What happened this year?

A lot happened this year, it seems since June we keep moving from one task to another.  Very, Very busy, but in a good way.

The last couple months we have been renewing our NGO status and renewing license for the orphanage from the Social Affair and changing names on the bank accounts which is quite the process here.  We also had to get permission  from the Ministry of Training because we train our kids, kind of silly but it's finished.  The cool thing was we did this before the school so it saved us a lot of money.  If we would done it after we had the school it would have been in the hundreds.

In October we received permission to open the school.  Which has been a large success according to our communities responses. 
We received a number of donations from friends that helped us afford the staff, furniture and supplies and most recently possibly start to buy land.

We also received a van from a pastor in Anaheim Ca. which was a lot of work for everyone but what a blessing it was.  We received the NGO plates and didn't need to pay taxes, which was more than the value of the car so another blessing.
How ever the van was regular gas and it triple our expenses for gas which was way over our budget.
But we found a place to put in a propane tank in it and now is costing less than the diesel was costing in the old van.  An added blessing to a great gift.

We had a friends from home with our new pastor to help support and lift us up.  They listened to our needs and desires.  They got a feel of what our future holds here and what projects we are praying about.  It was amazing as we expressed our wishes to them and they returned to the States to share about the work that is being done. 
Since then we have received an abundance of gifts and donations from people.

Pastor Barry also saw the need for our own space to give us a place to rest.  Our current house is amongst the madness of 40 children running by banging and staring in the windows.
I am told a man out of New York blessed us with the funds to build a place for us. 
Such a gift will renew our ability to care for the kids and relieving us of some stress. 
The reduced stress will benefit our marriage and family as well.  I know I am getting snappy with Sam a lot lately and it is because there is a long line of children making mistakes all day.  Then Sam and Joe seem to get the worst of my time. 
I think it will give our kids some peace as well.  Joe has been taking a lot of abuse from the other kids lately.  They like to poke him and pinch his cheeks the same as I do.  Man, I love Joe's soft fat cheeks.  But by the time that by 40 people pinch and poke to hear his reaction, it is a lot of unwanted attention.  Then Ream and I get upset with Joe because it seems he is yelling all day at the kids.   There will be a number of benefits coming from this donation.
 

 I can't wait to sit out on the balcony and read the Word.  

The kids will get there own room and bathroom to the left.  The guy in blue is standing behind the kitchen wall that will have a pass through to a patio.

 I get the executive corner office and to the right will be the spare bedroom that we are hoping to paint pink and fill it sometime next year.

 Living room and our room, the dividing walls aren't up yet.

The space is double that of what we have now, but mostly we have a piece of privacy a floor above the noise.
Sorry to take the roof so many teams have enjoyed in the past. 


Shortly after the donation to build our house someone else blessed the orphanage with money to repaint the outside and repair some of the wear and tare 50 people can do to a building, especially in a tropical climate where buildings our poorly built to begin with.


We found out that we have a number of teams stacking up for 2012 and now as our family is moving up stairs we have space to put teams in our old space house.
We then needed to add another bathroom to our bed room so boys and girls will have their own bedrooms and their own bathrooms to use.

 The downstairs bathroom addition allowed us to carry the roof over the laundry area.

Since we use we have always use a lot of power we upgraded our meter to let more power in and hopefully reduce our bill each month.
The problem with this is the local electric regulator didn't want to let us change because the smaller the meter the higher the price.
We had to use some power in the family to push some weight around the corruption and got the meter installed.  More power less money, yeah another blessing.

Earlier this year a team donated funds to us and we were able to upgrade our generator that was more powerful and a lot quieter  

It seems that has been the theme this year to upgrade and cut cost,so thankful for the funds to do so.


We have been shopping for Birthday and Christmas which are huge task in themselves. Sadly we are missing our German and American elves from last Christmas. 
We left our bedroom empty after the bathroom add on to use the space as Christmas central.
This is an early photo it is much worse now. 

Plus in order to reduce some of the waste the kids tend to have with their personal effects we've decided to buy the kids as much of the years supplies at the first of the year, making them responsible for their stuff the rest of the year.  For example they get their 2 pair of shoes now and if they break them they have to buy themselves out of their allowance.  It should help them to take care of what they have a little better.  



Bunheoun was selected to be the red cross representative at the high school.  Sothea was selected last year.  Basically when they do any aid distribution in our area she will get to go help.

It is a nice honor for a child that well deserves it.


We have teams due in 7 days for 3 week from Missouri and a team from Hawaii South Shore Christian Fellowship due in January for about a week.

In February we have another pastor from Hawaii North Shore Christian Fellowship that will drop by.

In June it looks like we have 2 volunteers coming for 2 months and another wanting to come in December 2012.  

So really busy but in a good way.


The wife and I did get to take a couple days off this year and go to the beach, which was pretty nice.  We stayed on the beach 20 feet from the sand.  We also took a boat trip to a near by island where we played and found a lot of shells.  Sam and Joe had a blast.  We took SreyRoth and Sorya to the beach with us so they could help watch the boys play in the water.  Other wise there would not have been a vacation for Ream and I.

FOOD.
For lunches and dinners,
I ate barracuda fillet's for $5 bucks.
I ate red snapper for $5 bucks and sea bass for $5 the next night.
Ream ate black crab, shrimp, a slab of Marlin, Squid all for about $5 a plate. 
The kids ate a lot of burgers and pancakes.

