News, the Blues, Reviews...

Sihanoukville

Hey, y'all, as some of our "deep south" American's say. (They do actually say that, you know!) How is everyone?

We are very well. Lots going on. Lots to say. Will try to be brief.

Spent last weekend, a long weekend holiday, at the beach in Sihanoukville. It didn't rain much, and was extremely pleasant. Enjoyed the sand, the ocean, the nice pool at the guesthouse, and time with some of our staff and friends who all went out together. You can have a BBQ supper, say meat and veggies on a skewer, plus rice or potatoes or salad, all for $3, just down from the hotel. Yummy and a nice break.

This past week, Dean and I were on the staff retreat, Wed to Friday,(more Cambodian holiday's where we're not allowed to run school.) This meant the girls spent 3 days and two nights with our friend's, the Friedbergs, where the mom and dad, Casey and Matt, were extremely generous to host our girls for that time. The kids were pumped and were still enjoying the company of Micah and Jordan when I picked them up to leave on Friday, so we stayed and ate pizza! I was not the least bit concerned about how everyone would do or be, but the main stress is just that Matt and Casey still had their own jobs to maintain during those weekdays, so adding 3 more children to the mix is not necessarily easy, but all did go very well, and we're thankful for their love and generosity. We couldn't have both gone without them--all the other staff were expected to go, so that pretty much uses up all our other babysitting options. So, things ended up quite fine.

The retreat itself, for which Dean had alot of organizing to do, was very good. We had to drive in the school vans at leat 4.5 hours on a questionable highway, to arrive in the province of Koh Kong, which is just at the Thai border. Half the highway is fine, the second half is full of potholes (I swear, the highway is made of about 2 inches thick of ashphalt--no wonder it just breaks up), so there was lots of swerving, and braking to avoid 1 foot deep sudden plunges. It wasn't fun, especially for the drivers. At the very end of our van's trip (there were 3 vans total), it was dark and started to rain. I'm telling you, we could see nothing, including the signs to get to Koh Kong, so glad that didn't last longer than the last 15 minutes. Things can always be worse out here, that's for sure. We are protected in so many ways, even when it doesn't feel like it.

So, we had worship, bible study times, workshops on love languages, stress (including skits) and good food and fellowship. It was a good bonding time, and a bit of a break from the routine. I realized how much I rely on my children for companionship, when all of a sudden they're not there, and I have to socialize on my own. May sound bad, but it was just different for me. The kids are always around, and they're easy to talk to...

God has realized how much rain we've missed out on at the beginning of the school year, so he's making up for lost time. Especially in Koh Kong, where it's right beside the ocean so it rains more there. What downpours, they're just hard to explain. If you stand out in that kind of rain for a total of 10 seconds, you would be completely all soaked through everywhere. I always say, you may as well throw a bucket of water on someone, cuz that's what's coming down. I had to bicycle to a place after one of the torential rains, and the street I was on was flooded. Every pedal I made plunged my foot into the water, slosh, slosh. And as I've mentioned before, it's not just water, but it's some sort of mixture of every type of filth that is on the street and in the gutters and sewers, so ya. You get home and scrub your feet with soap--that kind of water!

School is going very well for everyone. Stephanie is very self sufficient at school, able to complete homework independently and very well. She enjoys writing and is quite strong in anything written, so she's blessed that way. math is more of a challenge, but she's doing ok in Gr 9 math, even though she's in Gr 8.

Julia just has the perfect teacher for her this year. His name is Bob Bridell, he's from St. Paul, Minnesota and is here with his beautiful Khmer wife Tearey, who is a TA on staff. They are of a very young grandparent age. ANyways, Mr. Bridell could not have a better personality for a student like Julia--he's very easy going, understands the kids well, and really enjoys them. He can relate to her in a very positive way and sees alot of her positive characteristics, and helps her with her weaknesses. His homework is very creative, (as I need to check that she's done what she's supposed to alot,) so I get to enjoy his dry, but funny, humor. Talk about a lesson right up Julia's alley: the last day of school this week, all the Gr 6's were out walking around the school yard first thing in the morning, to catch and study insects. I think Julia thought she was in heaven. Of course, Julia doesn't just find an insect, she finds a FROG, that then becomes part of a practical joke on another teacher's shoulder (something I have to admit, Julia did NOT instigate, but was drawn in to, by another teacher!) Anyways, sure made for some good stories. But, it's things like that, that keep Julia hanging in there for school.

Maya, praise God, is liking and doing well in Kindergarten. Everyday after school, I get "good news" or "bad news" from her. "Good news" means she didn't do anything bad, or have to "pull a ticket", a type of consequence system in the classroom. "Bad news" always ends up with a comment like, "we had to put our heads down!" Funny. Apparently, she had a hilarious cute kid quip, when she was in the bathroom (a one room bathroom attached to the classroom--the kids don't have to go out in the hallways for washrooms). She suddenly yells out to the teacher, "Miss Thiessen! The toilet paper fell into the toilet!" Yes, we only have rolls sitting on the toilet tank, so this is an easy problem to occur. She was, although, very concerned about getting in trouble. And when the teacher ran to the rescue, Maya said, "It was an accidental!" Good laughs all around. Dean and I have both noticed more similarities to Steph than Julia, with Maya, when it comes to an interest in reading, doing written work, coloring, drawing, and just overall academics in general. Whew, we are both breathing a tremendous sigh of relief over that! :)

I, Lesley, am currently starting to plan for the move of the old library into the new library. We are moving from such a small squishy place, into a huge new facility, and I'm determined to set it up correctly, even if I don't quite know. I'm trying to get input and feedback from others here and in canada, who have the know how. Last thing I want to do is start things off incorrectly, so that is the big challenge right now, in getting the layout successful and workable. Can be done, just have to ask for lots of help. Also, any of you out there who collect children's magazines, please try to save then, as we have a serious shortage of that in our library. Don't know how we'll get them here yet, but instead of recycling, hang on to them for a while and we'll see what transpires in the way of transportation.

