Our New Home, Part One

On September 23rd, our family moved into a new house! It's a traditional-style, concrete-downstairs-wooden-upstairs house, which are plentiful in the countryside but in the minority in the city. After some weeks of adjusting to a much smaller living space, we all agree that we really like it, especially that we're outdoors so much more of the time. We're grateful for a decent-sized yard where Juliana and Kai can ride bike, swim in a wading pool, and play in safety.

In the photo below, Juliana is sitting on the only stairs to the second floor, so when it's raining, we get wet if we need to go up or down. : ) (The rainy season is nearly over, though, and we're looking forward to the cool/dry season - my favorite!) This house is cooler than our other house, which was made all of concrete and kept the heat in at night.

Juliana and Kai enjoy playing in the sandbox that we bought. A motorbike-pulled cart delivered the sand for a whopping $5!

Another feature of our new home is the abundance of wildlife such as birds, geckos, lizards, snails, etc. Some creatures we don't appreciate as much, like the rodents, spiders, ants and mosquitos that are more prevalent here than at our old place. We actually took in a domesticated animal as well - introducing our cat, _______! (We're still just calling him Kitty, since he'd been named Stoopid and we have yet to all agree on a new name!)

Above, a huge snail we discovered on a water tank, and below, a very shy lizard that lives in the corner of our yard and loves to sunbathe.

More to come, but that's good for starters! : )

Wedding Bells in France

When I flew out of Cambodia on Wednesday, August 19th, I didn't know how rich the next few days would be. My destination was France. My purpose was to attend the wedding of Rodney (younger brother) and Alex (Alexandra).

We were disappointed that our whole family couldn't go, but Bethany, Juliana, and Kai did well at holding down the home fort while I enjoyed time at the wedding and reconnecting with my parents.

Here's Juliana and Kai trying to sneak into my suitcase

It was wonderful to finally meet Alex and to share supper with the soon-to-be-married couple on Thursday evening.

On Friday afternoon, Rodney, Alex and I welcomed our parents to the area too.

The wedding was beautiful, and I'm not just talking about the bride and groom (pictured above)


I had the honor of being Rodney's best man. Somehow it wasn't hard to say "Cheese!" in France.


The wedding reception was held at an old stone castle. It was a photographer's delight. Here the newlyweds pose with Mom, Dad, and I.

One of the best parts of my time in France was just simply seeing Rodney and Alex interact together. I witnessed love as I saw them experience laughter and tears together. I'm so glad they can be together and share in the wonderful gift of marriage.

-Ryan

August Beach Vacation

On July 29, our family left Phnom Penh to spend the next nine days on vacation at the Cambodian seaside. The town of Sihanoukville (named for a former king) is a pleasant destination, much different from the congested capital. We had been there as a family in December, and stayed at a Hotel School that trains students in the hospitality business while practicing on actual guests. We decided to head to Don Bosco Hotel School again, and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Since it was the middle of the rainy season (not a high tourist time), we were the only guests for most of the time we were there!

a photo of the Hotel from the Don Bosco website

We had great food all week, and loved the fresh rolls at every meal!

Not only was it rainy season, but contrary to the rain-then-sun-then-more-rain of Phnom Penh, it rained for several days at a time in Sihanoukville. That, and the fact that during the rainy season, the Gulf of Thailand is pretty rough with big waves, we only went to the beach a couple times. So, in addition to watching Tom and Jerry, Discovery Channel, and DVDs, building pillow-houses, bouncing on the beds a little (the kids) and getting on the Internet (the adults)...

...when the clouds parted, we went swimming in the hotel pool. Juliana and Kai enjoyed playing in the water with Mommy and Daddy, and practicing the things they've been learning in weekly swim lessons (June-Sept).

In between raindrops, Ryan also had the chance to practice driving a motorbike on the less-congested streets. We all enjoyed going out as a family on the bike, and Juliana and Kai loved to have Daddy as their driver! Kai and Juliana in their towel cocoons, Kai's favorite thing to do after a bath

We had a great time on our vacation. It was so long and so relaxing that we actually started to miss the routine of regular life at home, which was our sign that the vacation was almost too long! Ironically, upon our return to "real life," 3/4ths of our family passed around a virus that knocked us out for a few days with fever, sore throat and headache. Upon recovery, we hastily prepared for a week-long separation, the details of which will be shared in the next post!

- Bethany

Hello?... Hello!

