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!

Home Again, Home Again

The following pics are of what awaited us when we got home to Cambodia! :)
The Welcome sign was done by a son of good friends of ours. This is from a new 1st grader - look at the great handwriting! :) Great job Cameron!
Some of our wonderful kids tped our house as a welcome. :) We thought it was funny that it being the first time we've ever been tped and it was in Cambodia! ha ha

They also took our furniture outside

My new little munchkins in 3rd grade! And some of them are literally little! So cute :)

Summer gone by...

Well, only 2 more days 'till we head back to Cambodia! Can't believe how quick our summer has gone by!

It has been a terrific summer full of visiting family and friends. I really needed this time with my family especially and I leave feeling full of love and warmth. :)

We spent our first two weeks in Tucson, Arizona where Tim's mom and my mom lives, along with other family members. It was great to see our family again and catch up.

Next on the agenda was a quick jaunt over to North Carolina to see my nephew married. While there, I got to see 2 of my 3 sisters, and my youngest son (who was an usher in the wedding). It was wonderful to also see family there. Oh yes, I also got to spend the night with my youngest sis in LA, at the beginning of our trip into the US. :)

Killeen, Texas came next where we played with and cuddled with our two granddaughters for 3 weeks!! That was Heaven on earth! And of course we got to see our oldest son and his wife. :) Our son had just returned from Afghanistan (Army). There are tons of pics on my fb page!! :)

Then off we flew to Wichita, KS where our youngest son lives with his wife and dog, Winston. We had a fabulous time visiting with them :) They treated us to a fancy restaurant and we got to see their new apt and hear about their life! It gave me good memories to take with me! We also got to spend time at our home church there in Wichita. We were so blessed by their love and generosity while we were there. It was great to touch base with them and share what we have learned in our first year in Cambodia. We showed funny and interesting pictures and videos of our life in Phnom Penh, including the exotic foods and crazy traffic! :)

The end our journey finds us back in Tucson, AZ for 2 days to regroup, try to rest, and do last minute shopping and finish packing 4 plastic bins, and 4 carry-ons!!

Friday, July 29, we shuttle to Phoenix, fly from Phoenix into LA, then catch a plane to China and then Cambodia. Two days later (due to lay overs and time zones) we arrive in Phnom Penh!

Teacher inservice begins August 3 and school starts August 8. We are excited for the upcoming year. Tim will be teaching 10th grade English and History and will the Jr.High/Sr. High school counselor. He'll also be helping with devotionals and chapels. He is very excited about this new job change. He loves the relationships with the kids and this will be right up his alley.

I will continue to teach 3rd grade. I will be training a new TA (teacher assistant) and will also have a student teacher in my class from the US! I'm excited about the training aspect of my job and meeting my new 3rd graders! It'll be a great year!

All for now! We'll catch you on the other side of the world!

July 4, 2011

I hope everyone had a terrific 4th of July!

We spent ours on post at Ford Hood Army Base. Wow! What fun we had. It reminded me of a State Fair we used to go to in Hutchinson, KS, only a mini one. :) The best part is we got to spend it with our grandkids! We spent the afternoon and evening there. First we had to do some rides. Lillia was frustrated because she was too little for most of the rides. :(

The fireworks were the best ones I've ever seen! And it was the longest show I've ever seen - about 25 - 30 minutes, awesome. The girls were troopers; though exhausted, they stayed awake the whole time.

Here's Josh (our oldest son) and his daughter Lillia
Our daughter-in-law with Allana

Lillia on a car ride

They loved the jumping castle!

Eating Hawaiian shaved ice!

Lana biting the ice :)

AH-1 Cobra

Josh & Erica :)

Gigi (me) & Allana

A few minutes after getting into the car - crashed! It was a long day with no nap and this was after 10 p.m.!