Couple points of interest. Did you know that canadian country singer Paul Brandt is hosting a contest, to bring someone with him to Cambodia in November? It's all in association with Marie Ens' orphanage, and if you all check out his website, www.paulbrandt.com you can get all the details. Believe you me, it would be the coolest is someone we knew, won the contest! We could see you out here, too! Food for thought, so check it out.

We were able to pick up Ang Booey last weekend, and get her safely to her YWAM centre here in PP. She looked good, was a feeling things were a little surreal, as we have felt too, but it was great to see her and send her off. We will plan to hang as much as possible, as she'll have some free time.

We have the most exciting announcement to make! I'm sure hoping it's Ok to put on our blog, cuz I think the cat is safely out of the bag, but Dean and I are going to be an Aunty and Uncle again, thanks to Dean's little sister Tracy and her husband Adam! Yay! They are expecting a baby for April, so we are thrilled beyond belief for them, and can't wait to talk to them and Mom Weiss about it. (Some are more elusive to get ahold of than others by phone.) But Tracy, believe us, we're praying for you, we are so excited for you guys and MOm, we can't imagine how tickled you are! Thanks for bringing us all joy already, and like I said, we are praying for the best for everyone! We are very excited on this side of the world, let me tell you!

Then, that brings us to summer plans. We still have no clear idea on our length of stay here in cambodia, although staying for another year, or longer is still a very viable option for us. So, while we are planning to come to canada this summer, regardless if it's a visit or to move back to stay, we will probably arriving in Vancouver, and going only as far as Edmonton/Calgary, to see the new niece/nephew. At this point, this is our plan. We will not be travelling as far as manitoba this summer, so anyone really interested in seeing us, will have to make plans to come out west. Hopefully we can meet in the middle in Alberta, or enjoy time together in BC, but just a heads up, that this is what we're thinking so far.

I was also able to take advantage of a very amazing seat sale with AirAsia, so we have also booked some airline tickets for our family to go to Australia in June. This is a trip of a lifetime, that we used some of our house money to take, but right now, we are planning around june 5-23 to fly into Melbourne, travel up the coast, through Sydney and hopefully see Dean's cousin Tom Weiss and family who live close to Sydney, and depart out of Brisbane on the Gold Coast. Those of you who know anything about Australia, I think this is winter time, or cooler temps at this time of year, right? So far we have booked these flights in and out of Kuala Lumpur, malaysia, so we still have to get from PP to KL, but right now, the 5 round trip tickets were considerably less than just one return ticket from Canada to Australia, so it is just an opportunity that we did not want to miss! I'm very excited about it, but it's along way away, and things happen in life, so hopefully, this is something we will be able to enjoy as part of our summer vacation next year. That would mean we would come to Canada at the end of June, sometime.

Also of interest, we were just at church this morning, and saw that our CMA missionary friend Ilana's mom was sitting with her. This lady lives in canada, but is a retired missionary who served in Vietnam for alot of her life. So, I spoke to her after the service only to find out that she is booked, along with Reg Reimer (from Seven oaks) and Gordon Smith(former interim pastor at SOA) , to have meetings this Oct 1 in Vietnam with the government about really important issues regarding education and theological libraries in Vietnam. This sounds so exciting as a window of opportunity for Vietnam. Isn't it a small world, really??? That I would actually know(of) the two other people this lady will be negotiating with? Vietnam is so close to us, and to be able to pray for this meeting and for positive growth for Vietnam. I am very excited this and really want to uphold them.

Finally, I spend one of the evenings at retreat this past week, asking the Lord to return the same joy and intense peace that I felt for most of last year. I am still in a funk, personally, feeling that things are "different" this year, more like a job, real life, less of a "mission." I've definitely had more "just get me out of here!" thoughts this year than last. These things are all Ok, it's not that I mind it, and I am aware that "feelings" are not necessarily the best indicator of what is really going on. However it would just be nice to sense that same level of satisfaction again. Anyways, I did sense God telling me not to go backwards, not to want something that was in the past, but rather to Move Forwards, with him leading and me Following. I don't really think I've been doing this. ANyone else been sensing this lately? have any words for me? Then Marie's newsletter that I read, encouraged readers to Fall in love with Jesus more and more. Move Forward, Follow His Leadership, Fall in love more and more... I just want to trust him solely--don't we all? Surrendering to this I'm finding hard this year.

Well, although there's been lots of illness amongst our staff and students (typoid, dengue, respiratory tract infection, to name a few) so far we have been untouched. I was sick earlier in the year, but have fully recovered, except for needing to wear a mask more often, to protect my lungs and vocal chords. I'm home with Julia not feeling great this sunday afternoon, so not sure if it's our turn now, but I hope not. Thankfully, things go much better when health is optimum. Hope you guys are all well there in Canada and other parts of the world.

We miss hearing from you all, so don't hesitate to drop a line if you're feeling so inclined. Always try to reply to e-mails. Love you's all. Thanks for listening...