We enjoy reading Frog and Toad books. This week we got to have a Snake and Toad adventure. One morning I spied a large toad in one of our pots. After checking with our helper that is wasn’t poisonous (it’s only poisonous if you eat its eggs), I caught it and let the kids play with it. They had a blast.

 I was very proud of Isaiah for overcoming his usual caution about touching unfamiliar animals. Anna was interested, but she kept her distance.

Saturday morning our helper asked for assistance when she found a snake in the box for turning the outside hose on and off. Josh used a stick to smash the snake’s head, then beheaded it. Our helper thought the snake was poisonous, but we’re finding that in general, Khmer people are about as good at identifying poisonous snakes as most Americans are — so we’re unsure whether the snake was harmful or not.

In the span of one week we’ve had two different friends pack up their families on very short notice and return to the States for medical reason. Both families lived in different parts of the world. Both families were faithfully ministering where God had directed them and were content to remain where they were until God moved them.

Typically when we talk about families or individuals returning from overseas the following formula is used: they had to return because of (fill in the blank). Though not intentional, there is often a sense of failure involved when speaking of the return. The unspoken: they just couldn’t cope so they had to come back. No one would say this and most wouldn’t even consciously think it, but I wonder what this kind of speech is reflecting to others?

Thinking about this I’ve been challenged to change the way I talk to reflect what I believe about God. I claim to embrace the sovereignty of God, yet when I speak about circumstances, I often leave Him out of my words. The truth is when people return to the States or leave a place of ministry because of illness or repentance from sin, it is GOD who is at work. They have received clear direction from God for what He wants them to do.

What would it teach our hearts, friends, children, and unbelievers, if we changed our speech to reflect what we believe about the sovereignty of God, if we made God the central character: They had to go back to the States. God used an illness in the family to transition them back to the States. They had to step down from their ministry because of personal sin. God used repentance from sin to remove them from their place of ministry and revive their walk with God. They’re still single/don’t have kids. God hasn’t given them a spouse/children yet. The examples could go on.

Our family had been memorizing the hymn: What God Ordains is Always Right. Can I challenge you to take these truths and let them flow into your speech? Will you come along with me and seek to change the way you speak about events to reflect God’s work and not chance or blind forces? Godly responses to what God ordains is not failure or defeat – it is always right, even if it looks like defeat.

What God Ordains Is Always Right

What God ordains is always right; His will is just and holy. He holds us in His perfect might; in Christ our lives are godly. He is our God and all we need, the Father who preserves us still; to Him we bend each heart and will.

What God ordains is always right; and He will not deceive us. He leads us in the way of light and will not ever leave us. In Him we rest, who makes the best of all the stumbling turns we take and loves us for His mercy’s sake.

What God ordains is always right; all that He does is for us. He heals our souls and gives us sight and puts no ill before us. Our God is true; He makes us new; our lives are built upon His rock, our cornerstone and building block.

What God ordains is always right; He guides our joy and sadness. He is our life and blessed light; in Him alone is gladness. We see His face, the way of grace; He holds us in His mighty arm and keeps us safe from ev’ry harm.

Samuel Rodigast, 1649-1708 trans. Gracia Gastorius, b. 1943, alt.

This year we celebrated our second annual Cambodian Coronation Day. It’s a Cambodian holiday that’s not tightly related to the Buddhist religion, so it’s easy to make it our own holiday. Once again, Isaiah and Becca were crowned king and queen of Cambodia. It was an fun event for all.

The entertainment provided was a scarf dance to the Nutcracker’s Waltz of the Snowflakes. (Sorry, no pictures were taken.) Afterwards many important officials from a variety of countries came to give their respects to the newly crowned rulers. (Again, no pictures were taken of these fabulous looking dignitaries.) Happy Cambodian Coronation Day!

The weather has been really nice here.  We’re still sweaty at times, but it’s really quite lovely.

This week four Kachok men came to work with Josh. Josh spent his time with them collecting words with the goal of creating an alphabet for the Kachok language. The ultimate aim is to produce Christian materials and perhaps a Bible (or portions) for this tribal group. Josh will be using the Khmer script to form the alphabet. His job is to match the Kachok sounds with Khmer letters. (He will also match Kachok sounds with Roman script.)

