Longing to hug my friend...

I cannot do a regular post, as if nothing has happened. One of my dearest friends has just lost her son. She never had the joy of bringing her baby home. She never had the excitement of watching him crawl or take his first steps. For months she and her husband lived their entire parenthood inside a hospital room. Although I am certain anger, frustration, and confusion haunted them regularly, they shined as a beacon of faith during an agonizing trial. Now they have the heart ache of going home to an empty nursery. I know what it's like to clean out a baby's room that will never be used, but I don't know what it is like to perform such a task after having struggled everyday for your child's life, for nearly a year. I cannot pretend to fully comprehend their grief, but I hope they can know that somewhere in the city of Phnom Penh, their is a soul hurting and crying with them. I love you Lish, and I thank you and Shuan for your amazing example. My constant prayer is for His arms of comfort to wrap around you as you mourn your loss. Roscoe's body may be at rest, but his spirit and his influence will live on forever. Thank you for sharing your precious son with us.

Home Sweet Home

I'm sitting here at Pizza Company with a full belly and free wifi. Mission work is so hard. ;o) Today was our first full day in our new flat. Although excited, I was a little nervous about leaving our temporary home in the hotel. We're working on setting everything up right now, but let me take a few steps back to explain how to we got to pizza, coke, and wifi.

The first Saturday we were in town Thida wanted to take us to look at several homes, apartments, and flats in her area. We all went, J&M with the intent to find a place, and Bradley and I simply looking to appease the group. In all honesty, we didn't think we'd find anything we liked enough on the first try, but hoped this outing would give us a better idea of pricing and availability. Finding a home never crossed my "stress" radar, as it is, in my mind, one of those things God would undoubtedly take care of since He brought us this far. Off to Thida's we headed for some house hunting, lunch, and of course play time.

One of the many faces of Eve...

Tuk tuk babes.

Tuk tuk goofballs.

The monks depend on the Buddhists for

their necessities, and the monks bless the

homes which give them their provisions.

Back alley/neighborhood street to Thida's home.

Tired baby. Tough mommy.

Here's a glimpse of the turquoise door on the house I heart.

Check out Evie's face. She's a poster child for everything.

The new baby in the house, Bebe. Isn't he precious!?!

Thida sharing Dragon fruit and mangosteens with the kids.

Evie calls them "Dragon apples", and Gabe remembers the

name only because they have the word Dragon in them.

See-nin, the mommy of Tina and Bebe.

Juice. It does a body good.

Jonathan sneaking in some tickle time.

Tina pulled a sneak attack bear hug on Bradley.

Brass monkey. That funky monkey.

Old school yo.

Tina and Serah - cutie pies!

I love how children have their own language they all understand: fun.

Lunchtime, Cambodia style.

Now, onto our flat. Thida had taken us to several flats and homes for rent, but they were all so big.  A typical home here is 2 or 3 flights high, since families usually live together, even after marriage. Every time we'd walk into a place, all I could think of what am I going to do with all this space, and goodness gracious! Who wants to clean all of this? See, here in Cambodia, there's this thing called dirt, and well, there's a lot of it that gets blown around, constantly. And this dirt, you understand, is looking for a home. Any home will suffice, as long as it has corners, crooks, and crannies, and windowsills. Let's not forget the windowsills. One might even suggest that dirt has an affection for windowsills. And in a city where every window has a metal grate on the inside of each window, one would believe that dirt was not only welcomed, but encouraged to nest in that warm little cove between glass and iron. The bigger the house, the bigger the opportunities for this union.

So, after our third or forth location, I finally told Thida, "this is too much!" Very clearly, I described the studio or 1 bedroom apartment my heart desired. Thida put her thumb nail to her mouth as she stared at the floor, thinking. Quickly, she whipped out her phone, made a call, and we were off to the next location. As we turned the corner, onto a new street, Thida pointed to a peachy-orange, 5 story home, and said, "that's it. There your new home!" Ummmm, what? Before I could say much of anything, we were greeted by one of the owners and her son. He was going to take us upstairs to look at the 2 available apartments. Aww. The tension in my jaw lessened, and we started up the stairs. The first apartment was 2 stories with  2 or 3 bedrooms and baths - I don't remember because 2 stories was enough to turn me off. So we headed for the final apartment, on the 5th floor. The door opened, and almost immediately I felt like I'd come home. In a foreign country. For 2 years. But still, I finally had the sense of I can do this, and we were ready to talk contracts. We assessed there was work to be done, but with only 4 rooms (living room; bedroom; bathroom; kitchen), it was doable. Our landlord is a blessing, as she is a smart, but kind business woman, and her husband speaks fluent English, as he lives in the states 6 months out of the year. We made sure we would be allowed to decorate and remodel how we wanted, and after a slight negotiation on the price, the deal was done. So, now I can say, "Welcome to our new home!" Let me give you a "before" tour of our flat, as we've already made some changes since these pics were taken.

The stair case down to our gated "garage" where we keep

our bike and moto. It's roughly 4 1/2 feet wide, by 15 feet long,

and we now share that space with our downstairs neighbors. It gets

a little crowded sometimes, but we make it work. We're extremely

grateful that not only is our landlord kind, but our neighbors

are very friendly as well. Once we learn the language,

I'm hopeful we'll be able to truly befriend them all.

If you're wondering the width of these steps, I'll measure Bradley's shoulder span and get back to you. Yeah, he has to turn just slightly, while ducking his head, to make it through without getting stuck.

Our living, dining, office room.

Front of the home, but our back door.

Hammock stand to the left - the reason Bradley wanted the house. ;o)

Ceiling in the living room.

View of the living space, standing with my back

to the back door. That's an indoor window into

our bedroom. Yeah, another window. ;o)

Hallway leading past the bedroom to the entrance.

Not the best pic, but this is the "back" patio, outside of the living space.

Entrance.

Bedroom - taking measurements already.

Standing with my back against the wall with the window.

You can see how the bathroom is elevated since it's a wet room.

Other side of the bedroom.

Bathroom.

Everything you need in less than 17 square feet.

IKEA don't got nothin' on Cambodia.

You could essentially shower and brush your teeth

while using the toilet. No, I do not plan on doing that,

but I could, if I wanted to. Which I don't.

Full view of the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom, standing near the toilet, but

not touching it. Although this was one of the cleanest

flats we saw, it still needed some TLC before any

kind of surface touching would happen.

We plan to move the sink out, and use the cove area in

our bedroom to install a vanity sink. this will allow more

room in the shower, as well as relieve my fear of needing

to wash my hands when Bradley's using the facilities.

The kitchen was built outside, after the fact, and we're trying

to figure out just how to use the space during the rainy season.

It's enclosed, but the one big rain we've had so far flooded the

room. There's a tin roof on it now, but like I said, we're

brainstorming for ideas of how to make it work for us.

Gas stovetop. Yay!

This was the only argument we had with the landlord, or rather, the landlord's mother. Apparently in either Buddhist or Cambodian beliefs, an unoccupied beehive is good luck. So, they were wanting us to leave the beehive in our kitchen. Bradley demonstrated in the above picture that he couldn't even walk into the space without ducking. After a back and forth discussion, they finally agreed to let us carefully cut it down for them to keep. Bradley cracked me up when he said, "we don't want it. I will cut it down very carefully, and bring it to you. I don't want the luck. You can have it. Thank you."

Kitchen shelving and counter.

Looking into the entrance/hallway from the front porch.

Our front patio. Looking forward to having some

plants and peaceful mornings out here.

More of the patio.

The top of our stair case.

Our view.

Our landlord, and our view.

Okay, so I apparently like the view. Actually, what

I love is the breeze. We have a wonderful cross breeze,

and every time I feel it whip around my face, I think

thank you God for kissing my cheeks with a tiny

bit of coolness in this hot land.

House hunting is hard work for a baby.

Yet again, God has provided for us, and my gratitude is well, inexpressible. Our internet access has been limited, as we're no longer in the hotel, but hopefully I will have the "after" photos of our new homestead within the next few posts. Many "luxuries" are not available with this new home, but we have the blessing of running water and electricity. There are those who don't. If you have running water and electricity, please count your blessings, and be thankful for the intelligence provided by the Creator which enabled men to create these luxuries. Regardless of your situation though, if you've been given a safe place to call your own, whether temporary or permanent, let yourself smile inside and out knowing that you have a home sweet home.

Our First Sunday {or} កាលពីថ្ងៃអាទិត្យជាលើកដំបូងរបស់យើង

As I sit here, trying to grasp the words to explain our first Sunday in Phnom Pehn, I feel overwhelmed with exhaustion and a sense of numbness. Watching young Christians, in a new world for our first service with them was incredible. We met together on the rooftop of Thida and Seyha's home, gathered around a wooden table. Although there was nothing fancy in our surroundings, I feel confident we were pleasing to the Almighty King. Due to the language barrier, it was a very short and simple service, but no less beautiful than any other service I've attended. We sang 2 songs, we Americans knew the words and tune for both, while the Khmer sisters sang the same tune in their own language. Then the sisters sang a song they knew while we hummed along, as we didn't know the words, and the song books are written in their language. The collection was explained and taken, and then Bradley and Jonathan took turns praying and teaching. Bradley shared the story of Lydia in Acts 16, as he said the work in Phnom Penh was similar, starting with a woman's desire to obey the gospel. Then Jonathan used a children's bible to share the story of creation. It was beautiful to see our sisters' faces light up as they followed the pictures. This was brilliantly helpful since one of our sisters stills struggles with understanding the English language, and the simple, yet telling illustrations allowed Jonathan to relieve the language barrier, to some degree. We finished the service with the highlight: the Lord's supper. Upon our arrival, sister Thida had taken me with her to the market to purchase the flour and grape juice, in preparation for the cup and the loaf, and together we all shared the remembrance of our Savior and His sacrifice. For that moment, there was no difference in our language or culture; we were all the same: sinners embracing our undeserved salvation. After services several questions were answered, and then we retired to the second floor for lunch.

Evie. Enough said.

Pre-church nap.

This little piggy went to the market...

Meat market Thida took me to, and yes, some of

what you see was for lunch after services.

These little women with their huge cleavers. Yikes!

Bradley stretching out those awkward sitting

muscles on one of our "church pews."

Gabe felt the need to help...

Penny and Tina (Thida's nephew) being silly.

Sister Seyha and the kiddos.

Thida made the loaf.

Almost situated for services - Tina was trying to decide where to sit.

Lunch prepared by our sweet friends. Jonathan has

been deemed "he who eats little," and Bradley has been

deemed "he who eats lots." It appears Evie is after Bradley's

title, while Gabe and Jonathan are neck and neck.

This is the view from Thida's patio. I heart this home.

It has a gorgeous turquoise door on the other side.

Yes, I will take a picture soon.

With our bellies full, sister Thida once again took on the task of serving us. She first assisted Jonathan and Marissa with negotiating and signing the contract for their new rental home, and then she did the same for us. Sweet Thida has worked very hard for us already, and she has a strong desire to do more.  All of the women in her family are gems, and are now our neighbors!

The guys sporting their blue-printed thumbs.

Along with their signatures, they had to stamp

their thumb print to seal the contract.

With our first Lord's day under our belts, we are confident and ready to tackle the next task: our homes! Lia-hi!