Last week we were invited to join some friends from Phnom Penh at the Nature Lodge in Mondulkiri (the province directly south of us). We made the 4-hour drive Tuesday morning and returned home Thursday around supper time. It was a great time for our family to get away and be with three other ministry families.

On our way to the lodge, we stopped at Bu Sra Falls (about 20mins from the Lodge) and had a picnic lunch and played in the waterfalls. Unfortunately, the place was packed with tourist still on vacation for Khmer New Years and we/our kids had our photo taken over 20 times. Minus the photo sessions, we had a great time!

The Nature Lodge was a wonderful place for our family. Our cabin had a loft for the older kids to sleep in which was a treat. Our kids had lots of place to play and didn’t need to be supervised all the time. There were cows and horses wandering around the campus. The day we arrived a horse walked right up to Becca and nuzzled her head. The horses made it a perfect place for Becca.

On Wednesday, we went into the town to go swimming. The other families had rented a mini bus for the week to provide their transportation from Phnom Penh, so we rode with them. This bus was equipped with purple seats, disco balls, and a karaoke mike. We all enjoyed singing on the bus with the curtains shut and the lights going – a great experience for our kids. The swimming was great.

Wednesday evening Josh and the older kids went on a sunset hike to the red dirt mounds. They had a blast sliding down the dunes.

Thursday we went back to the falls with the group, played a little bit, had lunch and then headed home. We had a great time and look forward to going back again

A very happy 36th birthday to my Josh (April 3rd)! I’m so glad you chose me to be your wife and that we can journey on this adventure together – raising our children and serving together in Cambodia. I adore you! Thankful for every day we get to be together.

We started Josh’s birthday with fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast. While Josh was out studying language in the morning, the kids finished making their gifts for him and we decorated Josh’s office as a surprise when he returned. In the afternoon we had a birthday snack of baked apples. For supper I made a roast in the crock-pot with carrots and mashed potatoes. We finished off the evening with a strawberry cake for dessert and gift giving.

Looking forward to celebrating many more birthdays with my wonderful husband and fun daddy! What a treasure God has given us.

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.

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.

After celebrating Christmas and dealing with a sick baby, I jumped into to seeing how I could help Emily prepare for her wedding. Emily had everything prepared for her wedding in great detail, but she lacked one thing: a wedding coordinator and reception coordinator. I put on my teacher personality and took on the job. (Haha…my mom got some “great” pictures of me telling people what to do!)

Friday morning we went over and set up the reception hall for the wedding. Thankfully, we were able to get everything set up and decorated by lunchtime. We had some good help and I kept things going with my unsocial-able let’s-get-it-done personality. I sent the happy couple off to get their wedding licence.

In the afternoon there was time for lunch, naps, and other miscellaneous preparations. My older brother, Sam, and I rehearsed for singing at Emily’s wedding. Others went over and decorated the church.

Friday evening I ran the wedding rehearsal with my older brother Sam, who officiated the wedding. Thankfully I’d just been in a wedding, so I had a refresher course two weeks before.

A big part of the rehearsal was having the nieces and nephews practice coming down the aisle.

After the rehearsal we went out for dinner at a nice diner. Our kids were exhausted. Then I left the kids with Josh and went with Emily to her bachelorette party. Wow – zow! I’ll just write for the record, Friday and Saturday were crazy days for me with wedding prep and being in the wedding (and nursing a baby every 3 hours and helping some cranky kids who hadn’t had their mommy around as much as usual). I’m so thankful we were able to jump in and help Emily, especially since I wasn’t able to help with anything before that week, being in Cambodia.

(A big thanks to Uncle Joey who took most of these pictures. I don’t think I took a single picture on my camera for this post.)

Christmas Eve morning we flew out of Atlanta to go to PA to prepare for Emily’s wedding. (A big thanks to Mom J for driving us there early in the morning from Grandma M’s house.) We spent Christmas Day with my parents, Aunt Emily, and Uncle Joey. We had a simple celebration Sunday afternoon.

Our kids were delighted to be at my parents house. A highlight for Isaiah was sharing a room with Uncle Joey. Isaiah got to sleep on the top bunkbed, while Uncle Joey slept on the bottom. On Tuesday my mom’s mom arrived (Great Grandma Buecher) and she was Becca’s roommate for the rest of our time in PA. Becca slept on the top bunk and Grandma slept on the bottom.