The men arrived Monday morning and left Tuesday around 2:30 pm after working with Josh both days. I was a little nervous about hosting the men. In the past, some villagers have learned to prefer expats over Khmer people because some expats wine and dine them. We were told to be hospitable but not to overdo things. It was very helpful to have our helper to advise us on what was normal for our guests. It sure made breakfast easy…ramen noodles!

The plan is to have all or some of these men work with Josh every week. If it works out, they will continue to come to our place. However, there will be some weeks that Josh will go to the village to work with the men. Our hope is that Josh will only need to collect data for three months. We appreciate your prayers as we enter this new phase of our ministry, while we also continue our Khmer language study.

Note: Josh wears wrist braces to help with tedinitis. No humans or animals were injured during the research.

Last week Josh and our team leader, JD Crowley, made a visit to a Kachok village to talk about Josh’s possible involvement in providing the Kachok people a written alphabet. The trip to the mountain village included a 1.5-hour car trip, a river-crossing by ferry, and a 20-minute motorcycle ride.

Josh and JD met with some Kachok leaders in the home of one of their pastors. JD encouraged the believers who have just suffered a church split and passed out his Khmer translation of the tract: There Are Only Two Roads. The believers are very interested in having an alphabet for their language. They are sending three to four men this Monday to our home for two days to work with Josh on collecting words in the Kachok language to analyze. (They will all stay in our home.) After this, every week or two, a group will come here for a night or Josh will go to the village to continue the research.

The village is building a new church building, since their old one was taken by the group that split off from them.

Two days last week Josh met with a Kachok boy who attends our church in Ban Lung to work on transcribing a Kachok story Josh recorded while in the village. It’s slow work since they have to go from Kachok to Khmer to English, and neither Josh nor the Kachok boy is fluent in Khmer. [Though the boy is better than I am! -Josh]

Please pray for Josh as he starts working on this project and pray for wisdom as we seek God’s leading in regard to our possible future involvement with this tribe.

This Sunday Anna Grace celebrates her 18-month birthday! Hard to believe she’s a year and a half already. She’s definitely growing up and joining the big kids more.  Anna continues to be an easy-going, happy little girl.

Jokester:  This little girl loves to play jokes. She’s  funny and she knows it. The other day I asked her if she wanted to give Josh a kiss. She said yes then proceeded to kiss her stuffed bear multiple times and then have the bear kiss Josh. The other day she knew Josh was going to sit next to me on the couch, so she ran over and sat in his spot and laughed when he tried to sit down.

Teeth:  Anna now has 12 teeth, including 4 molars. 

Naps: Anna still naps twice a day. Not sure when she’ll drop her morning nap. It works well for doing reading lessons with Becca.

Words: I have yet to count all of Anna’s words. To name a few: yes, no, please, thank you, Mommy, Daddy, Anna, Becca, Isaiah, (she only says Becca and Isaiah when prompted to) yam-yam (meaning food/eat in Khmer), Om Two, puppy, TruffCrunch, chicken, kitten, love you, where are you, hello, bye-bye, outside, how-y (meaning finished in Khmer), night-night….ok I’ll stop there. She does try to sing the ABC song, but she keeps singing A-B over and over again. A few weeks ago Becca helped teach Anna to say yes. Before then her yes was a really sweet no. Becca used small pieces of the waffle she bought at the market to teach Anna to say yes…and it stuck.

Miss Friendly: Though Anna’s not so friendly with Khmer people she doesn’t know, she is very friendly with the expats here. The other day she climbed into the lap of an older missionary we’ve recently spent some time with and gave him a kiss. She’s always making friends during our weekly Saturday night missionary fellowship.

Anna continues to be a gift to our family. Can’t imagine our family without her.

This is a post of randomness – complete randomness. Enjoy.

MOLD: July through October is rainy season. It was no big deal  in Phnom Penh, but here it’s another story. Mold is growing everywhere: books, puzzle pieces, blocks, picture frames, belts, clothes in our dressers and closets, etc, etc, etc, etc!

SLEEP: We sleep so much better here than we did in Phnom Penh.  We lived right across from some wealthy people who were heavily involved in spirit worship and Buddhism, and we can’t help wonder if that affected our kids’ sleep. There were times (one in particular) when the kids would wake up screaming, and it frightened us too. Since we’ve moved up here, our sleep has been much more peaceful.

