May 2004 |
Jon regularly pushs a laundry basket around the house collecting toys and calling, �aych-ei�. It�s his new career aspiration � a garbage recycler. He�s quite the talker, singer, dancer, clothing changing kid who dresses and changes the diapers of his Little Bear (stuffed animal). Ben�s getting better at speaking Khmer with his friend, Lin. He sometimes piles a bunch of ideas together so it comes out, �already eaten go to school don�t have� or something equally obscure. Then Ben smiles and we all laugh together. But he often gets it right and has been picking up Khmer faster now. It�s helped tremendously to have Udt to help with the kids. She�s a middle aged woman with several adult children of her own. The definition of �middle age� has changed in our minds; I think we now set it somewhere nearer to our parents� age. ? The past year gave us a rare opportunity to be with our kids. Although our language study seemed to move along slower than we wanted, we were with Ben and Jon as they grew up. And as my dad recently reminded me, our families are the most precious relationships we have outside of Christ. In this day and age when we get so caught up in our work or ministries or lifestyles, we realize how priceless this time was. For that we are grateful! We�re looking at different possiblilities over the next month of how to use our skills � both medical and within the church. Lara will begin as medical advisor at the Cambodia School of Prosthetics and Orthotics this month. David has a small role teaching medical students but is still piecing together his other responsibilities. And we�re praying about our next steps in church involvement. There certainly is no shortage of need here in Cambodia! Please pray that we�ll have wisdom in our decisions ahead. Continually grateful, David, Lara, Benjamin and Jonathan |
| Buyer beware� Brand names are everywhere in Cambodia. But you always need to take a closer look, because what you first see or hear, isn�t what you can expect. A pair of Nike shoes might not make it out of the market without falling apart. But are they �Nike� shoes or �Nikes�? Some clones are perfect (but inferior) copies of their originals, others are a bit more creative such as Zerox, Sanzyo, America Eagle and Nasonal. Ben�s favorite is a hamburger place with the symbol like a W. Ben calls it �Mc Donald�s!� |
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| Grateful |