Hi all,
Life to write on the blog has been challenging since coming back this year. My laptop died after only 2 days in country and so I have not had a chance to write anything or post pictures on the blog. It is tough during the school day to find time to write too. The good news is that I have another laptop coming from out of the US in early September and traveling with someone who is headed to Cambodia. Actually my laptop and Dan Hein's, (high school principal) laptop have both died on practically the same day. So in actual fact, there are 2 laptops are on their way to Cambodia. Many thanks to a guy named Steve, from Manitoba, for donating 2 laptops to us.
Myself and Elaine Carpenter, a new teacher at Logos, have started coaching high school girls volleyball. Oddly enough, this is the only age group I have not coached volleyball in my 20+ years of coaching. Elaine has coached girls volleyball and seems like she knows her stuff so that is good news for everybody.
This year, our volleyball teams have an invitation to go to Thailand and play in a volleyball tournament at International Christian School in Bangkok. We are trying to determine the costs (via land travel) and safety to get there. We have many kids who are on scholarship who are playing so it will be tricky. Also Thailand really loves the Cambodians (Er... right) and apparently there is a hefty visa cost to get over the border. The kids would love to go, and I am hopeful, but it is tricky and well to be honest, we are in Cambodia where nothing is easy or straight forward.
Our house helper has stopped working for us due to health reasons. She is a dear 60 year old lady and she is going blind. We have suggested many things to guide her with her health, however, she has her own ideas about what needs to be done.
We had a person we wanted her to see in PP, however, she decided to go to Vietnam to see a "doctor" last week. After all was said and done, the Vietnamese "doctor" told her he would inject Cobra venom into her eyes for a cost of $400 and that would help her for 6 months. Now the cost was already prohibitive, but even our helper was too scared to do that!
Before she left for Vietnam, she also started to act very loopy and we found out that a local "pharmacist" told her to buy these $1/day pills that would help her eyes. It turns out these pills are Diabetes medication and her blood sugar levels was going up and down like a yo yo. Her low blood sugar levels were causing her to act crazy and loopy. I am talking mumbling, stumbling and falling asleep in mid conversation! I took the medication from her and told her to get her money back. Of course that did not last, as she found the pills and kept taking them until they were finished.
Anyways, the struggle we have is how much ownership do we have to help our former helper in this case? She expects us to pay for her medical costs (since there is no health care plan). She really is unable to work for us as she would walk around waving her hands in front of her and in the process breaking our coffee pot (2nd time) and a number of dishes. She has tried bringing in a "niece" to train as a helper, however, while that happened Steph had her money stolen out of her desk. Of course we have no proof that the niece did it, but we told our helper we do not want her bringing in anyone that we don't know. Our helper is caught in a hard place because she has no income otherwise. We don't really know what obligation we have to her either. We are dealing with it.
Please pray for us as we work with finding a solution with our helper. Please pray for our helper's sight.
Blessings,
Dean
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Sorry for the delay
Sorry folks, I have been wanting to write for a good long while but after only landing in Phnom Penh a day our laptop died and has not been awake ever since. Alas the recycled Trinity Western Laptop may have seen its last days on earth. Perhaps it could have been the heat and humidity.
Part of my delay of writing also has to do with my health. I have also been really sick since I have been back too. I guess adjusting to the Cambodian dog diet (kidding) takes more time than adjusting to the Canadian Tim Horton's diet (wish I were kidding). However, today is the first day I have been able to eat in about a week. Although I do not know whether I will keep it in at all.
Great to have the girls back with me finally too. We went quite the stint apart as we departed on July 19th in Canada and finally reconnected on August 4th back here in Phnom Penh.
Got some good news and another funny Maya story. Maya just lost her first tooth last night and of course the Tooth fairy came and gave her Khmer money (Worth 4000 Reils , about $1). Maya laughed and was tickled pink that the tooth fairy actually came to Cambodia!!!