COOKING/BAKING: I’ve started enjoying cooking/baking again. It was so hot in Phnom Penh and our house held oven/stove heat for hours that cooking was not enjoyable. Nothing like dripping with sweat while trying to make Christmas Day cinnamon rolls. Since moving here cooking/baking has been fun. I enjoy trying to find baking recipes that work with the ingredients that are easy to get here. (Which means I’m trying to find things that don’t require butter or milk, etc). We found this great chocolate cake recipe that doesn’t even require eggs, and it’s very tasty . . . and the kids love that I freely let them lick the batter!

PUMPKIN: Pumpkin is in season right now and we’ve been enjoying homemade pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin soup (with homemade “Olive Garden” bread sticks). Right now I have eight pumpkins sitting the kitchen waiting to be cooked and pureed. [Comment from Josh: The bread sticks are much better than any I’ve had at the Olive Garden.]

GENESIS: I’ve started studying Genesis with our house helper every Thursday afternoon. It’s fun to have the extra motivation to study a book and neat to see Genesis through our helper’s eyes. So many things we take for granted are new treasures of information for her.

DIRT: We get so dirty here. Sometimes I have to scrub our kids’ feet/legs off with a brush. Whenever they wear new clothes it seems like they get stained the first day they wear them. I love consignment shop clothes . . . guilt-free clothes. We seem to get the dirtiest at church, and usually as soon as we get back from church all the kids get a shower.

ANTS: I don’t even know how many different kinds we have in our home. Don’t want to know how many we’ve probably eaten. Welcome to Southeast Asia.

SHOWER WATER HEATER: In hot season it doesn’t matter, but in rainy season and cool season the shower water heater is a really nice gift from God. On those cooler damp nights, the water pressure might be bad, but I’m sure glad I don’t have to restrain my screams while taking a cold-water shower.

IMAGINE … Using a faucet that has cold and hot water options. Do they even have such things? Imagine having a hot water cycle option on your clothes washer (I’m not talking about the boil a pot of water and dump it in option, which we have!). Imagine not eating rice for almost every meal. Imagine not sleeping in a mosquito net. Imagine not wondering how long it will be until your kids get worms. These are all just normal things here and sometimes I forget that it’s not like this everywhere. What do you mean you don’t sleep in a mosquito net!? Do you want to get sick and go to the hospital!?

In other exciting news, today Becca finished Level 1 of All About Reading. Tomorrow we’ll have a party to celebrate! (She lost her second tooth last Sunday. Every time she smiles I laugh because she’s so cute.)

Saturday we visited one of the four waterfalls in Ban Lung. Since it’s rainy season the water was too high to play in, but we’re looking forward to taking the kids to play once the water levels go down.

At the waterfall they had model houses for traditional Krung marriage ceremonies: a short house for the bride-to-be and and a tall house for the groom-to-be.

What’s a family to do when their roosters keep waking their baby up way too early in the morning? … Eat them! The house we’re watching came with several small white chickens and two small white roosters. The owners said we could do whatever we wanted with them, so when I mentioned to Om Thu (sounds like “two”) that every time I heard the roosters crow I wanted to eat them, she graciously obliged. Om Thu also pointed out that the chickens don’t produce eggs, and there was no sense buying chicken feed for them.

We were unsure how our children would react to the killing. Isaiah had no fear, except when some chicken blood spurted out all over his arm. He recovered quickly. Becca didn’t want to watch at first, but then she overcame that reticence and even enjoyed watching the process.

First the chickens’ necks were slit and their blood collected in a dish. A very quiet, undramatic process. Next each chicken was placed in boiling water and plucked. We were surprised that our white chickens had black skin and bones. I put two in the crockpot and there was hardly enough meat on them to do anything with. I did make a lot of broth with the bones, and we’re looking forward to enjoying some soup soon.

Two weeks ago Becca and I joined some Khmer ladies from our church to learn how to make three different kind of Khmer cakes. The ladies were getting together to teach Liesl, a lady who was finishing her two-year mission in Ban Lung, to make the cakes before she headed to the States to get married in October. (Liesl stayed with us for about two weeks right after we moved here).

The most time consuming part of the process was preparing the banana leaves for the cakes to be wrapped in. The leaves had to be cut from the tree, dried, have their stems cut off, ripped into smaller pieces, and finally cut with scissors.

The pumpkin cakes were the easiest to make: you mix smashed boiled pumpkin, sugar, coconut, and rice flour. After that you spoon the mix into the banana leaves, fold them, and steam them.

