived in our house before us. They are now working out in the province, and are visiting before going back to the states for a 6 month furlough. They have 3 kids, and the girl, Megan is the same age as S, J and Mony, so it's one big party today. They are all out riding the moto and trying it out, so we must go visit.

FInally, thanks for those of you who knew about Sokhom and prayed. She is our helper and her sister died this past friday from cancer in the stomache area. she was sick for a long time, and had had surgery but was not eating or drinking. There is a teenage daugter involved. Sokhom is doing much better, and is here visiting now, but will need some time off this week for the funeral, which, of course, is very easy to give her. She is doing well, so that is good. That is the third person in our closer circles that has succumb to a similar cancer since January. Robin Lane's mom has just passed away, and Debbie Klassen. We are still in prayer for those families.

I think there was more I wanted to say, but can't remember now. We hope to visit a bit with david and patti when we head to their soup kitchen next week. Then, just a couple more weeks until we get more visitors and company. very excited for all that.

take care all, and God Bless.
PS Maya is well over her sickenss, and Julia who was rather ill on Friday and missed school, is now feeling much better. I hope it had nothing to do with the test she was supposed to have on Friday!

PPS I remember what I was going to say: It's an early arrival of hot season, so we've been losing power a little more regularly. It was funny that it went off in the morning on Friday at Logos, so Dean couldn't work anyways, and was home with sick Julia. The power was out at home too. What was funny was that since the classrooms heat up like crazy and very quickly when there is no fans or air cons, alot of the elem. classes moved outside. It was really neat to see pockets of classes sitting where they could in the shade, to beat the heat, and still do some learning. Logos really is a good quality school out here, as we hear so many horror stories of the public Khmer schools, where money is paid to the teachers for test answers, and it's just a fact of life. It is not seen as wrong, but rather a means to an end. That kind of cheating is rampant here, and is a significant underlying problem in this society.

PPS The heat also wears you out faster, and fatigue sets in quicker and sleep is more necessary. And this we are told, is only the beginning.

Anyways, will write again soon. we are trying to get the girls to write.