We ended 2012 with a festive Christmas celebration with our Khmer church, and within a week, we began 2013 with the beautiful wedding of our friends, Bros and Dalis. To prepare for the two events, I decided to buy a traditional Khmer outfit–especially since I would be performing in the Christmas program at church. I was clueless as to how to go about it, so I asked our pastor’s wife, Sophanna, and sisters to accompany me to the dress market (Psaar Orussey). Christina and Cassie Mayer joined us on the adventure, and I was grateful for everyone’s company! We spent 2 hours or so, trying on various combinations of tops, bottoms and full dresses (for Cassie), sweating profusely in the hot market, as we changed behind the makeshift dressing rooms (a sheet held up by one of the workers). After making our selections and waiting for the alterations (most sellers provide the complimentary service–Sophanna’s sister, Jenny, helped me with my alterations later) and performing the obligatory bargaining dance, we left with purchases in hand, and another new experience under our belts. (The blue outfit pictured to the left is one of many that I tried on. I ended up choosing a similar style in a silver color.)

CHRISTMAS SERVICE - I was thrilled to participate in the Christmas service this past year. I joined the older ladies in singing “Joy to the World” (in Khmer). I was able to memorize the first two verses, but my brain literally refused to memorize the last two, ha ha. It was definitely helpful that I already knew the tune! After the program, we ate a delicious meal and enjoyed blessed fellowship with our wonderful Khmer family.

My favorite part of the evening, with some of my favorite people!

WEDDING: DALIS & BROS – I have been to countless weddings since coming to Cambodia, and they have all been fairly the same deal…the same beautiful costumes, the same menu, the same ornate decorations, the same deafening music. In some ways, it’s nice because you know what to expect–it’s now all so very familiar to me. What surprised me about this wedding, however, was how different it felt from all of the other weddings that we’ve attended. Nothing was different, except for one notable thing: We are more than mere acquaintances of the bride and groom. We count them as dear friends, as part of the Khmer family at our church. In addition to Sunday morning church, they attend the grua-saw knyom (My Family) Bible study, where we have grown to know and love them. After being here for three years, I finally feel a deeper connection to the precious Khmer people in our life. And this is a wonderful, glorious feeling.  And, it was more than knowing the bride and groom–it was knowing multitudes of people in the room–friends from Khmer church, friends from Logos/Asian Hope, our own ACTION Cambodia team mates. We were able to join with countless other dear friends in rejoicing over the God-glorifying marriage of this special couple.

Perhaps the other thing that made the wedding more enjoyable, was that it was the first wedding where we left the kids at home (We love you children!). We usually have them in tow, and we usually have to leave by the “boiled fish course” (a staple at EVERY wedding), since it’s usually past their bedtime at that point. It was so fun to see the courses that came after the boiled fish and even more fun to finally be able to participate in the dancing portion of the evening (for those who don’t know me, I love to dance!). Oh, the wonderful memories of dancing traditional Khmer steps with my husband and then tangoing and swing dancing with lovely Tirot around the dance floor. My absolute favorite memory of the dancing was watching the beautiful mother and grandmother, Vanny, cut loose on the dance floor, completely reveling in the joy of the occasion (and with some fancy moves!). I remember being so grateful that a woman who had tragically lost her husband a few months prior, could be restored and renewed by the gracious mercy of our Lord…and I thought…”Lord, you have literally turned her mourning into dancing.” What a beautiful picture of His grace. The entire evening was such an amazing picture of a His grace–a young couple defying societal norms and having a Christian, non-Buddhist wedding. A room filled with Cambodians and foreigners, bound in unity by the blood of the Cross, capturing a foretaste of heaven. A woman dancing with joy, despite the loss of her most precious earthly possession. All of this spoke volumes to me, renewed my passion for our ministry here, and ultimately, caused me to sing praises to the God who had made all of these things possible.

The Christmas Service and the Wedding:

Is it really almost May? Yikes! Time marches on! January was a blur, but some of the highlights include…

LEARNING LETTERS

PLAYING WITH DOLLIES

PLAYING THE PIANO

SIDEWALK ART

RIDING BIKES

PLAYING OUTSIDE

PUTTING ON OUR SHOES

CELEBRATING TIROT’S BIRTHDAY

MEDIA AMUSEMENT

ART

MASKS (we wear for tuk tuk rides). Paton looks a bit like “Bane”, ha ha.