The bean cake and coconut cake required a flour and water dough. After the dough was prepared, the fillings (bean mixed with a few spices or coconut mixed with sugar) were wrapped inside the dough. These balls were placed inside the banana leaves and folded different ways to show which cakes were which. Then all the packets were steamed.

I was able to participate in almost all the different steps. We had fun being with the ladies. But before your mouth continues to water thinking of all these yummy cakes, I warn you: cake is not really the right word to use. Steamed rice flour isn’t exactly like baked wheat flour. And they are really only good the day you make them.

Last Friday I noticed something strange about Becca’s tooth. Upon investigation we found it was very loose…she hadn’t even noticed. Becca wanted me to pull it out, and it was a quick and painless process. She’s growing up.

You know how it goes: once your youngest turns one, people start wondering when number X is coming. Well, we decided it was time to add our number four: meet TruffCrunch.

Our kids are delighted that we bought one of the half-beagle puppies from the home we’re living in. We told them a few days after we moved here, after we had spent a few days watching the puppies to see which one we/the kids liked best.

So now I’ve added puppy-training to my weeks. TruffCrunch seems to be pretty agreeable, and I think it’s going well so far, even better now that 3 of the other puppies have gone to their new homes.

Thursday, July 30th, we finished packing up our belongings, and the moving company came to load the truck for our move from Phnom Penh to Ban Lung, Ratanakiri. It was a busy day, and our children were very thrilled to watch hours of What’s in the Bible With Buck Denver.

The men STUFFED all our belongings into (onto) one truck. It was piled high and then they added boards to the end of the truck to make it longer. When I saw the final product I thought that if the move was going to make me cry, that would have been the appropriate time for it. I could just imagine the truck tipping and all our stuff spread all over the road.

Thursday night we stayed in the CMA guesthouse (with our moving truck parked outside). It was appropriate, since we spent out first night in Cambodia at the same guesthouse. The movers left about 4AM the next day, and we followed around 7. It was a good drive and we passed the truck in the early afternoon and arrived at the house a few hours before they did.

This year we are house sitting for some Khmer-American missionaries who are in the States on home leave. It was so nice to move into a furnished home, not having to worry about finding sheets or dishes our first night. The family’s house helper prepared us a welcome sign and supper. The kids were thrilled to be greeted by 5 puppies and one kitten (who resembles Gollem: see photo below). The property came with 7 dogs (though 3 of the puppies are gone now), 5 cats (we only really see two of them), 2 turkeys, chickens, fish, a turtle, some black pigeons….it’s a child’s paradise (did I mention there is a tree house?).

By our 5th day here, the older two children had both fallen into the fish pond. Becca thought it was the best thing ever. Isaiah was scared to death until we made him get back in to help him realize he could stand. (Just in case you’re worried, there is a gate around the pond to keep Anna out, but it’s hard not to fall in when you’re leaning way over the water.)

We’re had a very smooth transition to Ratanakiri, partly because we get to house sit and didn’t have to set up everything from scratch. We’re so thankful that the Lord prepared this transition for us. Surprisingly, Anna had a very rough first 2 days. Then it took two weeks for her to get back to her happy normal self. (She also had a boat-load of teeth coming in.)

We are very thankful for the house helper, Om Tuu. She’s become a good friend already and we’re able to talk in Khmer a lot each day.

What have we been doing since then? It took us a few days to unpack and find places for all our stuff. We had some house projects to do, and we’re working on finding the new (next) normal. Josh has been working on finishing up a Khmer language project for the school he attended in Phnom Penh. It includes recordings comparing similar sounds. This morning Josh started with his new language tutor. He’ll study five mornings a week. I’ve been attending a ladies Bible study on Tuesday afternoons and plan to start with a language tutor soon. The kids have also started school, which is simply a 20-40 minute reading lesson each day. Our schedule is already becoming full…Tuesday afternoon Khmer ladies Bible study, Wednesday morning missionary men’s breakfast, Wednesday evening Khmer men’s Bible study, Thursday night one of the Khmer pastors is meeting with Josh to encourage Josh, Saturday night missionary fellowship, and Sunday church.

Moving up here away from the capitol city is like a breath of fresh air. (Our kids actually have GRASS to play on.) Sure, we don’t have a lot of the conveniences of the city, but I’ll take Ratanakiri any day over Phnom Penh. We’re thankful to the Lord for the many ways He paved our way to move up here. We’re looking forward to the next several months of language study.

