What's your motivation...

...for home renovations?

Dean came down last Thursday morning to find our landlord out in the back area, with this gun!

What was going on???



Turns out, the meaning of the wild dog barking just moments earlier, was because there were snakes in the back yard! 2 snakes, to be precise. They were all twined together (mating, we supposed) and Mr. Dara was out there trying to scare them off. We didn't get the camera in time to catch the snakes, but we sure saw them!
You see, with the body of water behind our house, the land at the back of the yard has been slowly eroding away, causing the tiles to buckle and sink, revealing the holes underneath. Turns out, the snakes came up through that, right in their cooking area. We watched him for a while, while he put pellets into this gun and shoot a bit, but eventually we had to carry on and head to school. Enough excitement for one morning.







Not many days later, all the tiles were ripped up, and workers began to concrete the back yard. Haha. If snakes aren't enough motivation for some much needed home renovations, I don't know what is!









Happy belated Valentines Day to everyone. Although prefering to celebrate love on any day of the year, couldn't help but whip up a cake that was sent to us from the Smith's in a parcel. Yummy treat.
















The weekend before Valentines Day was the Annual Logos Carnival. Dean was involved in his usual capacity as resident Bar-B-Qer for the day, Matt Friedberg willingly lending a much needed helping hand! Master Chef BBQ, anyone???

Please keep reading below, (or if it's not right there, by clicking on "older Posts" just below, to the right.) I can only seem to upload 4 photos at a time, so I've included the next posting with this one...

What's your motivation, continued...

So, what's your motivation for having a good time? Logos Carnival is a huge highlight for many in our community, as very few community events like this take place in the city. I, Lesley, always man the Tattoo station, complete with sparkles. I bring back many packages of temporary tatts for the occasion, and it's usually a hit, cuz they's hard to find here.


















Steph had been placed in "jail," one of the game centres, where you have to get your face painted, in order to get out. Most people, like Julia when it was her turn, resist "arrest" quite violently :)
















And, the weekend after Valentines day, saw the Middle School Girls (and boys, too, for that matter) volleyball team(s) WIN the city championships against the other 3 international schools. Here we see some pretty excited rejoicing, over the victory!


The tournament was held at Hope International School. But the celebrating didn't stop there. After the tournament, it was off to Lucky Burger (our closet equivalent to McDonalds!) for cokes, burgers and fries. Time to pose for a picture next to the Chinese New Year Tree. Oh ya, happy belated Chinese New Year, too! Bet ya didn't even know it. Asked our friends about the significance of the tree, and the tree is basically a cherry blossom type, that if it blooms on new years day, you will have good luck. The red envelopes are full of money, a typical new years gift, wishing you good luck for the year.

As our family continues on through our last semester here, that question haunts me, "What is your motivation?" What is it, really, that carries us to continue to love and serve Cambodians and the greater Logos community when our time here is short?

Jesus told this parable just before Palm Sunday:
"A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. Before he left, he called together 10 of his servants and divided up 10 pounds of silver, saying, 'invest this for me while I am gone.' After he was crowned King, he returned and called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits were. The first servant reported, 'Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!'
'Well done!' exclaimed the King. 'You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.' Luke 19:12-17

"When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. " Luke 12:48

God Bless You, as you question your motivations!

Considering Phnom Penh?

Vancouver, Canada to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
04/06/2011 to 04/20/2011 / 1 passenger

Price (CAD) Airline Departure Arrive Stops Confirm


$1279 Cathay Pacific / Dragonair 2:45am
6:50pm 10:30am
9:25pm 1

Wow, is that a deal. I often check www.flightnetwork.ca for prices, as they've had the best deals I've ever found, and I copied and pasted the above price from there. (that's a return price!) These dates are around our Khmer New Years week off of school (but dates are flexible). SO, if you're ever considering... (PS It's about $400 more from Winnipeg) just thought I'd let you know. We could show you around, do some travel, set you up with some opportunities to serve...

Talk to you soon.
Les

The dreaded 'Checking Out'

Well I am writing on the blog after I have found a bit of time here. I am always glad when Les gets a chance to write the goings-on of life here in Cambodia and to give you a glimpse of life in a 3rd world country. For the first time, I can honestly say I have thought about home and the return to Canada.
Around here the dreaded fear of thinking about home is called 'checking out'. 'Checking out' means you disengage from your host country and spend time thinking about the future somewhere else. Then as a defense mechanism start to break-ties to the host Country and people in order to make leaving less painful.
I really have made a commitment not to 'check out' and to go/work hard until the term ends, and for the most part I am really busy so that shouldn't be an issue. But surprisingly in the last day or so I found myself thinking about what life would be like when we all return to Canada this summer. I don't like it because in many ways it seems very murky.

