feb

Ream made her first visit to the states with her main goal of renewing her green card and filing taxes.
She was so happy to call and tell me of the warm reception she had received. She had a difficult time getting there with out me. Once she had arrived the friendly people of Fallbrook and Anaheim where so kind to help.
Thank you so much to all the people that had taken care of Ream and baby for me.
It makes me look forward to Christmas.

Life has been busy here with all kinds of reports to do for the end of the year and the new year. We had team in the area doing clinics; dental, eye and women clinics. Are good friend Dusty was on this team. Cambodia is such a good place for Dusty. Dusty is always cold and loves to bike ride. Here it is never cold and everyone rides bikes or motos. We hear tails that Dust plans many trips back to Cambodia which is exciting.
We thank the Dentist and Eyeglass people who came and saw the children.
The dentist was a hard worker. She pulled and pulled all day long and from what I saw enjoyed every minute. It is a lot of fun to have someone visit that love what they are doing.
I have to say the most enjoyable part of meeting them was when the dentist said my teeth where fine. :)
I also would like to note that Calvary Alpine was responsible for this team coming and to thank Pastor Drew Mc entire for his visit and leading such a hard working team.

I would like to extend an invite to Calvary Honolulu and my friends Pastor Bud Stonebreaker and Dave Riddaskjold who said they might come this year.
I would really like to learn how to roast a pig and how to make Kuala pork. A team member that could teach us this would be valuable.
Mostly I miss your friendship and Bud teachings.

I would like to thank a Pastor Tom Fenholt Calvary Huntington Beach for your interest in what we are doing here. Since we are not in the city it is hard for us to keep regular contact. As we get more help we would hope to put out better information.

Thank you Luke Gernandt for the help you shown my family here, we where so impressed with your daughter Bree. To be young and pretty to have a good heart like she does says a lot to me about the kind of father you are. We do look forward to your return.

I would also like to think my sister for coming back. Her first trip was a little challenging with sickness heat
She just got her first teaching job. She had to move to Las Vegas to find it but it seems to be a real blessing for her. She says that the community is very teacher friendly and that people stop to thank her for coming to be a teacher.
So she came during her first break to help teach our children. I think she had fun and did not get to sick this time.

We’ll as for the update we received 2 new boys in January Tate and Tong. They are very kind and smart. When they arrived in the middle of the week we held the out of school until Monday. It gave us a chance to make them comfortable before facing a new school and new kids.
They got their blood test done and we received all their paper work from the care taker.
We had the chance to watch them study and find out how they where doing in school.
Tong our third grader was helping our eighth grader with his reading.
I turns out both boys had gone to a foreign supported school and are much more advanced then the others. The school they attend now is unsupported.
So when Monday came around it had seemed like Tate and Tong had been here for years. Their adjustment happened over night. We enrolled them into school a grade higher instead of 2nd and 3rd they are in 3rd and 4th grade and are nearing the top of the class.
It is such a relief to take an unknown child into your hands and have them be so easy to handle.

I would note that Tate and Tong are not Christians yet but will have no difficulty making that change when the time comes.

We have had the difficulty of telling families no to their children coming. The one recently was a child I recognized from a year ago. He was a so called tour guide in a nearby temple. He seems like a good child and we would have like to have him here but we could not take him. His family has too many options to explore before she gives him to us.

Tate and Tong came from a widow who has 8 children at home and 2 grandchildren. Because she was losing her eye sight and could not work or earn enough money that we felt lead to take them.

The rest of the children are advancing in school Channee was most improved went from 33 place to 8th in his class of almost 50. Mostly it is because he goes to school now.

Chow and Melor lost one of their grandmas this week her funeral was down the street so we got to listen to it all night for three days.
It is a funny thing here. They put her in the coffin about 10 feet in the air right at the edge of the road. Over a loud speaker they blast the same songs over and over, on and off the will monks chant. At night they will shoot off a firework or two and on the third day right at the edge of the road they burn the body, a giant burning inferno and if your down wind that’s to bad your smelling grandma all night.
So on the third day there is lots of the same only longer and louder they where shooting firework off until 11 or so at night. They are trying to scare the evil spirits away so her spirit can go where ever it is going.
I though to day to myself for a religion based around finding inner peace, the country is walking around scared.
What I think the catch is that the monk scares the people in to believing their needed so they have a job in getting rid of what scares them. What a big silly circle Asia is running in. It is hard to believe they can’t see out of it.
All of our children are scared of ghost, even the Christians. None of the children will go upstairs by themselves they always travel in packs.