Also want to say big thanks to Carla (Bodnarus) Tschigerl for sending us a gift package that she sent some time in April. It just arrived to us today (August 4th)!! The package was filled with Granola bars, chocolate chips (that have become a chocolate block) and a big beautiful tin of Tim Horton's coffee. As a side note: Granola bars from Canada are the best. We can get granola type bars here but they usually shove shrimp flavor, crab, seaeweed or fish flavor with the cookie style bar. Not enjoyable at all. So from the bottom of our hearts, many many thanks Carla.
School with all students starts on Monday. Better get back to work!!
Blessings,
Dean
Pics will follow in the next day.
Part of my delay of writing also has to do with my health. I have also been really sick since I have been back too. I guess adjusting to the Cambodian dog diet (kidding) takes more time than adjusting to the Canadian Tim Horton's diet (wish I were kidding). However, today is the first day I have been able to eat in about a week. Although I do not know whether I will keep it in at all.
Great to have the girls back with me finally too. We went quite the stint apart as we departed on July 19th in Canada and finally reconnected on August 4th back here in Phnom Penh.
Got some good news and another funny Maya story. Maya just lost her first tooth last night and of course the Tooth fairy came and gave her Khmer money (Worth 4000 Reils , about $1). Maya laughed and was tickled pink that the tooth fairy actually came to Cambodia!!!
Also want to say big thanks to Carla (Bodnarus) Tschigerl for sending us a gift package that she sent some time in April. It just arrived to us today (August 4th)!! The package was filled with Granola bars, chocolate chips (that have become a chocolate block) and a big beautiful tin of Tim Horton's coffee. As a side note: Granola bars from Canada are the best. We can get granola type bars here but they usually shove shrimp flavor, crab, seaeweed or fish flavor with the cookie style bar. Not enjoyable at all. So from the bottom of our hearts, many many thanks Carla.
School with all students starts on Monday. Better get back to work!!
Blessings,
Dean
Pics will follow in the next day.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Quick Hello, Visiting update and Musings on our life...
Hi all. I'm starting to miss my Cambodian cohorts alot these days, although enjoying alot of Canadian visiting. SO, wanted to blog a bit and say hi to all. THinking alot of those not returning for next year, so if that's you and you're reading, really hope you are doing well. Back to PP in a few weeks.
We are currently in Calgary Alberta, with Les's sister JEnn and her family, in their beautiful new home in the NE. We have enjoyed walks and parks like crazy this trip back, especially Maya getting to play so much with cousins and outdoors. Not been hot really anywhere we've been in Canada yet, but maybe that's mostly cuz our definition of "hot" has changed considerably over the last 2 years.:)
Enjoyed Abbotsford immensely with the Smith family and friends and coworkers. Gave out many prayer cards to people who loved our Khmer pictures and have been generous with meals, visits and prayers. Missed a few people (always run out of time) but were thankful for those we did get go see. Car runing great after some regular wear and tear repairs.
Edmonton was our first chance to see cousin Mia, and boy, is she a beautiful, happy little 4 month old. Dean's mom surprised him and showed up (from Winnipeg) for the weekend, so he got to see her (which he wouldn't have otherwise) and it was really great. Went tubing behind Adam's boat, and enjoyed watching Adam give Dean no mercy on the tube, trying to knock him off at every turn. QUite alot of fun. Tracy is great with the baby, a real natural mom and Mia has everything a new baby could ever need or want. Great to spend the time with them and thanks guys for all the food and great visit.
THis weekend we'll hit up a free stampede breakfast on Sat. Dean's out golfing with Graham as we speak, then we'll wrap things up Sunday, for Dean to leave us (sigh) and depart out of Calg airport to head back to Abbotsford for a few days, before leaving next friday (july 23, Julia's 12th birthday) to make it back to PP. The girls and I will drive to Winnipeg on Monday (that's 12 hours) to hopefully catch our 2 nieces Justine and Sarah, before they go visit their dad in Ontario. Then, we'll see and stay with relatives until we leave on Tuesday, Aug 3. Get back to PP by the 4th at night, and I'll go to work THursday and start setting up for the first day of school, the following monday.
