Dreamy Day

When I was just a lass I used to have all sorts of dreams.

I'd transport myself to a beautiful rustic home in Italy. In the 1930's or so. I'd live my days surrounded by family, wear white cotton dresses, and of course be close to the sea. At night I would open my window and taste that salty breeze. And the curtains in the room would be long and dreamy. And I would have beautiful hats.

But those were just some of the details. The crowning moment was going to something wonderful. I knew that one night just as I was drifting off to sleep I would hear something. It would be a mournful sound, a solo note, played on a trusty accordion. I'd light a small candle and walk to window. Flickering lights would approach in the distance and soon the sounds of voices mixed with all sorts of lovely music-makers would gather in a sweet song.

The lilting song would stop beneath my window and then they would play for hours. I'd stand in doorway and listen all night long. It was somebody's way of showing love.

Tonight was almost like my dream, at least the serenade part. The details were a little different. But the candles flickered (because we had no electricity) as the voices of our Cambodian neighbors filled the air with the accompanying sound of the accordion and guitar. My children sat quietly with me soaking it up. Beautiful. It was the first time I was ever thankful for a power outage.

It was a great end to a dreamy day.

It started off with Calvin fussing for only an hour. Usually we have a very rough time for 2-3 hours in the morning, trying to get him to eat amidst the screaming. Poor tyke.

But today was wonderful. Darryl headed off to Logos to say good-bye to students and hand out report cards. I loved reading all the kids' comments in his yearbook.


Jess stopped over with Ally and we chatted in the "garden". We tried to figure out if the big tail that had slipped along the edge of the garden belonged to a rat or big lizard.

We headed off to a good-bye lunch for the staff that are leaving this year. Enjoyed the friends and food.

The skies were overcast this afternoon and the kiddos and I had a great time roaming around with the stroller and bikes.



One elderly man gave me two white blossoms that smelled lovely. Another elderly man rode on by, wearing only a big smile, glasses, a krama for pants....on a kid's pink Barbie bike.

A student dropped off a cake as a thank you to Darryl. It couldn't have been better timing. We still hadn't celebrated Evie's 2 year birthday...overdue by 2 months. We put in the candles, sang happy birthday, even had her present on hand. She was delighted (and had no idea we were nearly two months late).


Thank you, Lord, for this good day.

Graduation Day!

Congratulations, Class of 2010!
Here a few pictures; some taken by the staff at grad today.


HoSu and Dalis are excited for this new road. Thanks to Bob Hart for donating the graduation gifts, Reformation Study Bibles. The students are so appreciative!


Zoe, Deka, Rachel. Three faces of Cambodia :). We are going to miss you!




Pov with a lot of brothers from the Asian Hope house--even Paht and Vanny made it from their college in Thailand.

No chocolate-chip cookies here

It's always rather endearing to see what student gifts Darryl occasionally brings home. Lately we've been spoiled with spicy Kim Chi and this:

Seaweed!

Salty, thin sheets--great fresh out of the bag or with some hot rice. Yum!

How Can A Mission School...

Afford such a beautiful new school??? It can't...but here's the story.


Taken from the Logos Website:

"Even while the rest of the world is in financial unrest, property prices in Phnom Penh are extremely high at over $800US/square meter. Currently our school pays rent to 4 separate landowners. Each landowner will offer only short term contracts and each landowner knows how important each parcel of land is to the functioning of our school. When a rental contract needs renegotiation, there is very little process, rather the landowner decides that rental prices are increasing by 280%/parcel.Logos needed an answer. This is what has happened:

Mr. Kim, a local developer and friend of Logos, offered to buy and develop a parcel of land for the school. Through God’s mercy and provision, the school is being built. The new contract gives Logos an actual school facility, a guaranteed lease and rental price structure for 25 years, and more importantly a chance in fulfilling the mission of our school and keep providing a great Christian International Education to our local orphans, our Cambodian students, our missionary families, and our expatriate families. However, there are some costs that we need to cover in order to have a functioning school facility."

You an see Phnom Penh in the distance. The school is about 20 minutes out of the city in the rural countryside.