So long awaited pictures

Early January our children received shoe boxes from Samaritan Purse Via Assembly of God in Takeo. My sister who was spending the week with us has a friend who works at the Las Vegas distribution center and wanted pictures of them getting boxes. So our children got the boxes about a month earlier than the other children at church.

It is a good contact for the future in getting any free left overs.
Anyway they had a blast getting fun little things. These boxes where from Australia.
Oh if I can say putting a picture in the box really makes a difference. The children so badly want to see the faces of people who help them out.
The one boy Darow got one photo and every one pasted it around and around and they teased him because of the little blond girl that was his age. It was much fun.


Melor and Chow brothers both had teeth pulled thank you Calvary Alpine. Chow also got some glasses.


Darow getting his teeth looked at.


The nail brush was though to be for cleaning teeth.

Chow Channee Tate
Sam and Darow feeding the Rabbits. One of Sam's favorite things to do.

Bow
Tea and Tee arrived yesterday and seem to be very good boys. So this brings us up to 9 boy from age 8 to 14.

new year

Hi All,
How are you?
We had a great Christmas with the children. They had school that day so we held activities in the afternoon. We arranged some pants in the shape of a Christmas tree and wrapped candies in tinfoil to hang on the tree.
We had bought a few thing for them about a dollar each child for note books, toys, pencils, pens and playing cards.
We ate some really good curry, they said they where so full that their curries at home never had meat in it. They ate two and three bowls. We confirmed their thoughts about Christmas and let them open their gift bags.
Later we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows, then we let them try smores. The smores where really a sweet cracker the marshmallow and left over chocolate icing from Sam’s birthday cake.
Despite the lack of real ingredients to make the smores they where a big hit.
Melor who did not like the marshmallows plain loved them cooked.
We invited Reams family and their children for the fire. It was a lot of fun for the children to run around like crazy. I also got some great pictures of the building at night.

During this last month Ream and my challenges with the children has been introducing someone to a modern live style, learn English and also trying to get their schooling on track. Three of our children are failing, one is about a C + and one is an A.
We are counseling the older child. He takes 12 classes at one time two each day for six days. His home work is usually very little maybe 10 questions or read a page and he only test once every one or two months.
Ream and I are trying to meet with the school and encourage them to do more or maybe a little different.

We are thankful that the boys have been so gracious to us as we adjust schedules and rules.

We have rotated crops since the rain has stopped. It has been good for us because everyone else has been harvesting rice and not planing we have some vegetables the market does not have.
We have our first cantaloupe growing and a couple of watermelons that look promising.

The four duck we have, have been putting out eggs now we have twelve baby ducks with more on the way.
Our one pig is due in January, we are praying the price rises so we can make a profit.
Pig prices dropped last month as it does once and a while. The price went from twenty dollars to two dollars, which was quite dramatic for many people.

I would really like some of the villagers to learn how to butcher and eat their own pigs. It is unheard of for them to do that here. They don’t really know there is different meat in the pig, they buy it chopped up and eat it.

For those of us who like dark meat they have chickens and duck here that are all black meat and taste wonderful. The ducks are expensive but the chicken are not, reason being the chicken are not popular. People do not like the way they look so they do not buy as much.
It is like dark meat generic and name brand, I like being able to buy a good thing for a cheap price.

The weather has made its change from really hot to not so hot. I was wondering why it seemed so cold in the morning but the thermometer say 80 F. Then I realized we’ve dropped 30 degrees.
That is like 40 and 50 F degrees in America which is cold. So I now understand why people say they get cold here.
I have to say while I was unaware of how valuable the quilts would be.

We have had a few thing around mostly snakes. We have had two in the building and quite a few outside. They have all been different types but none have been poisonous.
We bought a fish tank to put some of these things in so the children could have a safer look.
The last two snakes we caught where water snakes, so we filled the tank and took some fish from the pond. Now we have crabs, frogs, snakes, fish and a few water bug for show.
One of the snakes is half green and half yellow the other is a black and checkered white snake. I am told the black and white one has a stinger on the tail, like a bee sting. I am not brave enough to find out even if I do not believe them.
Any how when I change the animals it is always a big hit, even the neighbors come to see.

We also put a case out that has different things in it. Last month we had a lot of shells from the beach. Now we put a lot of older dollar bills from theirs and near by countries.

Anyway life is good.