Whew. It's been so nice this summer to visit. But it is true, it's always living out of suitcases and in "visiting" sort of situations, so as much as it's been enjoyable and relaxing, it's a different sort of relaxing than if you have your own place. Such is our life. Not complaining, just stating rather... that's the way it is. Not so easy all the time, but not so hard to take, either! (You know what I mean?)
Time has moved slowly this summer for me (Lesley) but quick for Dean. Already I'm starting to look forward mentally to returning to our "Peeps" (as Suzanne would say!): our community of Logos, our adopted city of Phnom Penh, our welcoming host country of Cambodia. Canada is so rippin' beautiful, and dare I say that Australia was even moreso! Our eyes have seen the best beauty the world has to offer, this summer. Our mouths have tasted the bounty and accessability of the best food and beverage that the world also has to offer. And yet, I still long for the developing country that we call home?? It must be a GOd thing. To desire to serve Him in this way is not weird or "leaving comforts" for me, as much as it may seem that way, but rather, an arriving of peace, satisfaction in being where we're supposed to be right now, doing what makes sense and matters. It's good. It's all good, the ability to travel and visit and to go back. Can you believe how blesed we are? I still shake my head. TO what do I owe these kinds of blessing??? Grace, and that's it.
Ok, my rambling thoughts are done. Hey, anyone reading this in Cambodia, let me know if you need anything from NA. Might have some luggage space, so send me an e-mail or comment, and I'll do my best. Off for some Pho, Calgary style, for supper! Tis good.
Bye for now. Hey, just read Hebrews 11 again, first time in a long time. It's a great read for a pick me up and affirmation that Faith matters! I recommend it! GOd Bless and stay in touch.
L
PS Sorry about slowness of pictures. They will come eventually!
We are currently in Calgary Alberta, with Les's sister JEnn and her family, in their beautiful new home in the NE. We have enjoyed walks and parks like crazy this trip back, especially Maya getting to play so much with cousins and outdoors. Not been hot really anywhere we've been in Canada yet, but maybe that's mostly cuz our definition of "hot" has changed considerably over the last 2 years.:)
Enjoyed Abbotsford immensely with the Smith family and friends and coworkers. Gave out many prayer cards to people who loved our Khmer pictures and have been generous with meals, visits and prayers. Missed a few people (always run out of time) but were thankful for those we did get go see. Car runing great after some regular wear and tear repairs.
Edmonton was our first chance to see cousin Mia, and boy, is she a beautiful, happy little 4 month old. Dean's mom surprised him and showed up (from Winnipeg) for the weekend, so he got to see her (which he wouldn't have otherwise) and it was really great. Went tubing behind Adam's boat, and enjoyed watching Adam give Dean no mercy on the tube, trying to knock him off at every turn. QUite alot of fun. Tracy is great with the baby, a real natural mom and Mia has everything a new baby could ever need or want. Great to spend the time with them and thanks guys for all the food and great visit.
THis weekend we'll hit up a free stampede breakfast on Sat. Dean's out golfing with Graham as we speak, then we'll wrap things up Sunday, for Dean to leave us (sigh) and depart out of Calg airport to head back to Abbotsford for a few days, before leaving next friday (july 23, Julia's 12th birthday) to make it back to PP. The girls and I will drive to Winnipeg on Monday (that's 12 hours) to hopefully catch our 2 nieces Justine and Sarah, before they go visit their dad in Ontario. Then, we'll see and stay with relatives until we leave on Tuesday, Aug 3. Get back to PP by the 4th at night, and I'll go to work THursday and start setting up for the first day of school, the following monday.
Whew. It's been so nice this summer to visit. But it is true, it's always living out of suitcases and in "visiting" sort of situations, so as much as it's been enjoyable and relaxing, it's a different sort of relaxing than if you have your own place. Such is our life. Not complaining, just stating rather... that's the way it is. Not so easy all the time, but not so hard to take, either! (You know what I mean?)
