Until Next Time

How do I conclude something that has really just started for us?  This first trip is completed but I know it's just the beginning of a longer more fulfilling and heartfelt journey.  I'm old enough to know that each journey is not without it's risks and sometimes pain, however I trust that this is one of those "good works" that the Lord has prepared for us and we certainly don't want to miss it!

As much as we are content to be home, our thoughts go back often to the people that we met and love in Cambodia.  The Carsons, their kids and the orphanage kids.  Such a wonderful and warm people!  We plan on sponsoring one of the kids at A Greater Hope.  We received some names of kids who still need sponsors.  I think it's harder to decide once you know them because each one is precious in their own special way.

Thank you so much for your support, encouragement and kind comments!  We have witnessed the Lord working and testify to His faithfulness!  I don't like asking for money or support but I will put it out there.  If you have a place in your heart and some money in your wallet, let us know.  We can show you a wonderful way to bless some children of the King and gather more for His family.  We can get you in touch with the Calvary Chapel contact for donations that go directly to A Greater Hope Orphanage.   

Below are some of our pictures of our last travel days.  This is Phnom Penh International Airport.

This is an orchid room in the Taipei airport.  Our first layover that was 11 hours on our way to Phnom Penh would have been much better if we had found the awesome areas in the airport that we found on the return layover.  It's a very nice airport to visit.  Complete with Starbucks and Burger King :) 

Anna with the Hello Kitty statue.  Hello Kitty is a huge hit in Asia!

We have officially become airport rats I think.  Our kids are very comfortable sleeping on their backpacks in any formation that is needed on the floor, chairs or airplane trays.

We picked up Mom in San Francisco and arrived home after midnight after several days of travel.  The kids were very excited to see Zeke so we played with him for an hour or so before we tried to get some sleep.  We are turned around to East Coast time and made it to church this morning.  Which brings us to how I started this post.  How do I conclude something that has really just started for us?

Until next time …...

Good-Bye for Now

As I went to sleep last night I pondered a conversation that I had with On.  We were chatting and she was dreaming of what her life will be like when she grows up.  She is 13 and has been at the orphanage for 5 years.  She is dreaming of becoming an interpreter.  She would like to learn Chinese and Korean as well as the English she knows and the Khmer.  On says that she always practices her English on visitors that come which is a great use of her resources.  She wants to travel and have a husband.  She at first said she wanted 100 children, then she pared it down to 2 :)  She wants to visit our family in the US before she has a baby and then bring her family back for another visit.  And she wants to ride in an airplane.

The part that I want to share is that she was telling me all about her sponsors.  She named them and what they do.  She has 2 because some families split sponsorship because it's about $50 for a child here at this orphanage.  She said she prays for them everyday and she spoke about them with such love and care as you would extended family.  I was struck because so many of us sponsor children around the world and most of us will never be able to have a face to face talk with that child whose picture hangs on our refrigerator.  But I want to testify to you that our sponsorships change lives!  It brings hope of a future of the Lord's choosing, not one dictated by environmental and societal issues.

If you have not sponsored a child I really encourage you to take that step.  Change a life and have the faith that the Lord will work mightily in that child's life when you can't always see the effects.  Be the change in the world that you want to see :)  One child at a time :)  All these children here who have sponsors can tell you who they are and what they do and their names because they pray for them.  A Greater Hope Orphanage has children that still need sponsors and Compassion International is an awesome organization that has children for you to give hope to.

Kit was saying last night that the oldest 4 children who tested out on their graduation test these past two days came home very excited and full of hope!  The current system dictates that they are to pay for their grades and if they can't pay they don't get good grades.  Kit and Ream will not pay for better grades because it is wrong and not beneficial for the children.  These boys came home saying that they felt they had done so well and passed!  It was a big stress off of them and a time to celebrate for all the kids because they are seeing firsthand that they can be honest and have ethics and succeed.  When the kids get to public school they have to pay for grades or what Kit and Ream have done is to get them extra classes so that they can learn.  Because of the pay for grades issue many children do not know how to read or write by graduation.  One of the boys who tested yesterday had a boy sitting next to him who could not read or write, and he was trying to take the graduation exam!  Praise God His ways are right and true!  And He showed Himself faithful again!