This is the new library! We don't have much to fill this up yet but we are planning long-term space.

The construction crews live on site so as we meander about the site we move around makeshift beds, cooking pots, and living arrangements.

We still can hardly believe that our school is being blessed with this new campus! Move in date is December 18, 2009, Lord willing.

A filledtothebrim sort of month

The end of the school year is so near and we can almost taste that sweet ending! The past two months have been jam-packed with activity, here's a taste.

Logos' second graduating class made their debut to the world. The graduates are excited but along with that is a mixture of sadness and apprehensiveness. Most are leaving their families in Cambodia and heading to new areas of the world (many for the first time!) to study in college. They are a very close group but many of them will probably never meet each other again. Some are headed to India, Korea, and N. America while others will remain in Cambodia. It's an emotional and exciting time for the school community--it's the culmination of so much time and effort for teachers and students alike.

Logos continues to give out over $100,000 of free education a year to Cambodians. What a blessing to have teachers here from all over the world, supported by churches and individuals, so that so many can have a biblical and life-changing education at Logos. We are pressing on, constantly amazed at the Lord's provision for the school by way of teachers, monetary donations, visiting mission teams, and many, many other ways that God continues to bless this school. What a tremendous outreach in Cambodia!

Graduating Class of 2009!
8 Cambodians
4 Americans (all MK's)
2 Koreans

John Roberts, friend and fellow teacher at Logos, delivered a moving speech to the graduating class. It was especially personal for him because his second son was also donned in the blue hat and gown.

John and Sheryl Roberts

The day after graduation, eleventh grade (Darryl's homeroom class) hosted the banquet for the high school. It was a lovely evening of great food and good company. The teacher's table was highly entertained by watching the students play games, MC the evening, and by observing the unique dynamics of all these great students together!

I managed to snag a handsome chap :).

Lyna is a Cambodian student in the graduating class this year. She is privileged to have Teacher Vuthi as her mother. I have always appreciated her Christian perspective on missions and Khmer culture. She is a very valuable resource for Logos, a wise and godly woman, and a great teacher (she gave me my first Khmer lessons). She is beautiful, inside and out.

Teacher Vuthi and her husband at the banquet.

We had a great time as a family at the Art and Music night. Student's art was on display--I'm always amazed at the talent! When I consider that our art program is VERY low budget (but we do have a VERY gifted art teacher) I am even more amazed at what comes out of the art room. Brilliant.

Darryl and Evie enjoying the exhibits.

Sophie enjoying her friends a bit more than the art.

And now, here's a sampling of the talented Logos choir who fed us with beautiful words of traditional hymns, transported us to the plains of Africa (all men, all creatures, praise the Lord),



to, my personal favorite, "Good News" from the cotton fields.

It's In the Job Description

A Russian woman and a Cambodian moto driver.
Not the likeliest pair...I'll give you that.

Job Description

Teacher: Pour your heart and soul into the lives of students. And occasionally provide entertainment for them...at your own expense. And all of the other millions of things teachers do.

Wife of Teacher:
-Always expect unannounced students...perhaps for dinner or perhaps needing a place to sleep for the night.
-Remember to text husband (not call) when he is in staff meetings, teaching, etc., etc.
-Don't let the kids use dad's school papers for coloring. or paper airplanes.
-Mandatory participation in your husband's never ending "great ideas" for student life.

Students had a hoot of a time wandering around the crowded shopping center looking for us. Darryl did a great job playing the role of a local moto driver and kept them looking for a long time. His dirtied clothes, motodriver gloves, and perfect role playing were a riot to watch.

I tried my best to play it cool as I avoided the stares of the general populace who were no doubt thinking I was part of the local Russian mafia. And when a few groups of teenage girls gathered thinking I was a celebrity (no doubt those goofy glasses were the key) I began to really sweat under that hot wig. But it was fun and some students never figured it out!


Worth it? For this gang, any day.

First Ever Jog-a-Thon

Noah and I bounced along in the school van over potholes and around cows as we drove out to the new school grounds. We were going to watch Logos' first Jog-a-Thon. The students raised over $10,000.00 (many donations from the US) for the new school!