Time has moved slowly this summer for me (Lesley) but quick for Dean. Already I'm starting to look forward mentally to returning to our "Peeps" (as Suzanne would say!): our community of Logos, our adopted city of Phnom Penh, our welcoming host country of Cambodia. Canada is so rippin' beautiful, and dare I say that Australia was even moreso! Our eyes have seen the best beauty the world has to offer, this summer. Our mouths have tasted the bounty and accessability of the best food and beverage that the world also has to offer. And yet, I still long for the developing country that we call home?? It must be a GOd thing. To desire to serve Him in this way is not weird or "leaving comforts" for me, as much as it may seem that way, but rather, an arriving of peace, satisfaction in being where we're supposed to be right now, doing what makes sense and matters. It's good. It's all good, the ability to travel and visit and to go back. Can you believe how blesed we are? I still shake my head. TO what do I owe these kinds of blessing??? Grace, and that's it.
Ok, my rambling thoughts are done. Hey, anyone reading this in Cambodia, let me know if you need anything from NA. Might have some luggage space, so send me an e-mail or comment, and I'll do my best. Off for some Pho, Calgary style, for supper! Tis good.
Bye for now. Hey, just read Hebrews 11 again, first time in a long time. It's a great read for a pick me up and affirmation that Faith matters! I recommend it! GOd Bless and stay in touch.
L
PS Sorry about slowness of pictures. They will come eventually!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Back in Canada, after Australian Adventures
Hello all! Just a quick note to say we have safely arrived back in Canada, and it is lovely to be here. We are staying in Abbotsford for a couple of weeks, then will head to Alberta to see loved ones there (MIA!!!) We are being graciously hosted (once again) by our friends Tim and Sylvia Smith in their lovely new home, up here on the mountain, with a beautiful view of the valley. Trampoline and (cool) pool in the backyard AND their dog Snickers (Golden retriever) is a highlight for all. THanks guys, for getting everything so ready for us when you're busy with year end things at work!
We have been blessed by our trip to, and the country of, Australia. IT was more than beautiful there, as we saw as much of the coastline and ocean as we possibly could. We rented cars and drove in MElbourne and Sydney, and surrounding areas; stayed with two hosts, the Bartch's (in Shellharbour, just outside of MElbourne) and the Weisses (Dean's cousin Tom, Janelle and boys Tristin and Aaron) in Gold Coast, just before departing out of the airport.) Great times to see those two families and enjoyed the visits VERY much.
We also rented a campervan and `camped` along the 1700 km drive from Cairns to Brisbane, after snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns. Talk about life highlights! That tour was remarkable. The boat ride out to the reef was an hour and a half of human torture as the winds were 20-30 knots, as the boat was being thrown around like a soccer ball on a fous ball table! NEedless to say, many stomachs were not too happy about it, and the crew on board spent all their time attending to the about 30% of the entire boat that got violently seasick! It was horrible! Amazingly our family was fine--our kids sure endured this intense battle with nausea unbelievably! The girls traveled so well and hardy this whole trip. They are troopers, thats for sure. The snorkeling, however, was worth it, and the trip back was not near as bad, so all in all, it was something to remember.
Finally, we have a tremendous thank you to make to a kind australian names Geoff Teitzel and the police officer Gavin Oats from the Bowen police station. On one of our campervan traveling days, we enjoyed a morning stop at a beautiful beach in Bowen, swam and played in the water and had nice warm sunshine. On leaving the parking lot, we inadvertently left behind a piece of luggage, as it sat outside the van as we pulled away. (Picture the Amazing Race cameran panning to the suitcase as the van drives off without it.) Needless to say, as all the luggage was usually stored overhead, no one noticed it missing until late that night, when we wanted to get clothes out of it to change for bed. Realizing it was not with us, I considered it`s value--it had some clothing, my only umbrella, a few crossword books--nothing worth worrying about or going back for. Just cut our losses and move on, until I remebered......
OUR PASSPORTS!
All 5 of our passports were in the top pocket of that luggage!
