Last Tuesday our neighborhood guard came to our door and asked me to move our car into our courtyard. So I did. Then a tent went up and the preparations began. It appears that our neighbors across the street were celebrating the end of rainy season which ends sometime in the next few week. On and off on Wednesday music played and monks chanted. They even had some traditional dancers. The funny part was the dancers came and danced before the guests arrived. In the evening the guests came and it was a calm dinner party that ended around 8:30 because of a downpour.

These particular neighbors appear to be well off. A few weeks ago they had over 30 young monks over and gave them all new rice buckets.

Please pray that we would find ways to interact with our neighbors. Unlike many neighbors, most people are our neighbor don’t come out of their houses that much. Nights are quiet, without a lot of people walking around. It’s been difficult to meet our neighbors. Please pray that God would open some doors for us. Pray that God would send a Khmer girl Becca’s age.

So far October has been “guest” month for us. At the beginning of the month a Jarai family flew in from NC to visit family in their home villages. Josh spent a few days picking up people from the airport and entertaining. On Saturday night we had the family and and some visitors from their home village over for dinner. Currently the Jarai family is planning to stay overnight with us when they return to Phnom Penh to fly back to the States.

JD Crowley was with us for a few days on his way to and from the States. The kids love Uncle JD and were very sad to see him go.

Uncle Brian stayed with us for a week while attending a conference on Bible translation. (Picture at top of page.) The kids were glad to have an extra after-dinner reader around.

Also attending this conference was a lady who is currently working on the Jarai alphabet. We had her family over for a Saturday lunch and enjoyed hearing about the Jarai believers.

Saturday was Anna Grace’s 6-month birthday. These pictures sum up her sweet, vibrant personality. This past month, Anna started rolling all over the place. I’m afraid one of these days she’s going to roll out the front door (yes, we always keep it open).

(The dress Anna is wearing was mine.)

Anna has now spent more of her life in Cambodia than the US. We continue to thank God for her smooth transition over here and pray that the Lord will protect her from mosquito borne diseases. We’re very grateful that our helper speaks Khmer with Anna everyday and hope Anna learns Khmer much faster than her parents. Thank you God for the gift of a second daughter – for answering our prayers and giving us exactly what we needed.

We are now into our fourth month of living in Cambodia. We thank the Lord for giving us a very smooth three months here and are looking forward to continuing this next month of learning Khmer. Last week Josh started his class at Gateway2Khmer. His class meets Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 12. He leaves our home a little before 8 and returns home around 12:45, just in time for us to say hello before I prepare for my tutoring sessions that go from 1:30-3:30.

We continue to thank God for providing us a wonderful helper. She’s been helping me get a lot of Khmer practice and is very patient in listen to me try to tell stories from our day in Khmer. She is always coming up with ways to make our life here better. Yesterday she organized all our plastic grocery bags because she said they were attracting mosquitoes.

Ever had one of those days when you experience mommy failure (or failure in whatever role you’re in)? Everyone seems cranky, everything seems to go wrong, I’m impatient with the kids multiple times, I brush my husband aside instead of showing him love by stopping my agenda to listen to what he has to say, and then I catch a glance in the mirror to see a scary person with frizzy hair and dark circles under her eyes with a hard set  mouth looking back at me, which puts me in a bad mood because now besides doing everything wrong I’m also ugly! Finally I get everyone down for their afternoon rest time and instead of using my time wisely to refresh my soul in Christ I go to my time- waster default…checking my email, facebook, or a blog. And what do you know…no other normal mommy seems to be having a day like me. They’re all posting cute pictures of their kids, or neat craft ideas, or the wonderful ideas they have to simplify life and be better mommys. Hello mommy failure!

At the same time, I know I can appear to be one of those “picture perfect” mommys. I post cute pictures of our kids, blog about our great life here in Cambodia, blah, blah, blah…and I’m a missionary wife. So for those of you who have ever been discouraged by comparing yourself to my life…let me say, I’m just a sinful girl who desperately needs Jesus to help me be a faithful wife and mommy, and missionary. I sin. I struggle with finding time do my devotions. I’m impatient with our children. I’m impatient with my husband. I struggle with pride and comparing myself to others. I want everyone to think I’m the best. If someone intimidates me I can tear them down in my mind. I manipulate. I struggle at showing love to people I don’t like. I struggle showing love to people who love me. I’m selfish. The list goes on…I sin multiple times a day.

So the next time you’re tempted to compare yourself to a missionary mommy or any cute facebook, blogging, whatever mommy, remember, we’re all in the same boat. We’re sinful women struggling to fight against sin as we fulfill the roles God has called us to.