This morning we had the hard task of saying good-bye.  We were able to get a group photo with most of the kids!  So thankful!  We missed some who had already taken off to the school.

Several of the kids gave us beautiful notes they had written and some photos of themselves.  The photos are precious items.

We rode to Phnom Penh with Ream who had some orphanage business to do in the city.  The work is never done but she and Kit keep going.  I really enjoy my time to sit and chat with Ream!  She is soft spoken and wise.  She has a wealth of experiences that she attributes to the Lord planning ahead for her.  She said that she took traditional dance for a while and spent a lot of money learning.  Then she didn't use it.  She wondered if she had wasted her time and money.  Then she said the Lord brought her these kids at the orphanage and she was able to pass on what she had learned.  It blessed her so much as well as the kids.

Some kids have come to them very broken people.  But Ream reminded me that they don't want pity.  They want to testify to the power of Jesus to heal and make their lives new, to make them able to forgive and to help them hope and laugh and love in a beautiful, healthy way!

I think that since we've been at the orphanage we have been so busy hanging, helping, enjoying activities and such that we are going to need time to process all the Lord wants us to know, learn and remember from our trip.  We are leaving part of our hearts in Cambodia.

We arrived in Phnom Penh, went to the market for some snacks and then to our hotel.  This is us arriving in our hotel.  It looked like a little doorway in the middle of these store fronts that I've shown pictures of, but once we passed through it was like a green oasis.

We spent quite a bit of time swimming in the pool.  It was refreshing and we had lunch poolside.

We ventured out to the River Front in Phnom Penh and the traffic was packed!  Everyone going every which way but we never saw an accident.  Coming back in our tuk tuk we were close enough to the other people on moto's to touch them.  Like standing next to them literally.

We walked for a bit on the River Front, had some pastries and sorbet at a little bake shop.  We also saw the Royal Palace which is quite beautiful.

Tomorrow morning we leave for San Francisco.  We will leave here at 12:40pm (1:40am EST) and arrive in San Francisco on Thursday at 8:10pm (11:10pm EST).

I will post again as we continue this last leg of our journey.  But for now I ask that you pray for Kit and Ream Carson and their children Sam, Joe and Ada.  Please pray that they have wisdom and encouragement and energy to complete the good works that the Lord has laid out before them.  We know it is not by works that we are saved but only by the grace of God through the sacrifice of His son Jesus.  And they acknowledge they need the Lord to continue doing what they are doing.

Please pray of the children of the orphanage.  Pray that the Lord blesses them and continues to grow them to become more like His Son.  Pray that they are able to learn the lessons and school work that they need to in order to have the most opportunities available.  Please pray for safety and protection and boldness in the sharing of the hope that is within them.

Please pray for the orphanage and school to have enough money to continue it's good work.  The Lord is active and blessing them and we pray He continues to shine His light in Cambodia through them and the needed funds to implement His plan.

Our goodbye to A GREATER HOPE ORPHANAGE….

Blessing Dance

Today is Anna's 6th Birthday!!!  What a cool place to be for your birthday!  We got some cookies at the market and a Sprite for the Birthday Girl :)

The rough schedule for a summer day for the kids here goes as follows:

5:00am Wake Up
5:30      Chores
6:30      Breakfast
8:00      Study
9:00      Play/Recess
10:00    Study
11:30    Lunch
After lunch rest/naps
2:00      Afternoon free-time/work project
5:00      Chores
6:00      Dinner
7:30      Movie if there is one

Last night they watched a movie about Jacob and Esau.  Over the weekend while we were gone they watched a couple movies.  One was the Scorpion King.  I don't remember it but Alfven does.  The kids here really liked the movie Frozen.  On the day we went to the mountain the girls were singing "Let It Go" as they were coming down the long stair case.  It was pretty amusing :)