Also on our boat trip to the island Soray and Ream caught 3 fish on fishing string wrapped around a plastic bottle which the boat crew was quick to cook up and eat.

Chicken prices are up again and we should make a good profit this month.

Our pigs had babies yesterday and the price is pretty high right now so we should get a nice income.

 With the end of the rains are gardens are filling up.

I have to say how thankful we are to having Alica to care for the school while we focus on the construction projects.  Volunteers can make all the difference sometimes, by the way we could certainly use some more.


I wanted to share these photos of our kids at our school.  I love to see them just as friendly and close at school as they are at home.
Borin is on bottom with unknown child on top.

 Sorya on the right with the one of the girls on her lap, she is the daughter of a teacher at the other school.  She is a very cute little girl that always has a smile to share.

 Sambath and Veasnaand my cousin Eangly

 Sam turned 8 on the 14th and we had a little party.  Sam invited Weed and Rathana (Chenda) to share in the sweets.

An awesome thing, I asked our newer staff member Seem when she was going to become a Christian, to which she replied that she had become one a couple months ago along with Sowly another care taker.
Totally cool that all of our staff have always made a positive change in their life after working with us for a short time.




The older boys learning word and Excel, Ly is teaching them.

 Ly, working the translation for a book we want to use for school.

There is so much more to share but I think the years review is getting long.

So, Thank you all who have supported and prayed for us this year.  It has been a long, busy and very fruitful year for us.

I love my job if I can call it that.

Kit and Ream

 

Guest blog

We have a return guest that has decided to stay with us for an unknown period of time.
Currently Alicia stays at the orphanage and is helping with the childrens education.  During the day she is the principal of our private school A Heart for Wisdom, where 21 of our children attend.   
Alicia publishes her own blog called So Speaks the Heart.
I want to let you know there is a link to her blog to the right of our page located under "Current Guest Blog".  You should be able to click on the title and it should open her page.
She is a wonderful young lady with a great amount of love for the children of Cambodia.
She also has a fantastic way with words that you won't read on my blog.
I copied her last months post to share with you and to encourage you to look at her blog from time to time to get a different view of what we do and make sure to read over her past posts.

Kit

 

 " Seeds Planted in the Fall

10 months ago, I shared a little on the state of education in Cambodia, it's history, and the vision, a few years long delicately prayed dream, of Kit and Ream, the directors of A Greater Hope Orphanage, CCF, for a Christian school, and quite possibly the first one in the province.

Within this past year, outside the perimeters of the orphanage, faces have turned into more than just faces and prayers for the school have ended in "May your will, not mine (ours), be done." And after the long expected opening day, our seven teachers, students, and families, overflowing with excitement, together welcomed A Heart for Wisdom School's opening on October 3, 2011. Welcoming grades K-6, more than thought possible last January. A Greater Hope Orphanage (AGHO) children and local children make up the, a little over 100, children that are beautifully decorating the classrooms of our small school, the unused rooms of the church, where they study the Bible, Math, Khmer, English, Science/Social, and P.E., all while filling the spaces in between with their laughter and life.

Now, four months into an unknown time frame, equipped with an ever growing love for these children, this daunting beautiful honor to share God's love with these precious children, seems more incredible and more real than ever. Preparing each child for their future ahead and the challenges and struggles that the Khmer culture faces daily quickly brings into light that this generation is 'It.' They're the generation that is going to start the steep recovery process that this country faces. The importance placed on giving them the spiritual and academic tools needed to pass on to future generations to come, weighs heavily. To teach and encourage them to be the Josiahs' of their time, who with his whole heart sought after God, thus, transforming a nation.

Seeds are being planted almost parallel to the surrounding rice that gives this time of year the county's sought after photographic beauty. And like every year, "the God of the seasons...who caused the seeds to swell in the earth, burst with life, and send up their bright green shoots, the promise of harvest (Cormack, Don. Killing Fields Living Fields)," is ever so patiently waiting for this land, a demonstration of His mercy pointing to the unveiling hope that His eyes are on this country.

From Cambodia with Love,
Alicia"

Aussie team !!!

 Aussie team !!!

From Temple Christian College in Australia 

In short a lot of fun, growth and emotions.

The team had a young girl celebrating her birthday while they were in Cambodia and we had to celebrate 15 birthdays from the last quarter.  So we celebrated birthdays together, which was a lot of fun for both groups.

The girls and teachers helped us make a decorate the cakes so wonderfully.

The next day we rode bicycles around the area to see the new school and visit an old staff member weaving. 

Jon

 and Rachana jumped into help tie the silk so it could be dyed.

Ben was very  popular with our girls

A new village to work in only one adult Christian in this village.

The team played with the kids, painted faces and blew up balloons.

They also passed out rice and a little bit of school supplies.

Pastor Khon

Introductions

 The team got to pray with some of the on lookers.  Two of the ladies not Christians said the felt better that moment and had felt peace inside them.

School supplies

 Rice

Music

This young lady who was a bit challenged really, really enjoyed the music.

Now I see her ride past the school almost every day and she is always talking out loud to me as she rides by, saying in Khemer "hello white guy where are you from Phnom Penh".  Very cute.  

A grateful lady spends time thanking Pastor Khon after.

Next stop, one of the church cell groups that also has a preschool.

 Ben later became know as Ben 10 to our kids.

So much more has happened, so much bonding between the two groups each side mending and ministering to the other in ways we wouldn't have guest.

Good buys came to quickly.

I think nearly every child I have had tears in their eyes.

 Ashley's boys

 Thank you guys.