Sometime before Christmas, we started going to Sun Heng II Restaurant every Sunday after church. Originally the restaurant was close to our home, but in February it moved to be in a better location (better for their business, not better for us!). It was still on our way home from church, so we continued to be loyal customers. We loved the Khmer food and in the new location they started making really delicious smoothies. (My favorite was mango, passion fruit, strawberry and Josh always had strawberry and banana. They also had blueberries.)

Our children loved the owner’s family and the staff. The owner always gave the kids treats after our meal. Becca said it was better than Chick-fil-A, since they treated our family so well. Becca really wanted to give the family Bibles, so we gave them all the Two Ways to Live tract in Khmer. Becca continues to pray each night that they will come to love Jesus.

For almost our first whole year in Cambodia I didn’t have any close friends. Let me explain. When you live in a foreign country, you’re almost instantaneously friends with any other Christian expats. You bond because you are both foreigners. You feel comfortable getting together with people you’ve only met once and sharing life experiences, because you’re all in the same boat. But no one really needed my friendship.

A month and a half before we left Phnom Penh, Ayra and her family moved into a villa across from us to house-sit for their mission’s regional director while Ayra’s husband waited for an appointment for a visa. Ayra has been in Cambodia for 11 years. She came as a single missionary and is now married to a Khmer man. They have two girls (2 years old and 4 months).

Ayra and I became quick friends in part because we both needed a friend. I think that’s what made the difference for me. I wasn’t trying to figure out how I fit into another person’s world–I just fit. I was blessed by Ayra’s vast knowledge of Khmer culture and wish I had had more time to pick her brain. For now, I’m thankful for the weeks I had to get to know Ayra and for how we encouraged each other.

Quick update on our move: we had a good move to Ratanakiri. The first 2 days, Anna had a hard time adjusting. Becca and Isaiah are having a blast…and who wouldn’t: the home we’re house-sitting came with 5 half-beagle puppies and a wonderful helper whom the kids love.

Our last Saturday in Phnom  Penh we spent the morning visiting Yayyi’s home. She made us a delicious meal of curry and fried rice and insisted we eat until full. (Pictured on the right is her stove.)

We have been truly blessed by Yayyi and her kindness to our family. I think she’ll be the thing most missed when we move.

A quick blog post, since I’m in the middle of packing our home to move next week. Craziness. I laughed as I remembered that during my birthday last year I was unpacking — and this year I’m packing.

For lunch we went to Sugar n’ Spice Café run by Daughters of Cambodia. The location also has a spa, so Becca and I had a pedicure. We had a nice morning. Good to celebrate with my precious gifts – my family.

One of the things we’ve enjoyed this past year is getting to know new fruits. For weeks Yayyi had been bringing us the fruit pictured on either side of this paragraph. It wasn’t until I saw it on a restaurant poster that I knew the English name: passion fruit. We love passion fruit. At first I was surprised the kids like it, since it can be really sour. Yayyi brings the kids some several times a week.  We eat it straight, in smoothies, in oatmeal–or drink it like tea. Delicious.

Dragon fruit is a big surprise. When looking on the outside I expected it to have a brightly colored inside. (There is a kind that’s purple inside, but what we buy is like what you see here.) The taste is a bit disappointing to me. It tastes like…..nothing. But the kids enjoy eating it.

Anna has now, for the most part, left crawling behind and is enjoying walking…or should we say running. She loves to go fast. She loves to walk outside. And she loves to play ring-around-the-rosy.

This month Anna has started bringing us books to read to her. When we finish one she goes off and gets another one. It’s really cute to see her come with a book in hand and want to sit on our laps. Anna also enjoys looking at books by herself. She can recite her favorite, Higher, Higher, by Leslie Patricelli. One night when we were in bed with the lights out, Anna recited the whole book to herself…guess she wasn’t sleepy. That night she also growled for quite some time.

It’s been neat to watch Anna interact with her siblings. She wants to be included in their fun and loves attacking Isaiah during our nightly reading.

Anna’s yellow skin coloring is slowly fading. Her skin, like our other children’s, turned yellow/orange from eating sweet potatoes and pumpkin. You can still see it in her nose and and in her hair. A common question asked about Anna when we’re out is, “why is she yellow?”

 We’re continuing to enjoy Anna. Can’t imagine life without this sweet little girl in our family. 15 months sure do fly by.