 AND TWO SPECIAL KHMER CELEBRATIONS THAT I’LL FEATURE IN THE NEXT POST…

Early on the 26th of December, we departed with several good friends to enjoy a four-day trip to the beautiful province of Mondulkiri–approximately 5-hours from Phnom Penh, bordering Vietnam. As we left the congestion and chaos of the city and entered the tranquil landscape of the countryside, I found myself quietly gasping at the remarkable similarities between this part of Cambodia and my home state of California–rolling hills with trees scattered throughout–and trees other than palm trees! (I do enjoy palm trees, but it’s nice to see other varieties!). I felt a wave of joy pass over me as I took it all in, peering out of the window with a grateful heart. I hadn’t realized how much I was missing this familiar site until I saw it once again (Phnom Penh is very flat, and the surrounding rice fields, while lovely in their own right, are still foreign). We stayed at a wonderful place, called the Nature Lodge, and it would best be described as glorified camping (though they describe themselves as an “eco-tourism bungalow retreat” :)). We slept in wooden cabins, and while the massive black ants took over our bathroom (see pic below) and the kids were definitely more dirty than normal, we also enjoyed the luxury of warm showers (heated with propane tanks in the bathroom) and delicious meals at the Lodge restaurant. I’ll have to admit the food was probably one of my favorite aspects of the trip—besides all of the lovely surrounding nature…and the cold weather! We rarely feel “cold” in Phnom Penh (perhaps twice a year?) so to wear sweatshirts and fleece pajamas to bed (the kids) was truly a highlight of the trip. I’m fairly certain that I didn’t sweat once the entire time that we were there! We took several little day trips with Sarah, John and their two little gals, Vivienne and Tessa. Both of their kids are slightly older than our two, so we had lots of fun with our little bunch of kiddos. Sarah is a friend from our Friday play group, and it’s been a blessing to know her these last three years. When they asked us to join them on this trip to Mondulkiri, we decided that we couldn’t refuse, despite all of the traveling in December (and the $20/night accommodations definitely made the decision easier!). We had such a wonderful time getting to know them better, in addition to the several other friends that happened to be at the Nature Lodge during our time there (apparently, it’s a very popular destination with the missionary community in Phnom Penh). We will definitely be returning to this beautiful location!

By now, we’re fairly set in our family Christmas traditions–though, we’re not opposed to adopting new ones! I start baking in early December and then continue until we have all of our favorite holiday treats–fudge (thanks to Jenn J. and mom for the ingredients!), peanut brittle, peppermint bark, gingerbread cookies, and decorated sugar cookies. We have various other Christmas traditions throughout the rest of the month (Christmas craft fairs, caroling, lights at the U.S. Embassy etc.), and then on Christmas Eve we usually have a small feast at home–imported meat from Dan’s Meat, homemade rolls, steamed veggies and a salad. This year, the kids had new Christmas PJ’s, sent from Nana and Opa, so that was a fun addition to our Christmas Eve tradition. After tucking them in bed, Nate and I tackled all of the preparations for the next day–candy cane pastry, wrapping gifts, tidying up the house (You can blame my parents for that one!), and everything else that parents do to make Christmas memorable for their little ones.

Christmas morning, we brought the kids into our room, where we opened stockings (my mom had sent stocking stuffers for me, which made me feel like a kid on Christmas again). We then headed downstairs for the “presentation of the tree”, where Ava saw her big gift–a dollhouse–thanks to the family members in the U.S. who contributed! After she and Paton played with the house a bit, we then had our traditional Christmas breakfast–candy cane pastry. We then headed back to the tree to open the rest of the presents, and we also Skyped with some of our family–the highlight being our first introduction to our new niece, Lindleigh. The remainder of the day was fairly lazy, though, I had to pack for our trip to Mondulkiri (we left the following morning).

Ava was definitely more aware of everything this year, including the nativity story, and she was fascinated with Baby Jesus–She started to name all of her dolls “Baby Jesus”–a bit sacrilegious, I suppose, but it was nice to know that she was comprehending the birth of Christ. We read various aspects of the Christmas story throughout December, with the emphasis placed on the Ultimate story–and the reason that Christ came as a baby–as the the great gift from God to reconcile us to Himself (Read more in the Gospel of John).

Our little three-year old was very enthusiastic about her stocking and gifts, and in her uncontrollable excitement, we had to stop her multiple times from tearing open gifts that didn’t have her name on them (In her defense, she tried to read the name tags and was a bit confused since we all have the telltale letter “a” in our names). Paton was more curious about everything, but he also enjoyed opening his gifts–especially searching for them in the stocking. We were so blessed this year by the gifts from family in the U.S. as well as those at our home church, West Hills Community Church, who generously fulfilled our “Christmas in July” gift requests.

