July 3rd, 2014 we boarded a plane and headed to our new lives in Cambodia. This week we’re celebrating our first year in Cambodia. We wanted to take a moment to highlight some answered prayer requests and to share our main discouragement with you. Sometimes it’s hard to find a balance between sharing blessings and sharing the hard things of real life. But we want you to know that, along with all the cute pictures and answered prayer requests, we’re just a normal family with joys and discouragements in what God has called us to do. Praise His name for His continual grace and encouragement.

We thank the Lord for the many delights He’s blessed us with during the past year: a smooth transition to Cambodia for all our family, a good home for us to live in, a wonderful helper for our home, good language learning opportunities, and excellent health (up to now we have been free of any “tropical” illnesses and have only had normal colds or tummy aches). We thank you for upholding these things in prayer for us.

Language learning can be discouraging, full of ups and downs. In the past year we’ve made good progress, but it’s never as much as we’d like and we always feel like we could be doing more. We’ve had to adjust our learning expectations and realize that it’s a slow process with good days and bad. Some days we’re really encouraged by good conversations with people and the understanding we have, and the next day we walk away from a conversation wondering if we’ve been studying the right language. On a whole we’re encouraged with our progress, but there are days when it’s discouraging. We appreciate your prayers as we continue with our language learning.

Last week Josh finished all eight levels at his school, Gateway to Khmer. The program was a perfect fit for him and we’re thankful that the Lord opened the school just when we arrived. For the next three weeks Josh will go to the school for extra one-on-one tutoring, and he’ll also be working with his teachers on some projects to help the school. After that we plan to pack up and head to Ratanakiri the last week of July. Amy has already started with the packing and is making steady progress toward our move. We’re looking forward to making this next step.

One day Josh found a frog on his university campus. He picked it up, checked it out, heard it ribbit, and watched it jump — but it wasn’t of much interest to him so he set it back down. Then one day he caught the same frog again, but this time he decided to kiss it…

Seven years later he still enjoys kissing me!

Our biggest change this year was moving to Cambodia. We changed continents, changed languages, changed . . . a lot. But we didn’t have to change spouses. So thankful that we get to be on this journey together.

Looking back over the last seven years of marriage I’m grateful for some simple decisions we made at the beginning. We chose to intentionally go to bed at the same time at night. (Of course there have been times one of us has had to stay up late to meet a deadline, but we typically always hit the sack at the same time.) We chose to read together. We’ve really enjoyed reading books together before bed. We now laugh over lots of literary allusions. We chose to live without a TV. We think our sleeping, reading, game playing, and time spent together have benefited from this. Thankful for those simple decisions and what they’ve added to our marriage.

Besides our anniversary this coming Sunday, last Sunday we celebrated Father’s Day. I remember during  conversation with Josh before we were dating, my heart dropped when he said he thought having two kids was a lot of work and that he didn’t know how people had more. This would have been a deal breaker for me. I was so glad when Josh went on to say that though he understood kids were a lot of work, he was open to having more than two children. I’m so thankful for the wonderful Daddy Josh is to our kids. We are blessed.

A big thank you to Miss Lauren for watching our kiddos so we could go on some dates. Our kids think she’s the best babysitter ever!

From egg-laying to finished silk products like scarves, we saw the entire process. On our second full day in Siem Reap we went to the Angkor Silk Farm. Our guide took us through the campus and showed us each step of the process.

Becca was a little disturbed to find out they have to kill the silk worm to make silk. Both Becca and Isaiah enjoyed playing with some of the natural dye elements. At one point their hands were completely red from playing in curry seeds.

Cambodian handwoven silk is very expensive, so we just enjoyed looking at the finished products and bits of history in the last exhibit. Anyone interested in buying a silk larva dress?

This week we celebrated Isaiah’s 3rd birthday. We started our celebrations 21 days before with Isaiah’s birthday countdown calendar. He had a lot of fun opening each door and getting a surprise for the day. He even made me a countdown calendar … funny, most of the days on mine are “Mommy and Daddy go out on a date and Becca and Isaiah watch a movie with Miss Lauren.”

