Master Kitchen

One of the peculiarities of our house is that it has two kitchens.  Many people here prefer to cook outdoors so that cooking doesn't raise the inside temp.  I have a cooking porch/kitchen on the side of my house.  It does come in handy when baking.  It has a counter and a sink along with a gas cooktop and oven.  But, I think some large gecko's and spiders live out there, and I'm a chicken, so I do most of my cooking in my other kitchen.  My second kitchen is inside, and is more or less like you would expect a kitchen to be.  It has a sink, counters, shelves, refrigerator, coffee pot... all the necessities.  This is what my inside kitchen looks like.

You can see my not-so-automatic dishwasher hard at work.  =)  You can also see my bed/office.  Yes, my kitchen doubles as my master bedroom and sometimes as my office.  It's weird, but it works.  It's even starting to feel normal.  My bedroom has always been a private space.  The kids were not allowed to come in without an invitation, and the door was always closed when we had visitors.  I can't do that anymore.  My room is now very public. 


When we had friends over for dinner, people came in the bedroom/kitchen to cook and help get dinner ready.  And it was not a big deal.  This morning I was thinking about how many families here in Cambodia share a home that is smaller than my kitchen/bedroom.  And if our family had to do that, it would work.  We are blessed to have the space and number of rooms that we have.  We are blessed to have air conditioning, electricity, and running water. 

Our goal here in Cambodia is to bring Jesus to people. The type of house, decor, and living arrangement is not a priority.  It doesn't need to be.  We have more than we need.  Our home is comfortable and spacious. And we can reach the fridge from the foot of the bed.  Midnight snack anyone? 

¹⁹ And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Two weeks

We have been in Cambodia for two whole weeks at this point.  The first day was very long as we drove straight to Battambang from the airport after a quick lunch.  We were blessed to be joined not only by Lily who is working as an intern here for one year, but also by three short term interns.  We all found each other in the check in line at LAX and got along very well together.  Having the interns with us helped a lot since they helped us entertain the kids, and then helped us manage the luggage here in Cambodia. 

The first three nights here we spent in the hotel, but spent most of our daytime hours shopping and getting our house clean and ready to live in. It has a few oddities (like having our master bedroom in the inside kitchen) but it is mostly working out very well.  The house came with lots of furniture, so we only needed to get a few more beds... we have a lot of people in this family!  I did a lot of shopping for smaller things that every home needs.  Towels, sheets, dishes, laundry supplies, etc. 

We were also able to buy a larger fridge and washing machine.  The ones that were here were old and very small.  They were both inadequate for our size family.  So having the new ones is a huge help.  Dryers are not an option around here, so we have a clothesline near the back of the house on a patio area.  It is covered, so even when it rains our clothes don't get soaked... unless they are too close to the outside wall.  I'm still learning to run and get the clothes if it starts raining.  One other benefit of where our laundry hangs is that only one set of neighbors can see it. 

Since we moved into the house I have been venturing out into the city via tuk-tuk to shop for groceries.  There is no grocery store in town, so my explanation of the shopping routine will have to be it's own post.  It certainly has been an adventure! 

Many things here are more difficult or at least take longer to get done than in the US, but overall living here is not a struggle only different.  Everyday we are here we get more accustomed to the way things are and we get closer to being settled enough to jump in and start the work we came here to do.

We are here!

 It's official!  We are in Cambodia.  We got to our new city last night for dinner, then crashed as soon as we could.  Everyone got close to eight hours of sleep the first night.  Pretty good start.  Today we go see our new home and start shopping to fill it with the stuff we'll need everyday.  Bedrooms and kitchen right away.  The rest we'll deal with slowly. 

Proof that all the kids and suitcases are here!

 We had several more weeks to wait before we could fly than we expected.  Here are some of the things we did to fill the time.

Explored a volcanic area.

Played with light weight rocks.

Hung out with cousins and grandpa.

Played with animals.

Made a new friend.

Flying

We have our tickets!  That means this is really going to happen.  We have a count down with 26 days 15 hours 50 minutes and 16 seconds before we fly.  Please pray for us as we get the last details finished and as we take this huge step. 

Under Construction

We arrived at Grandma's house and were happy to have a front row seat at the road construction in front of the house.  My four year old boy's dream come true!  Everyone had their noses to the glass watching as the tractors dug up a section of road, laid down pipes, then put the dirt right back in.  My mom told me they have done this at least five times already.  One section has stayed open for days since they found a leaking pipe and needed to repair it before covering it up.  It has been fun to watch the workers as they continue to make improvements to the layers that will eventually be underneath the new road top that is still weeks away.

Parenting my children can be a lot like the road building process.  We often have to work hard to get at the real problem.  Sometimes there are things that need more work so we keep the road open and our eyes on the problem so that we can help our kids get it right.  I want my children to have more than a new shiny road surface or a happy life.  I want for them to have a good solid base to drive on.  And so I try to give them the time and attention they need to have solid layers underneath the top layer that is easiest to see.  And if I see that there is a problem that needs more attention I will dig up the road again and again to help my son or daughter learn and grow.

I think God sees us like a road sometimes, too.  He offers us the best materials, but we have to be the ones to accept what he gives us.  We have to be willing to let him dig up the road and expose the problems underneath if we are going to have a solid foundation.  If we choose to ignore Him and the problems that are hiding under the surface then eventually we will get potholes and the top layer of our road will crack and get uneven.  Driving straight and safe will get harder and harder until we eventually dig up the whole road and start from scratch.

Matthew 7:24-27

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

A near miss?

At the beginning of our 5,000+ mile trip we were almost hit by a drunk driver.  By almost, I mean that he was within a foot of our van.  We had been driving on a mostly empty freeway in the middle of Texas.  I had just about passed a semi truck, but was not far enough ahead to pull back into the right lane.  I saw a white mini van coming up behind me very fast.  It was easy to see that he was going to try to pass me on the right and go in front of the truck.  I pulled as far to the left as I could so there was less chance that anyone would get hurt.  There was not room for him to get between me and the truck, and he lost control.  He swerved back and forth a few times coming withing a foot of hitting us.  He ended up going off the road and away from us.  He rolled a couple of times.

At this point we were pulling over as quickly as we could.  Paul was calling 911 and threw the phone at me and ran out the door back to the van before I was even stopped.  Paul was the first one at the van, but there was no one inside.  The driver had been thrown, and was already dead.  Our biggest fear was that there were children inside, thankfully there weren't.  Paul said he could smell the alcohol even without before he was close enough to examine the driver.  He had been driving drunk.  His recklessness nearly caused a tragedy for our family.  But, he was dead, I couldn't be angry, only thankful that we had escaped.  The fussing and whining of our kids didn't sound so bad afterwards.

The more I think about this incident the more I learn from it.  The first thing is that God really is protecting us.  My view is that angels pushed his van away from us.  We were on our way to visit one of my sisters.  She has been worried that we were being reckless taking our kids to such a far away place.  It taught her that God is watching out for us. 

It also seems that there is another lesson God wanted me to learn.  I am a careful mom, I keep my kids close to me and do my best to make sure they stay safe.  There was nothing I could have done to prevent this guy from coming our way.  I had no way to get away from him.  If I can't keep my family safe here in the U.S. how can I expect to keep them safe in Asia?  Instead of making me more afraid, it makes me feel more bold.  How long we survive is up to God, not me.  Knowing that there are people in the world who could hurt us is not going to keep me from going to help when God seems to be directing us to go.

I WILL TRUST GOD.

Crazy Field Trip

 We have been on this crazy cross country trip for almost two weeks.  Here is a sampling of what we have learned.

1.       Chili on top of spaghetti and smothered in cheddar cheese at Skyline in Cincinnati, OH is pretty tasty.

2.       Our kids are terrific even when they are stuck in the car for several hours a day and several days in a row.

3.       Leaving a hotel during 36 degree weather while it is raining is not fun.

4.       God is protecting our family… even from drunk drivers.

5.       3463 miles in a car with five children may be doable… but going back the other way looks pretty daunting from this angle.

6.       Having a sick kid in a hotel is better than having a sick kid in a car.

7.       The four year old version of museum is much more fun to say…  ‘zoozam’.

8.       Crossing into a later time zone the same night as daylight savings time makes getting up the next morning REALLY hard.

9.       Our kids are able to make friends quickly and seem to get along well with everyone.

10.   Listening to three replays of one Dora DVD in a day is three too many and after a while, you don’t  even need to play the DVD to hear everything on it.