Though it’s still hard to be away from our extended families and dear friends in the U.S. (and I’m fairly certain that I’ll always struggle with this), we definitely felt loved from afar, and our little family was so very blessed. And how grateful I am for my own precious little family and the wonderful traditions and memories that we create together!

On December 16th I became the proud uncle of Lindleigh, my sister, Lydia, and her husband, Xidong’s first child. These are the moments when it is especially hard to be away from it all, and when the reality of the fact that we really are on the other side of the world sets in. I am so proud of Lydia and Xidong as they launch on the journey that is parenthood, and discover anew the grace that is theirs in Christ. We love you three so much! Lindleigh, I am sad that I cannot be there to see your beautiful face in person, and I mourn the fact that I will not be close at hand to see you grow and that I won’t get to pass you on to your mother when you start crying like a good uncle. But I pray that by God’s grace you will come to know Jesus like I know Him, so then you can understand why I am gone, and why we both can have joy in serving God even though we are miles apart. But I am glad that I get to come see in about a year so I can hold you, and introduce you to two more cousins and an Auntie you’ve never met. We will have a blast :)

I love you so much!
Uncle Nate

The stats from my sister Lydia:

Our little daughter, Lindleigh Jiayu, was born on December 16th at 7:24pm, 7lb, 4 oz, 19.5 inches long.

Her first name, Lindleigh is in honor of Lydia’s childhood best friend, Leigh-Anne Fairhurst, whose laughter, love, and heart for God we pray will become Lindleigh’s.
Her middle name, Jiayu, means “family treasure” in Mandarin.

In mid December, we enjoyed a brief 4-day family holiday to Bangkok, which had been booked six months previously through the Air Asia “free” ticket offer–six months before we knew how crazy our month would be. (For those in Cambodia, twice a year or so, Air Asia has a promotion which includes free airfare to various Asian cities. The “free” part is slightly deceptive as you end up paying for your baggage, taxes and various other fees, but it’s still a great deal! They’ve recently changed airports in Bangkok, unfortunately, so it is less convenient now–it doesn’t connect with the train). So, even though the trip added more insanity to our already busy month, it was so much fun to have a little taste of America in Asia–gorgeous Christmas decorations, Starbucks, other Western-brand stores and restaurants and “Big-C”, which is the Asian version of Walmart. My highlight of the trip was a shopping spree to IKEA (Thanks, Mom, Dad and Sis for the spending money!).  I’ll have to admit that my eyes were a little wet when I walked into the very familiar floor plan of the megastore. It was a taste of home–like I was immediately transported to Palo Alto, California. As I saw the neatly arranged, color-coordinated items, I was truly in awe of the beauty and order of it all. Psychologists call it “culture shock”, but I embraced the moment with a grateful heart. I was created to be aesthetically minded, and I’m fairly certain that I can theologically argue that we were all created to be aesthetically minded.

Ok…moving on…Another highlight of the trip was an outing to one of Bangkok’s beautiful city parks–Lumpini Park. The difference between this park and any other average city park, is that you can’t walk very far before running into a slithering giant monitor lizard. I unwittingly walked right by one of these large six-foot reptiles, which was perched in a tree beside the path (see picture below). I usually don’t have a problem with reptiles…as long as they aren’t in my house (with geckos as the exception). Ava enjoyed playing on the playground–though we had to chuckle at one of the slides, which had a one foot gap in it–without any warning or caution signs–oh my. Our little hotel, the Aphrodite Inn, was very close to Big C, and while it definitely wasn’t the luxury experience, it was quite adequate for the price (though the carpets could probably be replaced…I think that carpets just gross me out in general, now that I have tile floors throughout the house). It was very centrally located to the various malls and attractions and the complementary breakfast was satisfactory (though it didn’t include the kids and was not “buffet style”, more like two pieces of toast, a hot dog, choice of egg and juice OR coffee).