Several family members sent gifts for Isaiah, which we spread out opening the week of Isaiah’s birthday. He had a blast playing with his gifts.

Isaiah requested spaghetti for dinner and a chocolate truck cake. This was my first time to make the cake and frosting from scratch. (Don’t think I’ll ever want to use a box cake again.) Frosting a cake in hot season is not an easy task. I had to put it in the fridge three times during the frosting process so the cake wouldn’t run away.

Our neighbor and favorite babysitting, Miss Lauren, came over for cake. Isaiah was so excited that Miss Lauren came to his birthday. After Miss Lauren arrived the grins could not have gotten bigger!

Becca wrote and Illustrated a book for Isaiah’s birthday. He was also excited to get a coupon book from us in his very own plastic tub. His big gift started with a scavenger hunt with the last clue being our cars keys under his pillow…

Isaiah’s had a good third year. He has a contagious laugh and an endearing smile. His biggest big boy change was being completely potty trained at two and a half. He weighs 30.8 lbs. and is 3ft. tall. He loves running around, playing with the neighborhood puppies, reading books, doing “school”, playing with his sisters, and cutting paper. He always wants to help: cooking, cleaning, hanging the laundry; you name it and he wants to help with it. He’s also becoming good at being quiet in our nightly hide-from-Daddy-before-bed time.

Isaiah loves talking and telling stories. He comes up with the most interesting stories, usually part truth and part made up. If we ask him what his favorite part of the day was, he usually tells about something that happened weeks ago. It’s really cute watching him play with Little People animals. He does really cute voices.

This year we’ve seen Isaiah grow in faith. He’s gone from saying he doesn’t believe in Jesus to saying he believes that Jesus died for his sin and that he wants to turn away from his sin. It’s been neat to see the Spirit gently changing Isaiah’s heart and turning him toward Christ. We continue to pray that God will grow Isaiah in trust and faith in Christ and that he will grow in his understanding of the Gospel.

Being mommy to a little boy is a wonderful thing. Sure there’s the crying, whining, etc. There’s moments of frustration and not knowing how to deal with a situation. There’s the worry about whether the world and all its desires will destroy my little man. There’s the grief at the futures battles his heart will have to fight. But being Isaiah’s mommy is a time to grow in faith and not fear. Faith that God will work in Isaiah’s heart and do His good will for him. Faith that it is God who changes hearts, not mommy. Thank you God for Isaiah: please work your perfect will for his life.

After our elephant ride, we went into Bayon Temple (one of the many temples in the Angkor area). We assumed this was where our children would melt down…looking at ancient ruins can be a bit boring for little ones. However, as soon as we realized the temple complex was a free for all, the fun began.

Exploring the temple was like being in a large playground or going on a secret adventure to find a lost treasure. Becca and Isaiah loved running through the halls of the buildings. It was an adventure story come to life.

People still use parts of the temple for worship.

We all enjoyed exploring the temples: Bayon and Angkor Wat. Our adventure was more children than adult oriented, so we didn’t have a lot of time to take in history, but we all made memories.

When we returned home, our kids wanted to build their own Angkor Wat complex. We even included the elephants.

One of the many benefits from having children is the many books we get to read to them. During deputation I started reading some chapter books during our drives and stays. Since moving to Cambodia I’ve continued reading longer books to the kids before bedtime. Josh reads to the kids while I meet with my tutor in the afternoon. Here’s some of the longer books we’ve read: (I’m including some Wikipedia links for books that might be unfamiliar.)

During Deputation:

Charlotte’s Web ( E. B. White) – we’ve read this several times and also have it on audio read by E. B. White.
The Trumpet of the Swan (E. B. White) – this was our first time reading this and it has some wonderful dialogues that I would later reread to Josh. Love what the Cob says to his wife and kids.
Stuart Little (E. B. White) – we enjoyed the first half, after that it got a little weird.
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Magic, Hello Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Farm (Betty MacDonald) – her cures for children’s behavior problems will make you laugh!
The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie the Pooh ( A. A. Milne)
Uncle Wiggly Stories (Howard R. Garis) You can get most of these free on the Kindle. They are great short stories to read before bed.