4 boys

Out front for staff photos

Darow (Row) is eight and in the second grade. He is from the same village as Channee, which was helpful because he did not want to be here and when he saw Channee every thing changed.
He came with the pants and 2 shirt he was wearing with no shoes.

Normaly the Khmer family will dress up to go any where no matter what.

If it means leaving the property Ream puts makeup on.

So to see the state of this boy and his grandma was very different.

But he is wonderful and starts school Tuesday.

Channee came 11-24

Channee is 13 and is in the 5th grade. His grandma has cared for him since his was 2. Her heath is failing and she wanted him to be better care for. She said the last meal together was rice porridge. She told us he take care of her, he works the garden and catches fish to sell. We are told they live in a bamboo shack on someone else land. It was hard for her to give him to us because he is all she has but she knows this is the write thing.

Unlike previous grandma's we have met she is thinking about his future.

Ream and I are going top put money though her church for her to make up for Channee being gone.

If any one would like to do this for us that would be fine.

We can not give it to her directly. We can't have any money pass that would be thought of as buying a child. But we believe her sacrifice should be softened. It really helped Channee to know someone was going to help support her, so eh could think about himself now.

Bow came 11-09

Bow story was in an earlier blog about his family eating mushrooms.
Melor came 11-09

Melor and Chan Chow are wonderful boys, you can see it in Chan s' face. He always has a cute little smile. Melor is very responsible and caring. He will be a great help to the other boy who come.
Chan chow came 11-09

Chan and Melor playing horse shoes

Bow, Chan, Melor, and Reams cousin playing
Bow and Chan getting ready for bed.

3 boys

We have been a little busy.
We accepted 3 boy November 9.
Two of the boys are brothers and real sweet ones. They are very kind, smart, polite and shy. They where being raised by there Grandpa who leads a cell church in the village.

Our 3rd boy is sweet as well, but needs to be loved and nurtured.

He lost 5 of his family members at dinner. They ate some poison mushrooms by mistake.
He and 2 sisters where not there to eat dinner.
He spent some time begging when he was 5 or so.
He was fund by a man who started a near by school. He lived with him for a little while until he died. A second care taker also died.

The family that brought him to us has 4 of there own children and could not continue to care for him. He spends most of his time watching the cow in the field and staying up late watching soaps with the family. His school is behind because of all the free time he has had the last 3 years he day dreams a lot.

Ream and I have extra classes for the children to pick up where the teachers here fail.
The last three home works he has gotten A's on he was so happy.
We also told him we would have to hold him a grade if he does not try his hardest.

Then we where told that the teachers and the school will not do this because they get money from Japan for the children advancing, so no one fails here. We might have to bribe them to hold a child back, what a terrible system.
He is in 4th grade and should be in 2nd.

We teach them Math, English, and the Bible a long with tutoring their other classes.
Think he will catch up. He likes having a good family and is trying hard to do what we ask.
The other day the children where writing thank you letters the their sponsors and he was in tears because he can not write well. I should think his sponsors will be blessed for what they are doing for him.


We have given them some space for them to do a garden and of course there where nails in the dirt from the construction. Every time it rains I clear the yard of the ones that wash to the surface but it has turned out to be a blessing. We held a little economic class and told they would recycle them and would learn how to use the money for church, spending and saving.
They are going to use the money to buy a chicken and sell the eggs.

Ream told me they where so excited about this, she said I would never have to look for nails again.
When their next play time came they where out there coming the grounds.
In 3 days they found about 12 pounds of nails and other scrap.

One child asked if they would have to go home and pick rice this year and Ream said this is your home and we have no rice. He told Ream he wants to go home and stand at the gate of his grandpa 's place while they pick and ask what they are doing. He want to pretend he does not know what rice is. It was funny for him and Ream.

Over all we are tired with less sleep, but the days are fulfilling and meaningful.
We love what we are doing and the children love us for it.

Please pray for the orphans that are trapped by their care takers. We have had 4 enquires about bring some children only to have the care taker keep them. They are selfish and have said so. The care takers are old and make the children care for them. In away I understand their need to have the children's support. But the children also do not go to school and they will grow up to be disadvantage and it creates only more problems for the future.
The challenge here is there is no old home there is no service for the elderly so they cling to the children.
The one boy cooks, cleans, cares for the animals he does every thing for his grandma, which is nice but he is ten and he's not going to school. She might be dead in 5 years and he will have nothing.

I would like to support these types of families and replace their children with a care taker for the old people so they will let the children go to have a better future. We also met a lady here how is trying to start an old home but she only has land so far.

Thank you for your prayers on these things.