Monthly Archives: March 2017

Quick trip to Siem Reap

Cambodian Adventures

This week we took a short trip to Siem Reap for Clara to get some routine vaccinations. Instead of turning right around and driving home the next day, we stayed two full days to take a little break. Our first morning we did the vaccinations and ran errands. The rest of the day was spent swimming. Our next full day was spent swimming and visiting with some former classmates of Josh from his Khmer language school in Phnom Penh.

We had a lovely day resting. We think it was the first time in over three years we had a day away without outside obligations. It’s was nice to just chill for a day.

We had the pool to ourselves and all 6 of us enjoyed swimming. Thankful for successful vaccinations and a nice family break for us!

Cambodian Wedding Season

Cambodian Adventures

Dry season (typically Nov-June) is Cambodian wedding season. Somehow we’ve avoided going to weddings the past two years, but in the past month we’ve been to three, one Jarai Christian wedding, one Khmer wedding, and one Jarai  village wedding.

The first wedding we were invited to was a bit sad for us. We’ve known the bride for a year through a mutual friend and have heard about her struggle with being content in her singleness. There were several unbelieving men who wanted to marry her, and for over a year friends talked with her constantly about the importance of marrying a believer. One Sunday afternoon she showed up at our house and invited us to her wedding the next morning. The man she chose to marry once claimed to be a believer but had stopped believing. He said he was interested in believing again but has made no commitment to follow Christ. Though it was a Christian wedding, it was sad to see her choose this path. The wedding was a very long church service, followed by a meal. We wore normal church clothes.

A few weeks ago we were invited to our neighbors’ daughter’s wedding who lives two houses down from us. This turned out to be a very different experience. Typical Khmer weddings consist of a morning ceremony and then a big meal in the evenings. When you’re invited to the wedding you are invited to the evening meal. Our neighbors put up a huge tent in the road outside their house (the street was blocked off for the day) and set up a stage for the entertainment. The wedding meal started at 5…but things didn’t really start happening until around 7. Thankfully we could just watch from our porch to know when to arrive. (The lady in the blue dress is our landlady. She’s a year younger than me.)

I didn’t want to go by myself, so I took Becca – she was delighted. We got all dressed up and went on our way. It was nice to have an excuse to get dressed up. We went from being dirty, sweaty, etc to feeling like we were princesses. Thankfully our landlord and her sisters arrived at the same time as we did and we were able to sit with them. I didn’t know proper wedding procedure, so I was grateful I could follow these ladies’ example. The entertainment was so loud I had to shout whenever I spoke to Becca. The dancers that came along with show were ummmm….not something I would normally watch. The music was so loud it shook our house and went until almost midnight.

Becca and I got away with eating only a little wedding food. Khmer wedding food has a reputation for gifting it’s eaters with giardia. We drank lots of soda and I was the only adult who didn’t drink beer. After about an hour the ladies at our table got up and said it was time to go. We followed them to a table outside the front door where everyone was paying their dues. Instead of giving gifts, people who attend the wedding meal are required to pay for the meal. The money is recorded in a book and then when you reciprocate a wedding invitation to the family, they look up to see how much money you gave and give a wee bit more at your wedding meal. Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that and had brought my money in the envelope included with the invitation, so I didn’t have to shout out my name and hand the money over. I was thankful to go home and thankfully we all were able to fall asleep while the loud party music and dancing went on strong. (The girl in the red dress is a 16 year old neighbor who lives next door to us.)

Last week after Josh finished teaching some Jarai men, we was invited to attend a village afternoon wedding meal. He ended up being surrounded by some very drunk people. One kept kept hugging him and thanking him for coming to the wedding. (Notice the size of the speakers for this wedding.)

Not sure if our wedding adventures are over for the season….only time tell.

Happy 1st Birthday Clara Grace

Clara, Uncategorized

Happy 1st Birthday to our dear Clara Grace! What joy you have added to our family – your smiles and giggles and sparkling eyes. We love you and are delighted God gave us you!

 

Clara is now a running…she’s pretty fast on her feet. She’s always trying to climb up on things. She blows kisses and makes use of a few baby sign language words. She doesn’t say many words – chicken (also a early word for Anna), banana, mango, she can say mama and dada – but only when prompted, and maybe she says Becca, Isaiah, and Anna, but this is yet to be determined. She still only has one tooth (see in picture below).

 

For Clara’s birthday we had our neighborhood kids over and tied it in with continuing the Christmas story (The Three Wise Men) that we’d promised we tell them after our Christmas party. Clara’s party consisted of a Bible story with flannel-graph, cake, and water balloons. Afterwards a water fight broke out, no one was spared not even Clara or me.

 

Monday we had another small family party for Clara. We gave her a tiny stuffed panda. She was not pleased with the candle. This might have had to do with the fact that minutes before we saw a guy’s pants catch on fire at the mechanic’s shop across the street.

All our kids love Clara. And Clara always wants to be a part of the big kids play. I’m always surprised that how kind Anna is to her. Anna even shares her special panda bear (not pictured) with her.

 

Closing with a picture comparison of all our children at age one. Love these smiling faces!

Post-Wedding Whirl-Wind Activities 2017

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Right after Emily’s wedding reception, the Sutter clan gathered at the hotel where most of them were staying to celebrate Grandma Sutter’s 80th birthday. All 5 of Grandma Sutter’s children where present, 7 of her grandchildren with spouses, and all 10 of her great grandchildren participated in the celebration. I’m so thankful we were able to celebrate with Grandma. She’s a pretty special lady…she continues to serve in the church where she can and still teaches children’s SS at her church faithfully. Thanks Grandma for all you’ve done for all of us!