Thursday afternoon the rest of the Sutter sibling families arrived and we had Christmas again. There were 10 cousins together. The big event was a gift exchange among the cousins. Each cousin had been assigned one cousin to buy a gift for. It was really fun to watch.

It was also fun to watch my brother all interact with their children and their nephews and nieces. A lot has changed since it was just the six of us!

The big event was the big family picture. We all survived. At my suggestion, Grammy bribed all the kids with ice cream afterwards if they looked at the camera.

The last gift-giving was Uncle Joey’s traditional Christmas pajamas.

But wait, the party wasn’t over. Then my dad’s family showed up for a little fun. Our kids really enjoyed playing with my aunts and uncles. It was fun to watch them have as much fun with Uncle Johnny as I remember having.

There’s a very brief glimpse of our Christmas in PA. Coming up in the next few weeks…Emily’s wedding. 🙂

Sometimes God surprises me with unexpected friends. Three years ago this month we traveled to Macon, GA to present our ministry at Central Baptist Church. Shane and Abbey Gottwals hosted our family that weekend. Little did we know we’d become good friends. (Shane was amazed to find out he had a twin.)

Somehow in the short time we were together we clicked and Abbey became a close friend as our family moved to Cambodia. The texts she sends me halfway across the world have been a great encouragement as she takes time to share her life with me. Looking back over our soon to be three years in Cambodia, Abbey is one of the people who has kept me going with her encouragement and friendship. So thankful for her!

A highlight for us was being able to spend a few hours with the Gottwals the day before Christmas Eve. We left SC at 5am so we could spend some time with their family before we went on to visit Josh’s grandma in Altanta. So glad we could make them a part of our short time in the States.

After our time in Macon, we traveled to Altanta to visit with Josh’s mom’s side of the family. Unfortunately the traffic (due to a bad car accident) kept us from getting there as early as we planned, but we were still able to visit with everyone there. We spent the night with Grandma Martin. So glad we could see family!

After the Yamada wedding, we rented a van to drive down to SC to visit with Josh’s family. On the way we had a lovely overnight visit with the Raslau family (no pictures). Flavius and Cristina always go above and beyond to make our family feel welcome – they spoil us.

We spent 4 days in SC visiting mostly with family. Tuesday we had a drop-in for friends in the area. It was great to catch up with several of our friends.

Wednesday we visited with Grandpa Hess. Grandma Hess died in November and we missed seeing her. We spent Wednesday the morning with the Rodriguez family. Becca was delighted to play with Amaris – they’ve been friends since they were about 6-months in  the church nursery in Texas.

Wednesday evening we had a get together with Josh’s Dad’s side of the family.

We spent Thursday morning with Grandpa and Grandma Jensen. This was one of our main reasons for coming south on this trip. We wanted to spend time with our Grandparents and for our kids to get to be with their Great Grandparents. The kids had a great time playing bean-bag toss with Great Grandpa.

Thursday afternoon and evening we spent with Dad, Mom, and Josh’s sister, Caroline with her two children, Bella and Carson. The men worked at the wood pile, while the kids played outside decorating a Christmas tree with leaves and flowers. Afterwards, Mom did a cookie Christmas tree project with the kids.

Our time in SC was very full with hardly a minute to spare. (We also made visits to my two brothers’ homes who live in Greenville.) So thankful we could have this time in SC to visit with so many people in such a short time. Looking forward to seeing them all again when we return for a longer visit in 2.5 years.

Happy 10-month birthday to our dear Clara Grace! She seems to have an older girl look in these pictures. Slow down baby girl, slow down!

Clara has transitioned to full crawling. She now climbs stairs, so I can’t keep her contained in the kitchen while I work. She continues to be on the go constantly. She is starting to give kisses, and I see evidence of a upper tooth starting to emerge. She loves to nibble on things and isn’t too enthusiastic about eating pureed foods. She wants to eat like the big kids. Clara did a great job traveling to the States and back. She had little trouble with the time change. She got to meet lots of extended family members and attend two weddings.

Our Clara continues to be the sweetest happiest baby, full of giggles and life. Thanking God for gifting us with our Clara.

Because our family traveled to the States mid-December for my sister’s wedding, we wanted to have our own family Christmas before we left. So we celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day December 7-8th, just like it was the real thing.

Christmas Eve we had bean burritos, finished reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, drank home-made hot chocolate, and watched The Muppets’ Christmas Carol.