This is our last full day here at the orphanage.  We are heading to Phnom Penh in the morning and will stay at a hotel before our flight out the following day.  It's been a trip I don't think I can put into words.  As Kit said today this orphanage and school has been such a culmination and collection of miracles both big and small.  Miracles of children being rescued from horrible circumstances.  Miracles of the Lord supplying daily needs.  Miracles of the work of Jesus in the kids hearts and workers as well.  Miracles of the village seeing the Lord's hand on them and giving credit to God.  These children are bold about their speaking of Jesus and what He's done in their hearts.  Miracles of God answering prayers the way they hoped and sometimes not but still in the way they needed.  It is only through the Lord's power that Kit and Ream are able to do what they do!

I pray I have reflected why we have come.  To encourage, strengthen, work along side and love all the people here at A Greater Hope Orphanage.

I just grabbed some more pictures around the farm today.  We did some more wash and also headed back into the market for a few snacks and Winter Mellon Tea.  This is a bunch of bananas that are growing in the yard near the clothes wash basins.

The girls visited the animals and fed the rabbits.

We found the duck nesting under the ladder stairs in a tire :)

Anna, Grace and Benjamin enjoyed picking up the turkey chicks.  They follow you around and peck at your toes while you are in the barn area.

This is the wall between one bedroom and the living room.  The kids have been putting on shows for each other through the window.  They are hilarious!

Mangly did a beautiful braid in Grace's hair that I hope to be able to replicate after some practice.

Several of the kids took us on a great bike ride to a lady who used to do silk weaving.  Ream was explaining how beautiful the designs and colors were.  They work each strand separately and use natural dyes that get more beautiful with time.  The lady has stopped doing the weaving because they sold for too much money and people would buy the cheaper imitation from the factories that have moved in.  Ream said this province used to be known all over Asia for it's masterful silk weaving.

We passed the pet monkey on the way back.  The kids teased that it doesn't like the color red and will jump on people who wear it.  I of course was in red shorts.

When we got back the work on the catfish pond had started again!  Here Kit pulls one from the water that was huge!  They caught at least 5 more today that I can remember.

They stoked up a grill and started cooking the fresh caught fish for a special dinner!

One of the girls, Own took a hatchet and cut up and gutted a huge catfish right out of the pond.  I am impressed with how hearty these kids are!  And Joseph was very impressed with Own's skills carving that fish :)    

We all ate in the great room and enjoyed fish cooked several different ways.   It was a feast!

After dinner they surprised us with an invitation to the church for them to perform traditional dances!  It was a great honor!  Ream said they hadn't done this in a long time (and some of the kids had outgrown their costumes :)  The first group was 5 girls who did a blessing dance.  The traditional music is Buddhist but they changed it to Khmer Christian song that praised Jesus and told of His great love for us, His dying on the cross and His resurrection.  It also gave blessings to those listening :)  It was a great gift of love.  It was a beautiful, slow dance with great attention to their hands and feet.

The second dance was both boys and girls, 5 of each.  They had half coconut type instruments that they clapped together and with each other.  Again, it was a wonderful tribute to an ancient culture giving praise to their God and Creator Almighty.

We all came home in the dark with laughter, down the dirt lanes and friends holding hands.  Tomorrow will be hard.

Catfish Pond Day

This morning we were all a little tired from the noise in the room last night.  The lizards had a fight is the best we can guess :)  There was screeching and scampering and Alfven said he saw one get thrown (or jump) from the high shelf.  We have decided this is like luxury camping :)  We usually wake also to the sound of someone who got up before us killing a bug with Benjamin's flip flop.  He gave his up for the cause.  This was Benjamin this morning as I was testing my camera.

This is the front of our apartment that looks out on the main hallway.  I love having the windows in the room!  When washing dinner tonight I looked out to see one of the girls hiding behind the freezer playing a game.  She looked up at me, smiled and put her finger to her mouth to be quiet.

The kids went about their chores, at breakfast and then the bell rang and they all went to study for a while.  Benjamin took some pictures of them keeping up their school skills.