Sunday, New Year’s Day, we were all pretty wiped out. We got to spend some extra time with Sam and Ashley and their kids and visit with some other friends. Our kids had a great time playing with their cousins, Colette and Jude.

Monday we were able to visit with our good friends Michael and Erin Lyons. They were visiting Erin’s parents in PA and squeezed us in too. Thankful for our short time together – it’s always a joy and never long enough!

Monday through Wednesday we visited with friends, packed and packed, and made our last stop at Chick-fil-A. We’re very thankful we were able to spend extra time with Grandma Buecher. Becca enjoyed being her roommate and the kids enjoyed interacting with her. So thankful they could have some time to get to know their Great Grandma B.

On Tuesday Becca got to go to first grade with Grammy. My mom teaches first grade at Logos Academy in York, Pa. It was a special treat for Becca to get to be a first-grader at the school for the day. Becca even gave a presentation for the class about her life in Cambodia. Becca was thrilled with her day!

On Thursday we packed up a van and were driven to NY by a man from my dad’s church and my dad. We spent several hours with the Flower family before we flew out at 12:45AM Friday. Thankful for the ride to NY and all the Flowers did for us as we waited and to take us to the airport. (No pictures.)

A huge thank you to all my parents did for us while we were in PA. Isaiah just loved being with Grampy Grace. My dad took Isaiah everywhere with him. They made several trips to Starbucks so Isaiah could get hot chocolate. My dad gave Isaiah a special bag and spent the week filling it up with things for Isaiah to take back with him (random things like name tags, pencils, gum, stickers, pens, fruit snacks, etc.). They were always on a mission to find more things to put in the special bag. Becca and Anna also got special bags. Unfortunately my dad got a bad cold after the wedding…so the hot chocolate trips decreased in frequency.

My dad also went out of his way to feed us. My dad loves grocery shopping and had asked for a list of foods we wanted to eat. He kept the house stocked with fresh fruit, chips and salsa, hotdogs, and he kept asking us what he could get. And he expectantly grilled us steaks. We liked the steaks so much he went out and grilled them again the very next night! So glad we were able to spend some time with my mom after the busyness of the wedding.

 

My Sister’s Wedding

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December 31st, 2017 my little sister married Daniel Miller. It was a beautiful, clear, freezing cold day. Everything went smoothly and my sister remembers the day as being perfect. She was a beautiful bride and they were both glowing.

We started out with having all the bridesmaids come to my parents’ house to get ready for pictures. I was running around between nursing Clara, getting things ready for Josh to watch and dress the kids while I was out for pictures, and trying to get myself ready. I hadn’t even tried on my bridesmaid dress yet – so glad it fit, thanks to my mom! It was a bustle of activity. One of Emily’s friends, Amy Krape, did my hair and Becca’s hair. I’m so thankful she did that for us.

Of course I made time to help pack Emily’s honeymoon bag. I think the happy couple had glitter with them the whole time they were away and even when they got back to their apartment. We had a scare when Emily wanted to get some socks out of her bag. I kindly volunteered my own socks so she didn’t have to go to the car and get out her bag.

The wedding party photos were taken at funeral home in downtown York. We were supposed to be allowed inside, but there was a miscommunication and the building was locked. It was freezing! The photos turned out beautiful (most of these are my mom’s), but let me tell you, this Cambodian girl was dying!

One funny thing was that is hadn’t been discussed was where we would go during the “first look” pictures. So we all just stood there. For the girls of course it was sweet, but I heard one of the guys mention that it was awkward. It looked like Daniel was delighted with his bride.

 

Let me take a commercial break from the wedding to give you a peek into my brain. I can’t remember the last time I had such a fast-paced, packed, stressful day. Between nursing Clara, being a bridesmaid, running the wedding, trying to take care of stressed out children (the little girls were bawling by the reception), talking to people, and giving a speech…inside I was frazzled (and of course I hadn’t gone to bed the night before until after 11PM). Somewhere during the day it hit me…I was at least 10 years older than everyone else in the wedding party and the only one with kids. BUT – it was worth it. I am so honored that Emily asked me to be her matron of honor and that I was able to be such a part of my little sister’s wedding.

Emily’s wedding went off smoothly. It was short and sweet – around 30 minutes. The kids did great walking down the aisle. We were shocked that without instruction Isaiah and Anna walked down side-by-side (it was their own idea) and took their job seriously. Anna still talks about throwing petals out for Aunt Emily’s wedding. I enjoyed singing with my brother.

The reception afterwards went well. Our little girls were a mess. Josh stayed in the car while the little girls slept for around an hour. I’m so thankful Josh was there to help with all our kids. There was more than enough food and everyone seemed to have a good time. I gave a matron of honor speech. Becca ran up and got the bouquet Emily threw that dropped on the ground. I figured that was pretty “fair” since Emily threw my bouquet. The bride and groom were some of the last people to leave. We stayed and helped with the clean up. Then on to the after “Sutter-family” party. My only sadness of the day is that I didn’t get a picture with Josh. Between running around with everything else, talking with people, and taking care of the kids, we hardly saw each other and didn’t take time to take a picture of us dressed up.

Emily was a beautiful bride. So amazing to see my sister so grown up and getting married. I got teary-eyed at several points during the day and choked up during my speech. Now I’m excited to be able to share conversations about married-life with my sister. I’m so thankful God blessed me with a sister.

We’re so delighted in the husband God has provided Emily. It was a beautiful day. Everyone was happy. Everything went smoothly. Thankful for this new family unit the Lord has begun and we’re looking forward to seeing Him work in their family.