Oh My Word!
I`ll make a long story as short as possible here. We left our dark campsite immedately at about 10 pm that night, to make it to the nearest large town (Mackay) to report the luggage either lost or stolen (missing for sure, but we were not totally sure it wasn`t stolen as windows had been left open in the van and Dean was suspicious.) The police station over there helped us until midnight as we filed a report, left e-mail addresses, and described the contents of the luggage. The officer was certain that if it was a theft, the passports would be long gone, as Canadian passports are very valuable on the black market (People travel on them!)
We slept about 5 hours that night, then headed early the next morning on to the next big town, (Rockhampton) as the police station there was expecting us so they could fingerprint our window on the van. Did that, (Think CSI and that was us!!!) and headed to the nearest McDonalds (every McDs in Australia has free WIFI and it was our lifeline to the outside world!) to check e-mails and start the process of getting ahold of the embassy to find out if we needed emergency passports.
By the way, as we were starting to find out, the emergency passport process would not be easy. We would have to appear in person in SYDNEY or CANBERRA (where the offices were) which would mean an IMMEDIATE end to our holidays, purchasing flights for 5 people back to Sydney, and with offices not open until Monday (this was a friday night that all this happened) it would take 2-3 days to complete emergency passports, and we were leavning Wed morning out of GOld COast! If you do the math, youll find out just how scary, and potentially expensive, this reality was becoming.
But from the very get go, I was really at peace, very hopeful they would be found and we could track them. Didnt panic, but rather followed the proper chanels of registering with the police. (There would be enough time to panic later!) After finding all the info from the embassy clerk, Dean decided to check his e-mails for any info, and wouldnt you believe it, there was an e-mail from the Bowen police stating, *Property that belongs to you has been turned into the police station.* We continued with contacting this officer to find out that no, our luggage had not been stolen from the van (Praise God) but rather, it had been found in the beach parking lot, was turned in once the finder saw the passports, and eventually worked it out so that it would be sent to Brisbane to meet us there, via Greyhound, WHO actually offered to ship it, considering the circumstances, for FREE!
Can you believe it!!!
When all was said and done, we hardly even had a GLITCH in our travels. We ended up continuing on pace to Brisbane, seeing everything we wanted to see, and the day before we had to get to the GOld Coast, we picked up our luggage, safely zip tied, and COMPLETELY INTACT (not a thing missing!) at the Greyhound station. We were so incredibly thankful for all the details that went into making this potentially disastrous story a huge blessing for us! Amazing that God can continue to help us out and use kind people to spare us disaster!
Well, its 11 am in the morning. Older girls are still sleeping (hope they will for a long time, they were sure tired after all the flying and traveling to get here--39 hours or so of flights and layovers, without beds, make for pretty sporadic sleep!) Dean is off trying to register our car. Im doing laundry and making lists of things we need to get done. Such is returned life to North America.
Hope you are all well, and will talk to you all soon. GOd Bless! HE is VERY Good!!!
L
:)
We have been blessed by our trip to, and the country of, Australia. IT was more than beautiful there, as we saw as much of the coastline and ocean as we possibly could. We rented cars and drove in MElbourne and Sydney, and surrounding areas; stayed with two hosts, the Bartch's (in Shellharbour, just outside of MElbourne) and the Weisses (Dean's cousin Tom, Janelle and boys Tristin and Aaron) in Gold Coast, just before departing out of the airport.) Great times to see those two families and enjoyed the visits VERY much.
We also rented a campervan and `camped` along the 1700 km drive from Cairns to Brisbane, after snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns. Talk about life highlights! That tour was remarkable. The boat ride out to the reef was an hour and a half of human torture as the winds were 20-30 knots, as the boat was being thrown around like a soccer ball on a fous ball table! NEedless to say, many stomachs were not too happy about it, and the crew on board spent all their time attending to the about 30% of the entire boat that got violently seasick! It was horrible! Amazingly our family was fine--our kids sure endured this intense battle with nausea unbelievably! The girls traveled so well and hardy this whole trip. They are troopers, thats for sure. The snorkeling, however, was worth it, and the trip back was not near as bad, so all in all, it was something to remember.