Now moving from one country to another is going to provide a large level of stress for anyone- and we will be no exception to this- a very uncomfortable feeling I don't enjoy. The decision to leave Cambodia has not been an easy one. Certainly a large part of returning to Canada is based on the fact that we had arranged ourselves to be away for only a 'short' time. A longer option to stay in Cambodia, although we would have considered it, is certainly not how we set ourselves out three years ago.
Now when I talk about 'short' term, three years is short but it ain't THAT short. Three years is plenty of time to lose a sense of the goings-on in Canada. So the feelings of moving back to Canada are also really muddled with anxiety about integrating to the culture of Canadian life and with what we have enjoyed and will miss about Cambodian life. In many ways I have a sense that I am moving to a new country where I don't understand why certain things are valued or done. Also things that I once thought were so important won't/don't seem to have the same value when placed in a global perspective. On the plus side though, returning to Canada provides a language ease, conveniences, and a reunion of great people and friends. Of course 'Wendy's, Tim Horton's, etc...'

The plan at this time is to return to BC and allow our kids to go to the school we once promised they could return to when we came back from Cambodia. I have a position at MEI and I have always been so thankful to the MEI board for their appreciation of missions and allowing our family to go to Cambodia for the time we have.

Our housing is uncertain at this time, and I am not sure when we will really get a chance to deal with this. However, once a home is established this may create a sense of 'home'?

I humbly write to you all and ask for your continued prayers. In certain ways I fear the return to Canada may be more challenging than when we first set out for a third world country like Cambodia. However, many of you have been such a complete blessing to us, whether through email, packages, prayers, or donation- may God bless you richly for the way you have helped journey with us here in Cambodia. We look forward to reuniting with you soon.

Blessings,
Dean

Summer Sports in the big city....

As many of you may well know, our older two daughters love athletics, a passion they've inherited from me, their mother.

(I can hear you laughing!...)

Ok, well, maybe, just MAYBE Dean has a widdle bit more to do with their athleticism and enjoyment of sports, but in general, they're great team players and they give their best on all accounts. (They must get that from me?!? :)

Julia is nearing the end of her middle school girls volleyball season. They've had a winning season, with some strong Gr 7 & 8 players. Julia has practiced til she's blue in the face, (with her father's coaching) a "jump spike serve" that's really supposed to be a "jump float serve." Either way, she's jumping, the ball's going over the net in formidable style, and it's cool to think she can do this at the meager age of 12, when she's got alot of volleyball years still ahead of her.


She's worked hard this season to be a great team leader and she's very encouraging to others. Great Job, Julia. Keep up the good work!


Look at that form!
Summer, as you know, never ends in the big city of Phnom Penh, and it's a blessing to enjoy these beautiful days of the "cooler" season. This is Steph's high school girls soccer team warming up for a game at Northbridge International School, where this lovely field is located. This school is the one that Melanie Ens goes to, and it's the only school IN THE CITY with a number of gorgeous, grassed soccer fields. It's seriously, the only place. It's literally like a sanctuary, a haven. We love to go there and play! (Even when the girls lose)

Yes, it's been a growing season for this team. New Coaches Mr. and Mrs. Deremer have excelled in improving the girls skills, but unfortunately they've been no match for the ONLY other high school girls team in the city, ISPP (International School of Phnom Penh.) The girls have played them a number of times this season, and although the score did not represent victory, the improvement on the Logos side was tremendous and noted by all who watched them from game to game. Way to go, Logos!
Steph's in the middle of this pict, hot after their first of two games this past Saturday. She's been unfortunately, nursing a heel injury, caused, we're not sure, by bad shoes? overuse? Either way, it's been frustrating for her, as rest and ice-ing it alot has not given her the swift healing she would like. There is some time to rest it up before Basketball season, which is next for the ladies.
We really hope it can heal up sooner than later.

Steph is headed off to camp next week! As her first year in high school, she gets to attend the camp that Dean has attended the last few years (if you remember, where they zip line from trees, do all sorts of harrowing events!) She is pumped to go, and can enjoy a nice break from her parents' ever watchful eyes, as neither of us will be there! We really hope she can enjoy and have a great experience. (Pray for me!!!)

Well, that's it for now! If you haven't figured out yet with the pictures on the last two blogs, I, yes I, Lesley, have F I N A L L Y figured out how to upload pictures myself!!!!! (With no help from anyone--that's what "myself" means) so NOW, I can do it more often! Watch out, you avid readers--now there's no stopping me! Mu-ha-ha-ha-ha (evil laugh...)

Take care, loved ones and hope we can talk soon. PS. Just sent of registrations not a half hour ago, to MEI for the girls next year, (one in each school--elementary, middle and high!) Now THAT's a weird feeling: Logos is such a home to us now, it'll be very strange to be in a different school. I can't really picture us gone, yet. Pray for us, thanks!!! L