Our kids love playing with the neighborhood puppies.

Bedtime Reading in Cambodia: I love watching our kids act out these stories after we read them. It’s so fun to see the stories come alive for them.

The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame) – this was a lightly abridged versions published by igKids. It omitted three chapters and shortened two others. Difficult words were simplified and longer sentences were split. Both kids really enjoyed the story.
The Dragons of Blueland (Ruth Stiles Gannett)
Chitty, Chitty, Bang Bang (Ian Fleming)
Rabbit Hill (Robert Lawson)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)
Caddie Woodlawn (Carol Ryrie Brink)
Sarah Plain and Tall (Patricia MacLachlan)
Black Beauty (Anna Sewell) – We read a short version first and then I asked Becca if she wanted to hear the unabridged book. We loved it.
A Little Princess: Being the Whole Story of Sara Crewe Now Being Told for the First Time (Frances Hodgson Burnett) – We enjoyed this since Becca reminds of us Sara.
Heidi (Johanna Spyr) – This is my first time reading Heidi. I was amazed at how much theology it contained. Two more chapters left…

Afternoon Reading by Josh:  Becca really enjoyed listening to Focus on the Families Radio Theater dramas. When I realized she wasn’t catching everything in the Chronicle of Narnia, I thought it would be good father/daughter bonding for Josh to read to them all to Becca. I’m not sure who enjoyed it more. And now their reading time has become an afternoon tradition.

The Magician’s Nephew (C.S. Lewis)
The Lion, Witch, and the Waredrobe (C.S. Lewis)
The Horse and His Boy (C.S. Lewis)
Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (C.S. Lewis)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C.S. Lewis)
The Silver Chair (C.S. Lewis)
The Last Battle (C.S. Lewis)
The Story of Doctor Dolittle (Hugh Lofting)
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (Hugh Lofting)

Happy 13th Months to Anna Grace. This week we found her doing this…yikes!

Josh and Amy Read Alouds: Josh continues to read to me before we go to bed. A nursing baby always increases our reading time, since we can’t just go straight to bed. Here’s a few of the books we’ve read in the past year:

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness: The Wingfeather Saga, Book Two (Andrew Peterson)
North! Or Be Eaten: The Wingfeather Saga, Book Two (Andrew Peterson)
The Monster in the Hollows: The Wingfeather Saga, Book Three (Andrew Peterson)
The Warden and the Wolf King: The Wingfeather Saga, Book Four (Andrew Peterson)
Boys of the Blur (N. D. Wilson)
The Bark of the Bog Owl: Wilderking Trilogy (Jonthana Rogers)
The Secret of the Swamp King: Wilderking Trilogy (Jonthana Rogers)
The Way of the Wilderking: Wilderking Trilogy (Jonthana Rogers)
The Charlatan’s Boy (Jonathan Rogers) – in progress

Last month during Khmer New Year we observed a Trot Dance being performed at our neighbors’ home. This traditional dance is typically performed before the start of Khmer New Year. It’s believed to ward off bad luck from the previous year and prevent evil spirits from entering into the home for the new year.

Over our past 10 months here, we’ve seen our neighbors perform many religious rituals. The Buddhist belief Do good, get good. Do bad, get bad, is their prime motivation. We’ve watched them give gifts of food to over 50 monks on two different occasions, burn incense, offer food to the spirits, anoint their house with water, have monks bless their home, wash themselves with water—they do and do and do.

Several weeks ago, something happened. The wife of the neighbor family is experiencing some sort of depression and now rarely leaves the house. We’ve seen a change come over the family. When we watched the Trot Dance, we saw her for the first time in many weeks. I was shocked at how much she’s changed. Her face and eyes were expressionless. It was a face of totally hopelessness, so different from the happy lady we used to see performing rituals to do good.

When I saw our neighbor watching the Trot Dance being performed for her home, I wanted to run over and shake her and say, “Don’t you understand? This isn’t going to change anything. This isn’t going to help. Jesus has already paid the price for your bad and He can rescue you.” But as I looked at her hopeless face, I felt hopeless. Is there any hope for this women, for her family? They are entrenched in the religion of their country, their government, their family—it is everything to them. What can I say to change their hearts? Nothing. I’ve tried. To my Chinese friend, my Indian friend, my Albanian friend, to a Khmer neighbor. They all say the same things. They can’t change from the religion of their family and they believe every religion is right. It’s hopeless.