Finally, we have a tremendous thank you to make to a kind australian names Geoff Teitzel and the police officer Gavin Oats from the Bowen police station. On one of our campervan traveling days, we enjoyed a morning stop at a beautiful beach in Bowen, swam and played in the water and had nice warm sunshine. On leaving the parking lot, we inadvertently left behind a piece of luggage, as it sat outside the van as we pulled away. (Picture the Amazing Race cameran panning to the suitcase as the van drives off without it.) Needless to say, as all the luggage was usually stored overhead, no one noticed it missing until late that night, when we wanted to get clothes out of it to change for bed. Realizing it was not with us, I considered it`s value--it had some clothing, my only umbrella, a few crossword books--nothing worth worrying about or going back for. Just cut our losses and move on, until I remebered......
OUR PASSPORTS!
All 5 of our passports were in the top pocket of that luggage!
Oh My Word!
I`ll make a long story as short as possible here. We left our dark campsite immedately at about 10 pm that night, to make it to the nearest large town (Mackay) to report the luggage either lost or stolen (missing for sure, but we were not totally sure it wasn`t stolen as windows had been left open in the van and Dean was suspicious.) The police station over there helped us until midnight as we filed a report, left e-mail addresses, and described the contents of the luggage. The officer was certain that if it was a theft, the passports would be long gone, as Canadian passports are very valuable on the black market (People travel on them!)
We slept about 5 hours that night, then headed early the next morning on to the next big town, (Rockhampton) as the police station there was expecting us so they could fingerprint our window on the van. Did that, (Think CSI and that was us!!!) and headed to the nearest McDonalds (every McDs in Australia has free WIFI and it was our lifeline to the outside world!) to check e-mails and start the process of getting ahold of the embassy to find out if we needed emergency passports.
By the way, as we were starting to find out, the emergency passport process would not be easy. We would have to appear in person in SYDNEY or CANBERRA (where the offices were) which would mean an IMMEDIATE end to our holidays, purchasing flights for 5 people back to Sydney, and with offices not open until Monday (this was a friday night that all this happened) it would take 2-3 days to complete emergency passports, and we were leavning Wed morning out of GOld COast! If you do the math, youll find out just how scary, and potentially expensive, this reality was becoming.
But from the very get go, I was really at peace, very hopeful they would be found and we could track them. Didnt panic, but rather followed the proper chanels of registering with the police. (There would be enough time to panic later!) After finding all the info from the embassy clerk, Dean decided to check his e-mails for any info, and wouldnt you believe it, there was an e-mail from the Bowen police stating, *Property that belongs to you has been turned into the police station.* We continued with contacting this officer to find out that no, our luggage had not been stolen from the van (Praise God) but rather, it had been found in the beach parking lot, was turned in once the finder saw the passports, and eventually worked it out so that it would be sent to Brisbane to meet us there, via Greyhound, WHO actually offered to ship it, considering the circumstances, for FREE!
Can you believe it!!!
When all was said and done, we hardly even had a GLITCH in our travels. We ended up continuing on pace to Brisbane, seeing everything we wanted to see, and the day before we had to get to the GOld Coast, we picked up our luggage, safely zip tied, and COMPLETELY INTACT (not a thing missing!) at the Greyhound station. We were so incredibly thankful for all the details that went into making this potentially disastrous story a huge blessing for us! Amazing that God can continue to help us out and use kind people to spare us disaster!
Well, its 11 am in the morning. Older girls are still sleeping (hope they will for a long time, they were sure tired after all the flying and traveling to get here--39 hours or so of flights and layovers, without beds, make for pretty sporadic sleep!) Dean is off trying to register our car. Im doing laundry and making lists of things we need to get done. Such is returned life to North America.
Hope you are all well, and will talk to you all soon. GOd Bless! HE is VERY Good!!!
L
:)
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