Elementary kids hopped out of the buses with their water bottles swinging and little legs ready to run. After having a time of prayer and song together with parents the kids ran around and around the hot and dusty track.
Not only did they raise money for a great cause and get some good exercise, they also proved to be great entertainment for the villagers. I doubt they had a clue what was happening with packs of kids running around in circles while dodging cows and motos. But I amused myself by coming up with some possibilities.... :).

Below: Notice one such curious person on the left...and one adorable baby, Ally, front and center!

I hardly think the little kids knew what they were in for either, but they were good little sports and we only had a few skinned knees and a few tears. You can see pictures of the new school here.

Below: Teachers and parents on the sidelines. Isn't that a gorgeous house on stilts in the background?

Photo Credits of the Jog-aThon belong to Anna Pedrosa (teacher at Logos).

Other not-so-interesting events from my day:
-Grocery shopping at one of the few shops opened during Chinese New Year
-Listening to the gazillions of firecrackers around our house...popping till I thought one more might just make my head pop off...there is wonderful silence now
-Eating "organic" cheerios that tasted like expensive cardboard
-Reading Modern Reformation's articles on orthodoxy and pondering, pondering...
-Thinking about my sister who is overdue and wishing I could be with her and soon-to-arrive baby
-Practicing Khmer with my neighbor. We speak half Khmer and half English with no pauses and understand each other perfectly. Maybe we've created another language.
-Saving Noah from Evie's tireless onslaughts of hair-pulling and biting, grabbing Evie's fingers out of the electrical sockets and rotating fans, and other general efforts to keep my kids alive and fully membered.

Good-bye Lydia!

We said a fond farewell to Lydia, the oldest of the girls at the House of Faith home, on Friday. Lydia was part of the first graduating class from Logos last year and was accepted to a nursing program in India. Her desire is to get her nursing degree and then return to Cambodia to work with missionary doctors and witness to her own people. To date, there is no nursing program in Cambodia that can give a high standard education. Please remember her in prayer as she is very nervous, excited, etc. about transitioning to India. I'm sure she'll be having some moments of loneliness too...especially after moving out of a house of eleven or so girls.


A bunch of Asian Hope kids having fun at Lydia's good-bye party. Joe Hansen is the gentleman on the couch, he and his wife, Rene are the new house parents for the boy's home.


Cambodian sisters!


It is the Pchum Ben holiday in Cambodia. The holiday where everybody leaves the city and returns to their village to pay respects to their ancestors at the local wats (temples). It is a mandatory holiday so Logos had to take off for two days as well. It's a difficult day for Cambodian Christians, many of their families think bad luck will come to them if every member of their family does not participate in the offerings.

We stayed in town for the holiday and had some fun with kids in the pool.


Red Chicken Curry...yum. This is a typical dinner at our house. Spicy! It's fun learning all these new recipes over here...I'm still not as good as the locals though!

Welcome Dinner!

Logos had a welcome dinner for all of the new teachers. We gathered together up in the Logos cafeteria for some yummy Indian food and enjoyed good company.

Picture above: The Cambodian gentleman on the right is Lee who is one of those super helpers in whatever area he contributes! He is going to be overseeing parts of the construction of the new school and keeps the library running smoothly. On the left side of him is Linda, the Kindergarten teaching assistant.


Picture below: I love this lady. We call her "Mama"--she is from Pakistan and is the mother of Sophie's Pre-K four teacher. She was here all last year helping in the classroom and will be heading back to Pakistan soon. She's a great cook and feels like a mother even though she looks a lot different from my real mom!


Below is Greg, friend of Darryl's and Logos' History and English teacher. Next to him is my friend Srey who is the 1st grade teaching assistant. She helps me with many of my Cambodian culture and language questions!


Karen, from Australia, kindly held Evie for me while I gulped down some naan and chicken masala. Yum. Except for I ate so fast I didn't really taste it...such is the life of being a mom :).

Evie is getting lighter hair and chubbier cheeks. She's getting so much better...what a sweetie.