Yet I am regularly reminded of the catechism we teach our children: Who can change a sinner’s heart? The Holy Spirit alone. We can do nothing on our own. I cannot convince our neighbors or friends of their need for Jesus, that faith in Jesus is the only way. But the Holy Spirit can and will to those He calls to Himself. We must live with the hope that He can use our words, our lives, and our prayers to call people to Himself.

We live here in Cambodia by your prayers and support for our family. Please pray with us that the Holy Spirit will change the hearts of the people here and call them to Himself.

The other day Becca caught a lizard. We have one brave little girl. It didn’t turn into a prince.

We’ve enjoyed seeing different things both inside and out. We have a nice spider living in our kitchen window. The kids enjoy watch her catch flies. I often think about cleaning all the spider webs out of our house, and then I’m reminded that they eat flies and mosquitoes, so I leave them up.

During Khmer Year New we went to a playground at a rather expensive international school. The school allows expats to come and use the playground for free. Becca mastered the monkey bars! Isaiah enjoyed playing in the sand. And Anna, who I thought would enjoy the swings, hated them. It was really refreshing to be at such a clean well-kept playground. We didn’t have to worry about trash or bad smells, etc. It reminded us of a summer morning in Texas.

Last week we celebrated Khmer New Year. Our neighbors across the street brought in a tradition dancing troupe to dance the របាំត្រុដិ in their courtyard/anteroom. This dance is supposed to remove and protect the home from evil spirits. We hung out with the troupe part of the time they were waiting around. Then like good Khmer, we stood in the road and watched through the big front (garage) door as they danced.

The dance troupe let our kids play with some of their gear. Becca ran inside and changed into a pretty dress and put on some chap-stick so she would fit in with the ladies. She really wanted to dance with them. Anna was not impressed.

After the dance was performed, our neighbor children came out and did some powdering in the street, another New Year tradition. Once they shared the powder our kids enjoyed participating too!

We were able to do some extra family things for Khmer New Years, since Josh had the week off from school. Three nights we had dinner guests, we went to a playground, went swimming, and I took the kids to a mall play area, where Josh joined us after his studying for some pizza. It was nice to have some extra family time without the pressures of school or regular tutoring. However we didn’t abandon language study. Josh studied with a tutor three days and continued with his self-study. I did several days of self-study during my normally scheduled tutor time.

I had all these plans for the Easter season. I’ve been wanting to do something similar to our Advent celebrations to help our family anticipate Resurrection Sunday  the four weeks leading up to Easter Sunday.  It didn’t happen. We got sick and I spent a good deal of those weeks fighting off our hot-season colds. Maybe next year…I guess I better start preparing now.

We enjoyed the special services our church had for Holy Week. And we spent a week in family Bible time on the death and Resurrection of Christ. We bought duck eggs (chicken eggs are brown) and colored them. The kids spent an hour and a half coloring 10 eggs (5 each). They loved dipping the eggs multiple times. (I learned this year that you don’t need special kits for coloring eggs, food coloring works just as well.)

Instead of hiding our colored eggs, I packed little gifts inside of toilet paper rolls and had the kids paint them. We hid those Sunday afternoon. What the kids especially enjoyed was hiding the “eggs” for Josh and me to find.

Being in Cambodia gives one a fresh look at Easter. In American almost everyone celebrates Easter. You don’t have to believe in the resurrection of our Lord to celebrate the holiday. In Cambodia this holiday is for Christians – it’s for those who believe that Jesus rose from the grave. There are no secularized events for those who don’t believe. It’s a Christian celebration…and for those who don’t believe it is not a special day of joy and hope for them. We pray that one day it will be.

Easter weekend we also celebrated Josh birthday.

