5:00am Chores
6:00am Breakfast
7:00am Morning School Session
11:00am Students leave school and go home for lunch and a rest
11:30am Lunch at A Greater Hope
12pm Time for Chores, Study or most take a Nap
1:00pm Afternoon School Session
4:00pm School Gets Out
5:00pm Chores
6:00pm Time for Study or Playing
8:00pm Time for Study, Playing or Bible Study on T. & Th.
I don't know if I explained but the school has grown so much it has needed more land. So the fix was to move the pre-school, Kindergarten and 1st grade classes onto the 2 acre property that the Orphanage sits on. This is that school building:
In the morning we walked over to check it out and several classes were getting out for their recess. They were so excited to see us and then Alfven started giving them high-fives. They thought that was awesome so as the exited in a line they high-fived us as hard as they could, laughing and giggling.
Then I pulled out the camera and they loved it! I would take pictures then turn the camera for them to see themselves and then the pushing to be in the picture started :)
Benjamin, Grace and I played lots of games of patty-cake with them which they loved too! There was no communications between the languages but the smiles, laughs, high-fives, patty-cake and picture taking said it all! And even when the kids were riding on their family moto to head home later and saw us on the street they were still calling "Hello" to us. We are totally going to make that a regular stop in our day!
After hanging with the little ones in the school we headed over to the large main school buildings. This is the pathway from the Orphanage to the main road. Gotta Dab!
This is the village main street that is pretty much the same as last trip. There is a large road going through and the markers have been put in place. The government is making a road that will run from China to Malaysia. It is going to take a huge part of the playground in the schoolyard as well as the office building. Local families are starting to move their houses back from where they are going to put the road. I'll try to get a picture of the markers.
This was the schoolyard with some girls playing a game with the rope between their legs. Behind them is the school snack-shop and they have added another snack-shop up front of the school too.
One of the things that I love about this country is that the people, all ages, use what they have and enjoy what they have. A common game on the playground is something where they kick around a flip-flop per person. These guys are playing the game. Each player wears a flip-flop and the other gets put in the pile to kick.
We got rain today! Twice :) I did hear Joshua (another missionary who lives here with his family) say that there has been a lot of rain lately so blessings are falling! It's a totally different frame of mind when your water source is rain and conservation is on your mind every time you use water.
During the free time, Joseph and Benjamin broke out the Stratego game we brought. Sam was the first customer but by the end of the free time before dinner there was a crowd around the table, watching and playing.
The boys and I went back over to the main school for them to join in on the computer class. Joshua was teaching and when he heard about what the boys were studying in school he invited them to come over. On had them try typing Khmer on the keyboard. The Khmer alphabet is over 100 characters.
The kids were mostly working on their keyboarding skills. Joseph and Benjamin sat in the back and did a quick drill on the keyboard and over impressed the kids with their speed, which created a ruckus. Then they got up and talked a bit about what they are studying in school and in Civil Air Patrol. The kids had a hard time understanding the concept of stealing money out of a computer but between Joseph, Joshua and On they figured out a good way to explain the concept.
After the school day I stayed and went to the Monday teacher's Bible Study at the school. Joshua led it and asked if I would give my conversion testimony so I did. I have to say that the most beautiful singing of hymns was at the beginning of the meeting. I just absorbed the Khmer language singing and praising the Lord. They sang with no instruments and in a circle. It was beautiful!
I find it interesting that some things in the States that consume our thoughts and worries are not here but the Cambodian people have their own stressors and worries. But I do find that as a whole they do not seem nearly as rushed or frazzled as we are in the States. I wonder if the Martha/Mary lesson in Scripture is what I'm seeing played out. The people here invest in relationship most.
Here is a picture of one of the garden sections. I will get more as the week goes on but every meal features rice and vegetables from their garden. Kit was saying that they choose plants for their nutritional value like high iron.
For fun today Kit took the kids out to the neighboring rice field that had water in it after the rain, and played a very muddy and fun game of baseball! The kids had an awesome time and of course the younger boys started into the mud sliding and slopping. Benjamin joined in and when they ended I told him there are very few chances in life to play baseball, barefoot, in a flooded rice field.
I'm always amazed at how the older kids nurture and guide the younger ones here. The little guy at bat is the littlest at the Orphanage right now. He is super personable and just came in a little bit ago to see what I was doing. He enjoyed looking at the pictures in the blog too :)
After dinner we gave out our pillowcases. The kids were very excited and gracious! Kit had said that once we started calling out their names they would all wait expectantly for theirs. For those who might be reading and not know what I did, I sewed them each a unique pillowcase for their pillows. I used three different fabrics on each pillowcase so some have the same fabric but in a different piece on their pillowcase. I told them that this is because in Psalm 139:14 we are told we are each "fearfully and wonderfully made". Created by God's own hand, special and unique. We may have similarities but God our Father created us unique.
These are the pillowcases that we passed out. Grace, Anna and I wrapped them in colored tissue paper and ribbon and added a card with their names on them and we had written inside the card "We prayed for you". We have kept their names on 3x5 cards at home and rotated through the names each night we prayed as a family. They have been on our hearts and minds for two years now.
We all headed to bed exhausted and blessed :)
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