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