The Doctor is In!

One of the wisest investments we've made as parents has been a Plastic Doctor's Kit via eBay. Juliana has gotten hours of enjoyment from this kit. I often hear her ask, "Daddy, can you check my doctors?" Perhaps we should introduce her to some medical missionaries here in Cambodia to test her potential calling into the medical field...
While Juliana was practicing her doctor skills last week, we were busy helping Darrell and Susan Caldwell pack up and prepare for their transition back to the states. We also had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together with Skip and Carol Tobin (more below).

(Left) Darrell and Susan Caldwell, exhausted after saying four hours-worth of "good-byes"to many friends at their fairwell open-house party. This family will be greatly missed by many here.

(Right) We hosted Skip and Carol Tobin last week. As EMM regional reps to southeast Asia, the Tobins will continue to provide direction and support for us as we are the only EMM long-term missionaries currently in Cambodia.

Skip and Carol quickly re-established themselves as "aunt"and "uncle"to Juliana. Here our daughter is sandwiched inbetween the two on a tuk-tuk ride.

Sunday morning was a special morning of honoring the Caldwells at Phnom Penh Mennonite Church. Here is a group picture after the service and meal together. (Can you find the fair-skinned baby in the group?)

Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted after the week. (Right) Juliana and I resting in a hammock. (Below) Kai, proving that he will not let the rungs of the crib confine his body...

Thanks for your interest in our lives and ministry. If you're reading this blog, you've most likely played a very significant role in helping us be the people we are today, and for that we say a big "Thank You!"

-Ryan

Farewells and Fan-less Nights

It's funny how sometimes things turn out very differently than we imagine them... When we initially planned our return to Cambodia, we were looking forward to reconnecting with Darrell and Susan Caldwell, working together with them here in Phnom Penh and being EMM teammates. But a few months ago, they made the bittersweet decision to leave Cambodia to be with their family in the USA, and so we're preparing to bid them farewell for now. (They hope to return someday, but are not making specific plans at the present.) So, that means Ryan and I will essentially be the EMM "country reps", with some pretty big shoes to fill!
Actually, we're not planning to wear all the hats that Darrell and Susan wore (at least not at first), but one significant role that I've been spending lots of time trying to learn is that of EMM Financial Bookkeeper. I've been getting a crash course in handling EMM finances, preparing lots of reports, and doing Cambodia-style banking (which reminds me of my days as a teller at Blue Ball National!) It's going to be fine once I understand it all and get into a routine, but for now it's been the cause of a few headaches. : ) The Caldwells fly to the US on June 13th. We're going to miss the them, and hope their time in the USA is one of refreshment and blessing...

While I've been spending lots of hours with Susan learning the ropes, Ryan's been doing a great job entertaining and caring for Juliana and Kai. They continue to adjust well to life here, and Juliana's been speaking more and more Khmer. She loves to repeat phrases that Ty, our househelp, is teaching her, and the loud praise she receives for her efforts are enough encouragement for her to keep trying. We are often asked to repeat what's been said in conversation she hears (whether it's spoken in Khmer or English!) and we laugh about being her personal translators. It's fun to watch her absorb two languages at the same time!

Just this morning, Ryan and Juliana were getting ready to go outside on the upstairs balcony, and Ryan counted "One, two, three." Juliana responded with "No, Daddy, moy, pbee, bie!" No more "saying it plain" for her!

In other milestones, Kai had his first solid foods recently. Appropriately enough, he had his first taste of rice cereal, and seemed to enjoy it. After making some funny expressions initially, he opened his mouth for more, so I think we may have two children who love rice - which is a good thing for living in Cambodia, where we eat rice twice a day!

And here's another facet of life in Cambodia... due to a power shortage in Cambodia, we've been experiencing power-outages on a regular basis. They happened almost daily when we first arrived (during the hot season, more AC's are running, needing more power - at least that was our guess), and since we've gotten into the rainy season, it's not been quite as often, but they still manage to happen when you least expect it. When the power's off, it's most frustrating to be without fans - the difference in our apartment from hot season to rainy season has only been a drop from 90 deg. F to about 87 deg. F. But we're trying to learn how to make lemonade from such lemons, and the other night when the power was out from about 6:30 to 8:30 pm, we took our bedtime snack out onto the balcony! We enjoyed sweet jackfruit and crackers by the light of the flashlights on our cell phones (do phones in the States have flashlights on them, or is that just here where having a ready light in your pocket comes in especially handy?) and the glow of the mosquito coil (an invention similar to the punk-sticks from my youth, burned to keep mossies away), and prayed for the power to come before we'd need to sleep in pools of sweat! (It did.)

- Bethany

Snapshots of our Lives...

This week, to make up for some of the previous lack of photos, I'm just posting some random shots from the past few weeks, so feast your eyes on the following...

Juliana shows off some of her favorite fruit,

known in Khmer as "sau-mau" (both words rhyme with cow)

From a recent "photo shoot" - but I couldn't get them to both smile at the same time!

From our first trip to Swenson's, a western-style ice cream parlor, which has delicious treats that remind us of home!

I was hoping to post some more, but I'm running out of my alloted time at the internet shop that we patronize for posting to our blog - Ryan's at home on Daddy-duty, and I need to relieve him soon!

- Bethany

A Refreshing Retreat

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Siem Reap, Cambodia at EMM's Asia Retreat. After traveling north about six hours by bus, we arrived in Cambodia's biggest tourist city. What brings tourists there? Well, primarily the Temples of Angkor, which include quite a number of magnificent ancient temples. Though I'm sure the Egyptian pyramids are neat to see, these temples are much more fascinating in my opinion. They are both very massive and incredibly ornate.

But we didn't go to "play tourist,"we went to Siem Reap to connect with other EMM workers serving in Asia. It was a really neat time of making new friends and touching base with those we already new. All in all, we left the retreat feeling very refreshed with an increased passion for service and a renewed vision for ministry.

The theme of the retreat was being prophetic kingdom builders. In one session we talked about how in being prophetic kingdom builders, we are called to be involved in Proclaiming the Kingdom, Providing for the needs of others, and Partnering with others. In another session, we talked about how the kingdom of God is Alternative to the kingdom of this world, Attractive in that it meets real needs, and Articulate in that we are called to verbalize why our way of life is so alternative and attractive.

Besides having the opportunity to interact with other missionaries, probably the biggest highlight of the retreat was the times of passionate and reflective worship. I recognized during the retreat that during our first weeks in Cambodia, I had not been making worship a high priority. I had been more aware of how big all the details of our transition were rather than focusing my attention on how wonderfully big our God is. The result of this neglect in worshiping had resulted in me thinking of myself primarily as a worker for Christ, rather than a co-worker with Christ. It was so refreshing to be reminded that Christ, by His Spirit, wants to lead me, inspire me, motivate me, equip me, speak to me, sustain me, etc. I am not left to myself. I am in Christ and Christ is in me!

Ryan

P.S. Enjoy the pictures below...

Darrell Caldwell sharing with the group about their 12 year missionary experience in Cambodia. At the present, he and his wife Susan do not have specific plans to return to Cambodia, but they would be surprised if they didn't come back some day.

Susan Caldwell also sharing with the group. She and Darrell are returning to the states to spend time with their Children. Luke is getting married this fall, Rachel just finished her fourth year at college, Caleb will be starting college, and Joshua will be going to school in the States.

Our Philipino friends that are praying/planning to join us in working with EMM in Cambodia. They are Rene and Hesper, Annie Fe and Rudy. They have strong business background and plan to be working in the northern part of the country.



Juliana and I looking at some butterflies in "Butterfly Gardens," a Siem Reap restaurant that is enclosed with netting, letting customers enjoy the beauty of many local butterflies as they eat a delicious meal.

Kai "hanging out"on the floor during one of the retreat sessions.