It was time to wash our clothes again so we did that while the kids were studying.  We treated ourselves to laundry service at the hotel in Kep but this morning we were all out at the tubs again.  The water went out right away so Alfven and Grace helped carry buckets of water to our wash basins.  One of the workers saw us ferrying water over and she brought out a full 5 gallon bucket of water.  She was so tiny and so strong!

We went and visited the animals this morning and found the cows in the barn.  Just thought it was a cool picture.  It reminded me of Jesus' birth in a stable.  This place also makes me ponder the foot washing that was so important in His culture because it makes sense in this life style.

This is a picture of the girl's dorm.  We went in to find the girls after their naps to see if they wanted to paint nails.  We bought a ton of nail polish with Ream and just hadn't broken it out yet.  Every day most people here in Cambodia take a nap.  Today it made total sense because it was very hot mid day.

We found the kids outside and hung out with them for a while.  They are teaching me how to say "Cambodia is for Christ" which was a great song they sang at church.  While we were chatting one girl said she wants to travel all over the world when she gets older.  She named all sorts of places like Paris, New York and then she said "And your house".  I told her she would always be welcome at my house :)  Her response was a precious giggle.

Some of the older girls came by and asked if I wanted to go to the market with them. I love the market!  It's fascinating to me.  The people, the way things are sold, the scenery.  This is a picture of a photo processing place.  The girls who asked me to go with them wanted to get some pictures made.  Kara is in the front of the picture.  The folks here are so gracious and anxious to put their best foot forward.  They go to great lengths to make sure guests are comfortable and taken care of.

I found this house in the middle of the market street.  It has the medicine sign and I am wondering if this is the witch doctor's house that Kit was talking about.  I need to ask him.

Rachanna and Keo went with Kara, Grace and I and they treated us to some Cambodian cakes.  They are the small white/beige rice cakes in the top dish.  They are served on lettuce leaves and cucumbers.  Then there is a sauce that goes over them with peanuts, orange juices and coconut milk.  At least I think that's what was said.  It was very sweet of them!  This is the house right across from the school.

We returned home after buying some of the best drink ever!  Winter Melon Tea!  When we got in we were greeted by this scene.  Al was out helping Kit get ready to drain the catfish pond.  Ream's dad had bought new baby catfish for farming and they needed to empty the pond of the large catfish or they would just eat the little ones.

Some of the boys got into the pond and started cutting apart the large overgrown mass of vegetation!  Notice the kid in far left greens!  Joseph helped them pull out the vegetation to the side of the slope and they let the goats go at it for the rest of the afternoon.  The goats thought they had gone to heaven!

The water from the pond was pumped into several empty pig stalls in the barn.  The first one had been lined with plastic for housing the little fish from Ream's dad.  The other two were to contain the water so it can be used for watering the crops during daily chores.  Whenever there were water leaks in the pens some boys got shovels full of mud and packed the corners to stop the leaking.

This is the slow release of the little catfish into the containment pen.  They are praying these grow full and large and get a good price at market.

Some of the vine pulling up the slope.

Once the pens were full the rest of the water was pumped to the grass.  Of course this was an invitation to start water wars :)

The boys tried to get the girls that were hanging out chatting but thankfully for them the hose didn't go that far!

Then out came the net to catch the big catfish in the pond.

They drew it across the pond 2 times and caught 7 fish this size!!

 
One of the measurements on the fish was 3 ft. 4 inches and 5 kilos.  It wasn't the biggest caught though because Kit had tagged the biggest fish in the pond so he knew this wasn't it.

The boys had a blast carrying the fish down to the pens of extra water.  

This is Mangju and On and they looked like the matched to day :)

Weed and Sengho are starting to become hams for the camera!

One of the fish in the fry pan.  It was a smaller fish that Tate caught and cooked up for himself.

We are excited to to see what the Lord prepares for us to do tomorrow.  Tomorrow is our last full day at the orphanage before we head to Phnom Penh :(  It's a weird feeling.