Dear blog readers, we apologize for seemingly disappearing from BlogLand the past month and a half. We were away, then very busy, then on different continents, then even busier... you get the idea! We will attempt to catch you up on our recent happenings in a series of posts, and hope to return to our bi-weekly posting habits. : )

A Week With the Coats Family

On Monday of last week, our family made a four-hour journey into the beautiful Cambodian countryside east of Phnom Penh to visit John, Debbie, Micah and Jesse Coats in their home village of Mesang. The Coats family joined EMM last summer, but have lived in Cambodia for more than 16 years, so they have a wealth of knowledge and experience in cross-cultural ministry to Khmers. This was our first trip out to Mesang as a whole family, and it was good to learn more about John and Debbie's ministry involvements. Their backgrounds are in agriculture and health care, and their ministries have included well-digging, beginning a Tuberculosis clinic, teaching Khmer church leaders, leading Bible studies, tutoring schoolchildren in math, and beginning a character-training program for children. Currently, John works mostly with the kid's program and tutoring, while nurse Debbie is hoping to begin an important research study on B1-deficiency in infants next month. John gives math instruction to struggling students

Our visit fell during the transplanting stage of the rice growing season, so we saw lots of workers out in the fields, transplanting rice from seedbeds like the one above, where the rice is first planted and grown densely, to other (usually flooded) fields where the plants are spaced further apart to bring greater yield. Due to a lot of young people moving to the city for work, there's a labor shortage, and workers now earn about $2.50 for a day of transplanting (more than it was before). It looked like back-breaking work!

A transplanted field of rice

The house above was our home for the week. It's about a kilometer away from the Coats' house, and was built for a family in their former mission who ended their assignment early. The Coats' kept the house to use for visiting teams, etc. The design of the bedroom part of the house, patterned after John's design for their house (which we don't have photos of) allows for great ventilation. As you see below, the thatch walls have lots of double "window" panels that open up to allow the most breeze through (the bottom ones are all closed in this photo). It's a genius plan, and not very typical to traditional, stilted Khmer houses.

Juliana and Kai play at the Coats' water pump (J's feet are resting on the levers where one stands to pump water with the feet, somewhat like an exercise machine!)

We got to do lots of bike-riding as a family, since one of their bikes had a toddler seat for Kai. (We hope to have one made for our own bike here.) Another highlight, especially for the kids, was Jesse's free-range flock of chickens which ran around the property, and the family's two kittens, Velvet and Quilt. Below, Velvet patiently allows Juliana to pet him, something he apparently doesn't do for the Coats'!

15-year-old Micah and 12-year-old Jesse give Kai and Juliana shoulder rides

Our last full day there, while I visited a provincial hospital with Debbie (a child from their village was being treated for meningitis), Ryan, Juliana and Kai went to visit a nearby fish hatchery. The owner, Mr. Sombat, showed them how he uses a net to catch the fish. The kids also enjoyed a ride on a swing on the property. On Friday morning, we packed up our van, ate breakfast with the Coats', and began the return trip home. Outside of the fact that the night sounds of the countryside (LOUD frogs after the rains) and sleeping in a new place made Kai scream for a couple hours a few of the nights, we had a really good week in Mesang. Thanks, Coats family, for your friendship and hospitality!

- Bethany

Recent Snapshots...

Here we are celebrating the completion of our Khmer Level II University class at a party with our classmates and teacher. Professor Para is in the blue shirt to the left of Ryan.
We have begun studying with private language helpers and will consider starting the 3rd Level of university class in October.

Kai and Ryan showing some American Colors at the U.S. Embassy's 4th of July party. Though no fireworks at the event, it was fun to eat some American food, have Juliana's face painted, play on the playground equipment, and watch an acrobatic performance.

Big news for Phnom Penh Mennonite Church! For the first time ever, a delegation from the church was sent to attend the Mennonite World Conference in Paraguay last week! Anna Showalter (who served in Cambodia with EMM's YES program several years ago) spear-headed the whole idea, Franklin Mennonite Conference financially supported the trip, and Ryan took care of the travel and registration details. Chomno and Kosal (above) are excited and grateful for the opportunity to connect with Mennonite believers from around the world. They are excited for what the experience means for them personally and for the Phnom Penh Mennonite congregation. We are excited to hear from them about their experience and the fresh vision they have for Christian community life. (They return the 21st of July.)