The Christmas decorations in Bangkok are truly exquisite and more extravagant than anything I’ve seen in Cambodia–over even the U.S. for that matter. The Paragon Mall and Central Mall were amongst our favorites. When we were exploring the angel-themed decorations at Central Mall, a news reporter spied Ava thoroughly enjoying herself and asked if she could interview “us” (meaning, Ava, of course). Well, Ava, our anti-social little miss, missed her big opportunity and when the news reported bent down to ask her sweetly, “Do you like Christmas?” Ava with a “you’re a stranger and don’t get any closer to me” face, quickly answered, “No!” and the poor news reporter lost her big story for the night. And, I’m really not exaggerating when I say that–our little blue-eyed, blond-haired kids are the object of great interest and fascination in Cambodia AND Thailand. Everywhere we go, people are trying to touch our kids to get the “white magic” (I’m not joking) and needless to say, Ava is a little tired of all the attention. So, having a little blond kid on the news saying how much she loved Christmas–especially in Thailand–would have been quite the story. Since Ava was not complying, the news reporter briefly interviewed me–though, I suppose we’ll never know if it made the news or not.

Here are some pics from our adventure. To enlarge the photo, double click on the image:

December was a busy, busy month which began with Nate’s trip to Singapore for TMAI’s Asia/Pacific Symposium (related to The Master’s Seminary in Southern CA, which Nate attended). He was gone for five days, and I stayed home alone with the kids and…Samson! We’re doggy-sitting a white labrador retriever while his owners, the Putrakals, are in the States. It was perfect timing–Samson coming to live with us the same day that Nate left on his trip. I definitely felt more safe with the huge lab who immediately began his role as protector of our home. Nate was home for a few days before we left on a short trip to Bangkok, and then we were back in Phnom Penh for a fun Christmas party with play group, the ACTION Cambodia team dinner and go karts, Christmas caroling at our house, and then Christmas Eve was upon us, which of course meant our traditional dinner and then staying up late to finish the preparations for the next day. Christmas Day was spent at our home, and then bright and early on December 26th, we headed out with friends to enjoy the beauty of the Cambodian province of Mondulkiri. We were there a few days before rushing back to participate in the Christmas celebration at Shalom Phnom Penh (our Khmer church), where I was privileged to sing “Joy to the World” (in Khmer) with the older ladies of the church. We spent a quiet New Year’s at home and then…Sua s’daye 2013!

Here are several of these December memories, though I’ll include some of the more noteworthy events in additional posts (soon to come!):

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we decked the halls for Christmas. Ava was definitely more excited and aware as a three-year old, than in previous years and even little Paton seemed to enjoy the festive transformation. We commenced the first Christmas carols of the season as we jollily (is that a word?) erected our beautiful Target-bought fake tree and our various Christmas decorations–some of my favorites are ones that we found here in Cambodia (various Christian NGOs). The kids wore their Christmas pajamas from last year, which were fairly snug (even though I had bought larger sizes last year–thanks, Mom, for sending new ones!). The kids were also still getting over their bout with hand, foot and mouth disease, as you can see the sores on their sweet faces (Paton missed Thanksgiving, since he was coming down sick with it on the day–Nate and and I switched off watching him, since the Mayer’s house is on our street). We were quarantined for two weeks, so having something fun to do, like decorating for Christmas, was definitely a welcomed diversion! (The completed pictures at the end of the gallery are to remind me for next year!)

In November, my former roommate and beloved friend Jenn and her husband Matt visited us here in Cambodia, along with my dear childhood (and adulthood!) friend, James. Our first non-family visitors! They were here for six days, which made for a very fast trip, but we were so very grateful that they spent their precious vacation time with us! They arrived late on Saturday night, attended our two church services on Sunday, and then early Monday morning, the four of us (Nate stayed home with the kids–thanks, Babe!) took the 7-hour bus ride to Siem Reap to see the ancient Angkor temples, where I played tour guide for the first time (Nate usually  has that role). We were there until Wednesday night, staying at a lovely boutique hotel, the Siddharta, and then enjoyed Thanksgiving with the ACTION Cambodia team and other friends on Thursday. Friday morning, I took them on a whirlwind tuk tuk tour of Phnom Penh (Matt was not feeling well, unfortunately–you’ll have to come back to see Phnom Penh!) and then they departed Friday night. It was such a joy to spend time with them, and to see then interacting with my little ones. Having such wonderful company is always a bittersweet reminder of how much I’m missing, and how grateful I am that I have something so precious to miss. Thanks, James, Jenn and Matt for sacrificing your time and resources to visit us all the way in Cambodia. We love you all and are so thankful for the memories made. It was fast and furious, but oh, so fun!

The highlight of November was a visit from my dear friends, Jenn, Matt and James (which I’ll include in a later post), as well as Thanksgiving (while they were here!) and Nate’s BIG 3-0 Birthday. Here’s the rest of our day-to-day adventures: