Rainy Season

It is still rainy season here in Phnom Penh. These beautiful images were captured by a a missionary family whose kids go to Logos and they live very close to Logos. I thought y'all would enjoy seeing them. :)

Double rainbows - aren't they amazing?

and right over Logos International School !

thunder storm coming... that white building in the back is Logos

and yes, it did eventually let loose! This is a typical scene most days.

Sunday - Day of rest & enjoying God's beauty

This bed is sooo comfy, I didn't want to get out of it this morning. It has a real spring mattress; ours at home is a thin foam thing. And a quilted comforter....double delight!



Tim wanted me to add this photo - the men's bathroom in the lobby of the hotel. What's next?

The grounds from our room door...what a show of God's great beauty and to think Heaven is more wonderful than this!

The view from our private balcony - that's the ocean behind the tennis courts, wow!

another view - look at all those coconut palm trees

this is what we see from our front door

the pool right below our room - where I swam my laps

Happy Herb's Pizza - wanna guess what the happy herb is? Seriously, they used to have a "special" pizza you could order that had marijuana in it - no jesting here! They don't serve it anymore!
This is where I ordered the $3.00 grilled Baracuda with potato, salad and garlic bread. Delicious!

Quite a festive little place
Tim ordered a large pizza - lots of leftovers for tomorrow's dinner

Pchum Ben

What is "Pchum Ben?" Pchum Ben means Festival of the Dead when Buddhists will go to the pagodas/temples to offer food to honor their ancestors and pray to their ancestors. It is also a time for families who live far away from each other to come together for reunions.

Below, is the bus that we took to Kompong Sam (Sihanoukville). Many Khmer (Cambodians) were on the bus leaving Phnom Penh to visit their families in the provinces and to visit the pagoda with their families. Actually we were the only foreigners. Here you see where we picked up a few more people than the bus had seats for, so they sat on buckets in the aisle. You can see two people here sitting in the aisle. Tim and I are sitting just behind this guy to the right (in real bus seats). I wonder if they had to pay the full price of a seat - $7.00 - or if they got a discount.



A pogada/temple entrance - we saw this while we were driving along in bus.

More pagodas

packed in tight!

the pics below are of the countryside as we drove along

For Khmer Christians and westerners who don't visit the pagodas, the holiday is usually spent as a time to relax or get together with families. Tim and I chose to come back to the Sokha Hotel at the beach. They were offering an online holiday discount, we couldn't pass it up - 5 star resort for $57.00 a night!

gorgeous bathroom

jacuzzi bathtub

Our wardrob is teak and the floor and bed is teak and natural wood - beautiful!

here is Tim on The Deck - a restaurant at the resort that overlooks the ocean. We ordered grilled Bass - delicious!

look at this view! cool bamboo decor too :) that's the beach in the background!

Tim with his Banana Boat (banana, coconut shake) - oh so yummy

our Banana Boat shakes - yes, that's the ocean in the background

me on the deck of the restaurant

inside of the restaurant - intersting decor

I loved this bamboo ceiling - the lights were under the bamboo

cool art huh?

First Month of Firsts....

After being back in Cambodia for our FIRST month of our second year, we have had some cool FIRSTS...

Our FIRST Khmer birthday celebration. Our neighbors invited us to their son's one month birthday party (right next door). Below are two pics of the tent they put up and chairs. The tent is set up in their front patio, usually Cambodians put it up in the street.
As you can see below, some of the tables are set up in the street, with enough room for the cars to get by of course. :) That's me right by the gate. We stayed for a bit. Oh my, it's been going on since 6 p.m., and the music has just started (it's 8:30 pm).

Another FIRST was our first girl sweet 16 birthday party :) Moriah, our house daughter, turned 16 on Sept. 3 (same birthday as our son who turned 24)! Her parents who live about 4 - 5 hrs away came and helped plan the birthday surprise party, along with some help from a couple families! The whole 11th grade class was invited (although they didn't all show up) and they kept it a secret from her!! Amazing.

Below is Caleb, Moriah's little brother.

Moriah and her friends...she's in the purple on the left

Moriah's friends

and here's the birthday girl :)

This is not a first, but we found out last weekend that we have a third grandchild on the way (from Josh & Erica)!!! Yay! :)

It's been a great first month back!