Christmas morning we had quiche and cinnamon rolls. This was the first year in a while that something didn’t go wrong with the cinnamon rolls. I was thrilled. We spent the morning wrapping presents, singing carols, hearing the Christmas story, and opening gifts.

Christmas afternoon each of our kids decorated a large gingerbread person to eat later that evening.

Late afternoon we invited our neighbor kids in to hear the Christmas story in Khmer. Seven kids came. Afterwards we had them decorate gingerbread cookies. It was a small (rather impromptu) way for us to share Christ’s birth with them.

The highlight of the evening was Becca’s Little People Christmas pageant. For months she’s been listening to Matthew and Luke when she goes to bed and has been rehearing for several weeks. It was a joy to watch her well-planned presentation of the Christmas story.

We were thankful to be able to have this time as a family in the midst of several very busy weeks. It was great to relax and celebrate. And then we got to pack and head to America to celebrate Christmas in the States.

Our beautiful girl turned 7 on November 26th. We had a wonderful month celebrating her birthday. Her birthday countdown calendar included gifts, snacks, a sleep-over, some new Audible recordings., and a few other treats.

We’ve seen Becca grow up this past year. She finished Level 3 of All About Reading. She lost a few more teeth. She makes banana bread on her own and helps with making scrambled eggs. She is a great help to her siblings and is creative in thinking of new games for them to play. We’ve seen her blossom in her Khmer these past few months, and we enjoy watching her play with her Khmer and Jarai friends.

We rejoicing in seeing the Spirit work in Becca’s heart and continue to change her into the image of Christ. Her heart has been very tender toward pleasing God and walking with Him. A few months ago Becca said she wants to read through the whole Bible. We read a chapter a day each morning and are almost through Exodus.

This year Becca wanted to have a birthday party with her new Khmer friends. This was huge for her, since she normally wants a “family-only” party. We spent weeks planning. Becca made a pinata. The neighbor kids talked about coming for weeks.

I made Becca’s traditional panda cake. I was very thankful the Lord provide the time and cooperative children while I put the cake together.

The party was Sunday afternoon (since kids here have school on Saturday), and the kids were all waiting from about 1 o’clock on. However, when 3PM came, most of the kids had disappeared. We had this “AH!” moment until eventually they started straggling in. Becca’s party included playing Pin the Nose on the Panda, a pinata, cake, and water-balloons. Including our kids we had about 23 kids at the party, ages 2-16. All the games were a success and at the end of the day I was exhausted and greatly relieved that we had survived. I think our neighbors are now counting the months until Isaiah’s birthday.

Becca had two special guests at her party. Grandma Jensen was able to come and also help with the party (sadly Grandpa Jensen wasn’t feeling well enough to come). Om Thu (our old house helper) was able to come for the day as well.

We took Becca’s spoon picture several days after her birthday. We thank God for protecting Becca when she was born at 27 weeks.

And Becca got her first haircut!

Last week our Clara turned 9-months. Clara continues to be a sweet little girl. She now crawls but still chooses to alter between regularly crawling and her army crawl. Lately she’s been standing up on her own, so we predict it won’t be too long before she walks.

Clara likes to chew on things (she’s still toothless) and always wants what everyone else is eating. She to spit out anything that isn’t completely pureed, but she enjoys gumming things.

Last week Clara had her first fever, a few days before we flew to the States.  I was quite worried about flying with Clara, since she tends to only sleep in her bed. We made it.

Thankful for our sweet Clara Grace who is full of smiles, giggles, and movement!

Thankful for the many blessings God has given our family.

Life right now is really full and I’m so tried I can hardly write coherent thoughts for a Thanksgiving blog.

I’m so thankful God made us for His own glory and thankful for the ways He shows us His glory each day. Thankful for His effectual call. Thankful He is slow to anger and abounding in love. Thanks be to God.

Many of the men pictured here (studying Matthew at the Jarai Bible school a couple months ago) participated in today’s meeting, too. Like at Bible school, we all sat on the floor, and nobody followed Robert’s Rules of Order. The discussion was sometimes chaotic, but eventually, by God’s grace, a consensus emerged.

Six months ago, leaders from Jarai churches throughout our province gathered together to discuss whether they wanted to translate the Bible into the dialect of Jarai spoken here in Cambodia. At that meeting, arguments were presented for and against, and we asked leaders to return to their churches to discuss the matter further.