Tomorrow (April 3rd) we’ll celebrate Josh’s 34th birthday. The biggest change this year has been moving to Cambodia and beginning to study Khmer. It’s been a joy to grow with Josh during our transition and now during our language learning months. Living overseas provides a wonderful opportunity for becoming deeper friends in marriage. I’ve enjoyed growing closer to Josh during this last year. I’ve enjoyed learning more about the wonderful man I’m married to. I love watching Josh study and use his linguistic background to learn Khmer. I’m very thankful that, while there’s always more studying to be done and that could be done, Josh makes time for our family and makes us a priority.

So, you maybe wondering: what’s a typical day look like for missionary Josh? Monday through Friday Josh leaves our home a little before 8 to go to school. Many mornings on his way out he races Becca to the gate of our neighborhood. Josh is at language school from 8:30 to 12. He then comes home, eats lunch, and supervises the children while I meet with my language tutor. Anna sleeps during my tutoring time and Isaiah sleeps during half of it. When Isaiah gets up Josh usually reads to Becca and Isaiah. Right now they are reading the second Dr. Dolittle book.

During the afternoon Josh is able to study while supervising the kids. After I’m done with my tutor, he continues studying. After supper Josh takes the kids outside and chats with our neighborhood guard and then he comes back and does the dishes while I get the kids ready for bed. Then it’s back to studying for him. Somewhere around 8:45 we have our nightly popcorn – Josh makes delicious popcorn – and we chat about our day before we head to bed.

In a nutshell – what does missionary Josh does: study, study, study Khmer and do all the other normal things that come with being a husband and daddy. Happy Birthday Josh! (In Jan. some friends delivered one of the birthday presents I bought Josh. There are still a few left. 🙂

This week I thought we’d share some of our daily normals that are a little different than our normals in the States. Enjoy…

Katadyn filter: We filter all our drinking water with our Katadyn filter. We’ve been told the drinking water in Phnom Penh is probably safe (it’s chlorinated), but we still filter just in case. (We use regular tap water for brushing our teeth.) We fill our filter about two times a day, since both Josh and I drink a lot of water. I think I drink a little over 4 liters of water each day. We keep two Tupperware pitchers of water in the fridge so we have cold water to drink.

Toilet Sprayer: These handy dandy high powered sprayers come with every toilet in Cambodia (but toilet paper does not, so I always carry some with me). They are great for spraying off cloth diapers and helping clean up kids after using the potty.  They also make cleaning the bathroom a simple task. When I want to wash down the bathroom, I just use the sprayer. No worries about all the water that ends up on the ground, because every bathroom comes with a floor drain. The floor drains are particularly important because water gets all over the floor when one is taking a shower.

Gas Canisters for the Stove: Most people have a gas stove, but it’s not like the States. We have to buy our gas in a canister. We always have two, one that’s being used and an extra one for when the one in use runs out. It’s always a pain if the gas runs out when you’re in the middle of baking. The first time I changed the can I was in the middle of making banana bread. I was so glad the bread turned out and glad I didn’t blow up the stove changing the can.

Electric Mosquito Wand:  This wand does a great job killing mosquitoes. It’s also a great way to relieve stress. Having a tough day with language study? Go kill 15 mosquitoes!

Mosquito Nets and Fans: We all sleep with fans blowing on us. And often have fans blowing on us when we are studying. All the kids sleep under mosquito nets. Yayyi made Anna’s net for the pack-n-play.

Outside Laundry Room: Our washing machine is in the alley behind our home. We bought a used dryer from the people who used to live in our home, but we rarely use it. We typically do our wash every other day and hang it out in the front courtyard to dry.

Gecko Droppings: As much as we love geckos because they eat mosquitoes, they leave a lot of small messes around our home. In the morning there will often be several piles on our counters and the floors…actually anywhere.

Last month we took a 4-day trip to Ratanakiri – the province where we plan to do our permanent ministry. We’re excited to report that the Lord has opened the door for our family to move up there in August, a year earlier than we’d planned. A missionary from another organization will be returning to the States for a year and needs someone to house-sit starting this summer. The timing works out perfectly as Josh will be finishing up his language coursework at school this summer. House-sitting for a year will allow us to get to know the area before renting a house of our own. It will be a much easier move for us all.