On Tuk-tuks and Transitions

We seem to be writing in retrospect these days, as much more happens than we have time to write about in the few times that we've been able to get on the internet! So I'm updating some thoughts I wrote a week and a half ago (so we stay in chronological order!), and hope to catch up soon on last week and the EMM Asia Retreat that we attended in Siem Reap, Cambodia from Wed. to Sun. (4/30-5/4).
First, a comment on the lack of photos in the last post... Our understanding was that the electric voltage wasn't so different here, but it's not true. We discovered while I was giving Ryan a (much-needed) haircut the other week with our clipper set that the voltage adapter we borrowed from friends still didn't make things quite right. It was cutting REALLY loud, getting hot, and vibrating so hard I could hardly hold it right - too much power. But we've since figured out how to power up our laptop safely, and as soon as we get to a place with WIFI that works (as I discovered the other night, just because a place says it has WIFI doesn't mean it does!!) we should have an easier time posting photos.
Secondly, for those not familiar with our living situation, when we mention the apartment we're renting or the Hill family, we're referring to the fact that we are housesitting for some British OMF missionaries named Mike and Rachel Hill (and two of their three children) as they're home in England on furlough through July. So we'll soon be looking for a new spot eventually, but it's been great to be in their home for now!
Some random thoughts...
While some things in Cambodia will take a while to get used to, it's amazing how quickly one adjusts to other things... I thought that it would be very weird to get used to not buckling our kids up in car seats to travel, but we've accepted rather quickly and gracefully (?) the lack of such safety precautions. Juliana still needs reminded to stay on the seat of the van or tuk-tuk (wagon/cart with seats pulled by a motorcycle, pronounced "took-took"), but I rather like being able to hold Kai in my arms as we go. Praying for safety all the while, of course. But as chaotic and crazy as the traffic can seem, there is a sense of order, of understood rules, as it were (at least understood by the majority of the Cambodian drivers!) There's a sort of pecking order of vehicles, and if you know where you are in the order and don't do anything too quickly, you usually manage to get where you're going without incident. I had a milestone of my own when I travelled by myself to a market the other day - getting there was no problem, but since we live a tad "in the boonies" of the city, away from center-city Phnom Penh and not really close to any huge, well-known landmarks, I was praying that I'd be able to tell the moto driver I hired for the return trip exactly where I lived. We made it home, though the traffic was REALLY CRAZY at one certain intersection that's in dire need of a light, and I got bumped a bit as we went by the van on our left. No injuries, and not really that scary, since similar things happened when we were here in 2002 (and traffic in such situations moves VERY slowly). But thanks to all who pray for our safety as we travel!

Will it all fit? Trying to get our newly-purchased crib home in a tuk-tuk

Speaking of adjusting to new situations, Juliana has been doing fairly well in this transition. She loves going places in tuk-tuks, really enjoys our househelp Ty, and her imagination is as creative as ever! She likes to play the games the Hills' four-year-old son James left in the apartment, such as Hi Ho! Cherry-O and Spotty Dogs, and all sorts of made-up games with whatever's at hand. She's also been getting lots of use out of the doctor's kit we brought with us, and has regularly shown up "pregnant," with one of her stuffed friends up her shirt. (The other day, Ryan was the attending physician when a beautiful baby bunny was born!)

She's gotten to play with some new Khmer friends, also: the landlord's granddaughter SreiBik ("my friend" as J calls her, insisting she can't say the name) visits her grandparents regularly, and she's played with a three-year-old from across the back alley named Silena a few times. The other day, Juliana played at Silena's house for the first time - and it's worth noting that was there by herself (neither Ryan nor I were there). She came back saying that they had fun, they'd had a snack, and that the people in the house had "talked different." Her observations and questions about life here often make us chuckle!

Playing Hi Ho! Cherry-O with Ty and Silena

And I thought I'd throw in some photos from our first Saturday here, when our colleagues Darrell and Susan Caldwell (missionaries with EMM, returning to the USA in June) took us to a beautiful swimming pool for some R & R. It was good for all of us to have a chance to cool off and play for while - even Kai got in the pool!

So, since we've arrived in country three weeks ago, our days have been filled with such things as taking care of our kids, getting what we need to settle in here, learning Khmer with the help of language helpers from the Men's Dorm (one of EMM's ministries: supplying housing for university students from the countryside as they study in the city), going for immunizations and rabies shots (Ryan was bit by a dog the second week we were here!), and enjoying the EMM Retreat last most of last week. But I'll save that for another post!
- Bethany

...Finally Here!

After much planning and preparation, time and travel, we're finally here, writing from Cambodia. That's right, all four of us: Ryan, Bethany, Juliana, and Kai are all her in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.
We've been here for about a week and a half, arriving here late Sunday evening, April 13th. Our long weekend of travel went well, better than we were fearing it might! Juliana did especially well. We weren't sure how we were going to channel all her energy in ways that would not be disruptive to other passengers. One activity she enjoyed was going to the back of the plane and tossing/kicking an inflatable neck pillow back and forth with Ryan. (No injuries sustained!) We made all our connections (not always with a lot of time), and the only real disappointments were when Bethany got peed on while changing Kai on her lap at the gate waiting area in LAX, and when Kai had a leaky, diarrhea diaper while Ryan was holding him on the flight to Seoul. So we're very grateful for all your prayers for us while traveling.
We have many things to be grateful for. We continue to enjoy the fantastic living situation we have. How nice to not have to "set up house" right away because of the opportunity to be in a fully furnished place. Mike and Rachel Hill (who will be home in the U.K. for several months) left very clear and helpful instructions/advice about the house and how to relate with the landlords and house helper, Ty (sounds like "tie").
The landlords are already grandparents and therefore have taken also to Juliana and Kai. "Yey" (rhymes with "say," Khmer for "grandma") made sure to let us know that if ever we need someone to hold Kai, she'd be happy to do the honors. She also likes to swing him in her hammock. Yey is not the only one eager to spend time with our little chunk of a man. We might have to soon be concerned about him getting spoiled by all the attention of the doting neighbor women. They love to hold him always comment about how big and white he is. It really is ideal for us to live in an area where we'll have lots of contact with neighbors. It gives us frequent opportunity for interaction, building relationships, and practicing our Khmer.
How are we experiencing the transition? Well, we're each experiencing it in our own unique way. The one thing we have in common is that it seems that we have all learned to get our days and nights straight. Ryan is excited and optimistic (what's new?) Bethany is happy, but feeling a bit overwhelmed by the balancing act of getting settled, being a parent, and learning Khmer. Juliana had a first rough week, made obvious by some of her emotional outbursts. She was often confused by us talking a new language, and would sometimes (in a disoriented and emotionally-charged tone) say, "Say it plain Daddy!" (To her, anything besides English is not "plain speech.") She is doing better with this already and is now responding correctly to some simple questions we ask her in Khmer. (We speak mostly in English, but are using more and more Khmer vocab in the home as we learn it.) Yesterday she spent a couple hours playing with Yey's granddaughter. They threw/kicked a small soccer ball back and forth and ran around pretending to be wolves, "hoooowl!!!" It's neat to see how language barriers don't keep Juliana from having fun with her peers here. Kai seems to be his same contented self. It's hard for him to keep cool and he's often just wearing a diaper around the house. Both he and Juliana have suffered a bit from heat rash, but some powder (and a haircut for Juliana) have helped Kai's behind and Juliana's neck to feel better.
Well, that's it for now. I'm disappointed to not be able to include pictures with this posting. (I'm not writing from my own computer.) We will try to figure something out before next week so we can share some snapshots with you.
Blessings to you...

Lessons in Language Acquisition

Wow, so much has happened in the past several months! Our lives have been a whirlwind of activity as our family continued adjusting to its newest member, raised missionary support, sorted and packed our earthly possessions, tried to tie up "loose ends" and had special "last moments" with dear family and friends before leaving PA. We had hoped to be able to publish posts along the way and let you glimpse us "in action," but with all that happened, blogging never made it to the top of the list! So, we'll jump in with the latest adventure, and maybe someday we can go back and share more photos from the previous months...

We have just completed two intense and very helpful weeks of training with Mission Training International in Palmer Lake, CO. The course is called PILAT, and stands for Program In Language Acquisition Techniques. We've been grateful for the time to be here as a family, gain practical skills for jumping into our language learning adventure, make lots of new missionary friends, and enjoy the beautiful Colorado scenery! A not-so-fun aspect of the time was the stomach bug that made its rounds during the second week, but we're mostly back to normal and ready to fly out of Colorado Springs tomorrow for our trip-around-the-world! Cambodia, HERE WE COME!!

A scene from our extended airport stay - they look happy, but it went downhill from there!

Here we are in class, learning how to learn languages with our missionary classmates

Dwight Gradin, PILAT director and instructor, and Ryan, volunteer "language learner," model one of the techniques we learned

A phonetics drill session, where we "got our mouths into shape" to make the new sounds of our target languages

Joanne Smith, another instructor, and some of the phonetic vowels we were trying to say in the photo above

Dwight and Barbara Gradin (former Wycliffe missionaries to Viet Nam and PILAT director/instructors) and daughter Andrea Tepley (another instructor) were so helpful, and told great stories from their experiences on the field

While the adults had class, the children had their own fun classes, and Juliana enjoyed her time with "Aunt" Laura and her classmates

Kai, enjoying a favorite spot in his class, where he hung out with "Aunt" Sandy, other caregivers, and fellow nursery buddies

Juliana loved to push the buttons for the elevator - we called her our little "Bellhop!"

Our precious, soon-to-be bilingual, multi-cultural children! (Juliana: 3 yrs.; Kai: almost 4 mon.)

Introducing... Kai Reagan!

Just born!

Finally, amidst the endless diaper changes, marathon nursing sessions, and sleep-less nights, I'm grabbing a bit of time to post this overdue entry! We welcomed our second child, a beautiful boy named Kai (Navajo: willow tree) Reagan (Irish: ruler) into the family on December 17, 2007. The spiritual connotations of his name are "firmly rooted" and "spiritual strength" - may it be so!) He was ten days late, but once he got started, Kai came quickly; labor lasted just four hours from first contraction to delivery! We are so blessed to have such a sweet, (usually) content baby, and Juliana is enjoying her big-sister status. She loves to give hugs and kisses (even if they are given a bit too forcefully at times!) and talks about doing fun things with Kai as he grows up. (She's had her share of adjustment issues, too, of course. Actually, we all have!) He's six weeks old now, and getting more alert and smiley every day! Enjoy some more photos of our growing family...

Cuddling with Mommy (2 days old)

On Christmas Day (8 days old)

Snuggle-session with Daddy & Juliana (3 weeks old)

What a poser! (taken same day)

As he tired of the photo shoot, his lower lip came out - so cute!

"Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him." Psalm 127:3

The Move

It's hardly news to many of you that we recently relocated, but since it's taken me two months to post a bit about it, it's the newest news from us.

Our home for the past 3 years

On September 24th (our 7th anniversary!) we made the move from our dear apartment on Turtle Hill to our temporary home on the second floor of Ryan's parents home in the Valley, just across the Chester County line. Moving day was beautiful and actually hot, and we were so thankful for the friends, family and random help that showed up to lend a hand!

We are grateful for the hospitality and graciousness of family, and are finding it a blessing to be in this place at this time...

Our "new home" for now - until the next (even bigger!) move

Meet Our MST

This lovely bunch of people is our Missionary Support Team, an integral part of our journey to the mission field. Our mission board, Eastern Mennonite Missions, requests that we gather a group of dedicated friends around us to help support us as we raise funds and awareness of our mission, and also maintain connection with family, friends and supporters while we're in Cambodia. We think it's a great concept, and we love our MST!

Let us introduce you... (from left to right) Jess Miller, Prayer Coordinator; Jason Peifer, Treasurer; Mike Weaver, Chairman; Jen Eby, Church Communicator; and Brett Eby, Newsletter Coordinator.