Before you leave the blog, Juliana asks you to, "Say cheese!" She loves taking pictures with the camera that her creative Mommy helped her fashion.

-Ryan

School's Out!

Even though the weather here has been toasty since March and it's felt like summer 3 months already, "summer break" began last week as Hope International School finished the year on the 12th of June. We've been blessed to be a part of this wonderful school community, and Juliana enjoyed her first year at the preschool, making friends from all over the world. The last day of preschool there was a party - here we are posing for a "Last Day" photo with the brownies that Juliana took in to share.

Juliana with preschool teachers and assistants - Miss Sopheak and Miss Somphoa from Cambodia (standing in the back), Miss Rose from the Philippines (kneeling on left) and Mrs. Katy from New Zealand (and Josiah snuck in, too!)

Since school's out, Juliana's added playing "school" to her make-believe play repertoire. She also recently got play-married to her brother Kai (despite her previous declaration to never marry so that she wouldn't have to leave her beloved family! When asked for comment, she replied, "It's just pretend married, when I'm little.") Here are a few "wedding photos" of the newlywed couple...

"You may now kiss the groom." Note the ring on her finger, and the headband with attached wig of long, fake hair. (Thanks, MawMaw!)

We've also rediscovered a book on our shelf - 501 TV-Free Activities for Kids - which has already contributed to the creativity in our household - just in time for summer break! Juliana and I made a hobby horse together out of an old mop-stick, cloth diapers, one of Daddy's socks, and other odds-and-ends. We're currently in the process of turning two milk-powder cans into stilts, so there's no end in sight to the creativity around here!

And in other news, Ryan and I are entering our last week of classes at Institute of Foreign Languages for this term. We will miss our wonderful teacher, Phara, as he doesn't teach the 3rd and 4th levels. This past weekend, one of our classmates hosted a carry-in dinner party, and we had fun sharing Western and Asian food dishes with each other. We tried kimchi (sp?), the Korean staple made from pickled Chinese cabbage, garlic, hot chilies, etc. Our Korean and Khmer friends enjoyed baked corn, PA-style, and someone's chocolate brownies received a favorable review from at least one uninitiated Korean. It's been fun to learn more about other cultures, in addition to our Khmer culture discoveries.

-Bethany

Family Devotions, 4-Year-Old Preachers, etc.

To give a glimpse into our family life, I wanted to share on the theme of family devotions. Though our devotions schedule is far from regular, spending this kind of time together has proved to be be a special and enjoyable for us. It's a challenge to keep them meaningful for the adults and relevant for the kids. So, what's it look like? Well, we often have a short time of reading a Bible story, singing a couple songs together, and prayer. We are currently using a children's Bible story book and then each night one of the three oldest members of the family gets to choose a song (usually from a CD) that we sing along to. We don't sit around and solemnly sing, however. Most times we're burning off some of our supper calories by dancing around together. Juliana and Kai love to move to the music.

Bethany reading and Juliana checking out the pictures.

Daddy loves singing and dancing with his two little ones.


Other recent tidbits about the kids...

Juliana recently got a hair cut, a pretty significant one too. In the hot weather, having her hair off her neck will help to prevent the heat rash that she's often had in the past.


The new and improved Juliana!


One of Juliana's recent pretend activities has been leading church services. It's kind of a one-person show. She plays the roles of moderator, worship leader, and preacher.


"Testing, testing; is this on?"

Juliana makes a joyful noise and leads "the congregation" in one of her imaginative praise songs. Lyrics often include phrases that go something like this: "Jesus, you are the Christ; no one can do it. You are the one. Praise the God of the Lord!"

Though I have never heard her preach about being a peacemaker, I recently saw her practice it in her play. She was pretending to be the third of the "Three Little Pigs" and I was the "Big Bad Wolf." When I was tired of huffing and puffing at her brick house, I told her I wanted to come in so I could eat her. Her response surprised me; instead of taunting me or preparing boiling water under the chimney, she invited me in for a meal. She said something like, "Don't eat me. I'll make you some food." The Big Bad Wolf received her generosity, but was a bit baffled when he heard that both menu items were primarily pork products. (Maybe that explains what happened to the 1st and 2nd little pig...)

The third little pig with her delicious spread of "moo-suki ham sauce drink and too-ie vegetable drinking sausage ham"

Juliana and Kai wearing our motorbike helmets just after Bethany and I returned home from Khmer language class. Perhaps they will need some time to grow into them...

-Ryan