Wednesday, while many of you watched U.S. election results roll in, we had another meeting with representatives from the churches throughout our province. Arguments for and against translation were once again presented. After an extended discussion, the gathered pastors decided it was time to vote: either “yes, we should translate” or “no, we shouldn’t.” Each church delegation cast one vote.
The votes were counted, and it was unanimous: the Jarai churches of Cambodia have decided to commit themselves to the long and difficult work of translating the Bible into their own dialect of Jarai.

Just a few years ago, the majority of church leaders either opposed the idea of a new translation, or were indifferent. God has worked to change many minds and hearts.

One highlight of the meeting was to hear a pastor say, “A new translation won’t only help the next generation. It will help me too. When I study the Bible we have now [which uses a dialect of Jarai spoken in Vietnam], there are words I don’t know, and I have to look at the Khmer Bible for help.” It took true humility for this pastor to say that.

We also saw several older leaders – men I would have expected to be the last to embrace change – make statements in support of translation.

Please pray for us now. Deciding was the easiest part. There’s much work before us. Over the next year our family will be focussing on learning Jarai. Also over the next year, our team will begin making plans and laying the foundation for the translation project — in consultation with the Jarai church leadership. Please pray that God would provide faithful, gifted men and women to act as translation committee members and translators. Without a strong, ongoing commitment from the Jarai, the translation work will stall out.

Thank you for your prayers!

(The man wearing the hat is Pastor Choul who we have requested prayer for. He’d been having a good week and came along with the men from church.)

Two Sundays ago we asked our church to help us cut our grass. This requires weed eaters. They said they would come Monday and we had no idea what to expect. Ten men showed up. One of the things Josh prayed that morning was that they would offer to help with making a brick path from our stairs to the cement under our house. Josh had started the project, but was unsure when he’d have time to get back to it. The men asked if there was anything else they could do and had the project done in less than 2 hours.

The kindness these men showed to us was a great encouragement. Sometimes I feel like we give and give and give and are expected to give more. The fact that they gave up their time (not expecting payment) encouraged us that we are a part of the body of Christ together with our Jarai brothers and sisters…not just missionaries giving continually.

Just a little after lunch photo. Our table is on our porch. Everyday we get to enjoy eating outside and watching the highway traffic go by. People enjoy staring up at us too, as we are the only non-Asians in town. I get a little tired of people standing at the road and staring at us, so I started giving them a friendly wave and big smile. One Sunday morning this got me in trouble. The woman I waved at assumed I was flagging her down because I wanted to buy her market veggies. Oops…we ended up with some greens thanks to my waving.

This week Josh participated in the funeral of a Jarai church leader. His name was Romah Hiem and he was in his early 30’s. Romah left behind a wife and three children, ages 6  to 1 years old. (The picture above shows Hiem’s casket, lowered in the ground. According to Jarai custom, the deceased is buried with his possessions–even valuables such as a motorcycle–so he can have his things in the spirit realm. Hiem’s grave had nothing but an open Bible, an open hymnal, and the flowers traditionally thrown in by mourners.)

(In the above picture, the widow leaning over the casket is Romah’s widow. Following Jarai custom she has shaved her head.)

Josh met Romah Hiem at the end of Jarai Bible School last week, when all the participants went to pray for him. He had been sick for months and had seen multiple doctors without any significant help. The family was expecting him to die soon at home. Later that week after the family got enough money to pursue surgery, Josh drove Romah and his wife to the Vietnamese border to go to a hospital in Vietnam. Romah died a few days later from a burst kidney.

Josh preached the graveside message (in Khmer) about Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life.

One of the saddest things about Romah Hiem’s death is that his wife was not allowed to be with him in his hospital room. He died alone. I don’t think she even got to say goodbye. Heartbreaking. After the funeral she asked Josh pray often that she would see her husband again. We weren’t sure if this meant she was afraid of leaving the faith or if she was suffering from not being able to be with her husband when he died. Josh promised to pray, and reminded her of the promise of Jesus that he had just preached: everyone who believes will be raised to new life.

I think one of the things that has affected me most since moving out to Oyadao is watching people physically suffer yet remain strong in the faith. This week we sat with Pastor Chuol as he wept because of his intense pain, yet he continues to say he will believe in God whether he suffers and dies, or is healed. Sobering. You could not be in that room without weeping too. Romah Hiem suffered intense pain before he died, but he did not turn his back on his Lord, an easy thing to do in this animistic culture. They refuse to sacrifice to the spirits. They refuse treatment from witch doctors. They remain strong until the end.

Revelation 12:11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (ESV)

Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.