Shortly after arriving to Cambodia in 2020, we made this short video to give people a glimpse of our heart for the people of Cambodia and tell a little about our work there. You can read more about our story and calling on the “Our Story” page by clicking at the top right of this web page.
When I first set foot in Cambodia 17 years ago as a teenager, I never dreamed that I would give birth to a baby in this country. Yet two months ago, some wonderful Khmer doctors and nurses helped Sokion and I welcome our daughter to the world. She’s not our first, but with her I had so many firsts! Pregnancy in Cambodia was challenging in many ways, but we are so grateful for a healthy, beautiful little girl and a…
I sat on the beach watching my kids play with their new sand toys. They were having the time of their life on our little summer vacation to the beach in Kep, Cambodia. We had the beach almost entirely to ourselves since it was a weekday (and, you know, COVID). A few hundred meters down the beach, I spotted a young Khmer boy playing in the sand. He was all alone and couldn’t have been more than 3 years old,…
When I decided to become a teacher, I never imagined that I would be required to turn into a tech guru. (Who am I kidding, I’m definitely still not a tech guru.) But then 2020 happened. Now all of us are a little closer to technology than we ever thought we’d be. (A little closer to technology than we’d probably like to be.) Teaching first graders online is ….. use your imagination. I’ll admit that many teachers have had it…
Phnom Penh is sometimes called a concrete jungle. We are blessed to live in a wonderful home in a peaceful, safe neighborhood. Our house is at the end of a street, so there is no thru-traffic and the kids can play in the street with the neighbors. However, like most houses here, we live behind a big metal gate. We have iron bars over the windows and padlocks on every door. The view from many household windows is the wall…
The first week we moved into our house it seemed like one thing after another kept breaking. The air con in our bedroom wasn’t working right. The microwave made scary noises. The fridge was leaking water. I broke a handle off of the window when I tried to close it. A bed broke when I sat down on it. And one of the legs on the glass kitchen table wasn’t attached. Little did I realize these small headaches were the…
I have a love-hate relationship with Khmer food. Some days I LOVE it! Other days, the last thing I want to see is a plate of rice. The boys in my family, on the other hand, ALWAYS like rice. Thankfully we have lots of interesting options for food here in Phnom Penh. Friends back home are often curious to know what the food is like here in Cambodia, so here is a look at the wonderful variety of options we…
Since we left Cambodia several years ago, Sokion and I always expected that someday God would call our family back. When we decided to return last November, I knew that traveling back as a family of four would be a lot different and that it wouldn’t be an easy journey. 24 hours on planes with a preschooler and a toddler . . . I don’t need to explain! However, I never could have imagined the unique travel challenges that 2020…
Yesterday, I was browsing posts from my old blog that I kept when I lived in Cambodia several years ago. I found this one, just over six years ago that hit me right in the heart. It feels like I’m in the same place all over again, living a slightly different version of the same story, dealing with the same challenges and feeling the same emotions. In some ways, maybe I am still learning the same lesson? Here’s the text…
We are counting down the days until we move out of our house, which means a lot of sorting, cleaning out and packing. Most days include at least one disagreement between a child who claims a toy is “so special” and a parent with a trash bag trying to discard of said special toy. Let’s be honest, it’s usually not even a toy; it’s usually something “very special” like . . . A piece of paper A broken crayon A…