Our shortened stay in Phnom Penh will not shorten our two years of dedicated Khmer study. Once we move, we plan to continue our language study with tutors. We see this move as an opportunity to increase our language learning, as we’ve found that one can easily survive in Phnom Penh without learning Khmer. We look forward to attending a local Khmer-language church as well as being more immersed in Khmer language opportunities. Josh also hopes to start developing relationships with the Jarai church leaders who speak Khmer.

During our visit, we enjoyed spending some time with our co-workers’ families. Abi decided to celebrate her birthday a few weeks early. She designed a very cool cake with her mother.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words and sometimes some pictures can save a thousand words. I’ll let these pictures speak for Anna’s 11-month birthday. (Ok, it’s true I’m a mommy and I just couldn’t decide which pictures were the best…you should see all the cute ones I left out.)

As far as milestones: Anna now prefers real crawling over army-crawling and is very agile at walking when holding on to something. Anna takes 3 naps a day and continues to nurse every three hours during the day. She is still teeth-less (following in the steps of her Aunt Emily), but enjoys eating Khmer food. Anna especially enjoys passion fruit. [Aunt Emily has teeth now, but it took her till her first birthday before she got any.]

March starts hot season in Cambodia, which also means heat rash for the kids. Our kids’ heat rash is pretty minimal and we’re thankful that no ones seems bothered by it. I’m trying to incorporate lots of water play into our day to help minimize heat rash.

Every time we’ve done something fun in Cambodia, Becca typically says at the end of it, “But it wasn’t as great as riding a Ferris wheel.” Last May we rode the Ferris wheel at National Harbor and it was the highlight of Becca’s life. When we realized that every fun event in Cambodia was going to be compared to riding a Ferris wheel, we started looking for one here.

We were pleased to discover that DreamLand has a ferris wheel. (Don’t be deceived by the pictures on their website…the amusement park not as nice as it looks.) We decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day by a surprise ride on the Ferris wheel. Becca was thrilled to find out that Cambodia has a Ferris wheel and the kids pronouced in the “Best Day Ever!”

As an added bonus, DreamLand was having a special for Valentine’s Day. For $2 each we got into the park and were able to ride anything that was running. We went in the morning and the park was quite empty – no lines. They let us ride the merry-go-round several times. We had to ask them to start the Ferris wheel for us. And the kids enjoyed playing in the large multi-level playground. It was the perfect way to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Josh and I celebrated Valentine’s Day the evening before. It was our first time to go anywhere on the motorcycle together. Every girl’s dream Valentine’s date: Riding on your man’s motorcycle for an evening out…I held on tight.

A few weeks ago we ate banana flower soup for the first time. This was our first time to see a banana flower up close. We could peal away the petals of the flower to reveal small bunches of growing bananas. It was really cool to see. Yayyi cut the entire flower up and boiled it to make soup.

Oh – there are also really good street waffles in Cambodia. No need for syrup – they are sweet enough!

Most of us missionaries want to send exciting stories back to their supporters about the opportunities God gives them and their children to share the Gospel. Wouldn’t this make a good one: Dear Supporters, during a recent Cambodian religious holiday our daughter climbed on top of our gate and sang “Jesus Loves Me” to several Buddhist monks who were waiting to receive gifts from our neighbors. Pray for continued Gospel witness in our neighborhood.

It’s a really precious story until you find out that before she sang Jesus Loves Me she sang Matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof,  proclaiming at the top of her lungs to all the monks: “be glad you got a man!” And while climbing to sit at the top of the gate she said: “hello monkeys.”  Fortunately they thought it was funny and had a good time pointing to each other and asking if the other was a monkey. Hmmm…guess we won’t use this story in our next update.

While we don’t have any exciting Gospel-furthering stories to share right now (the kind that make kids want to be missionaries when they grow up), we do know this: we are doing the work God has called us to. We’re learning language and slowly trying to build relationships with our neighbors. It might not be exciting to write about, but it is God’s work in God’s place for us. May this be what all our lives are like: doing God’s work in the place where God has put you, whether or not it’s exciting to share with fellow believers. Be faithful to what God has called you to in the place God has put you.