Kep Vacation 2015

Have you ever been so overly busy with life, that you didn't realize you needed a vacation from that life? And then you have a big change of plans and you feel God telling you to just take that time and to refocus and rejuvenate.
This past week I was to be in Kampot at a medical clinic, But my medical certificate did not qualify for what the clinic was looking for. And I did not have total peace about going away for 4 nights without my family. But I really wanted to practice what I learned last March at Equip international. And to be able to work along other experienced Medical personal.  But that was not to happen, And since our Language instructor is a translator/ pharmacist at the medical clinic, our Khmer classes were canceled all week. So we used this time to take a family vacation.  After 7 months of  busy life in  a city of millions of people we left it for the peace and quiet of the countryside off the gulf of Thailand. Even in this poverty stricken country there is a lot of beauty. Beauty in the brown dried out grass, beauty in the brown dead leaves from the banana trees, beauty in the dirty water that the wind blows onto the sandy beach, beauty in the colorful shacks the Khmer people call home, beauty in the cool morning breeze.

We really enjoyed every single minute of our vacation to Kep. The children thrived off all the attention they received from us as parents. Now if only their love tanks would stay full for  a while.
 The children would live forever in the water like little fish if they had the chance.

There is  a frog on the tree

 Kep is a quiet little town that is known for its yummy crab and other sea food. It is the perfect place to go if you need a break from the noisy, crazy, busy life of a big city.


The children had coffee nearly every morning. Something they normally don't get when we are at home.  But whats wrong with spoiling them every once in a while. It's fun to see there eyes sparkle as they say for real we get to drink coffee. So worth the over energized children that comes out of it all!

                                

   JC makes friends where ever she goes, there was a big group from Malaysia that was on the beach our first day at Kep, and she made friends with the girls almost immediately. And bonus for her they could speak english very well!

Christmas 2014

      MERRY CHRISTMAS................

   It really don't feel like Christmas to us. With no snow and temps in the high 20 low 30.(Celsius)

 But we are enjoying not having to bundle up when we run out. We decorated our house a little for Christmas the Kids had a great time helping and adding their touches. Today we decorated Christmas cookies with some others, was fun to do something different to help make the season feel more real.

We visited and orphanage just
out of the city a little ways.

As soon as Jasmyne heard
we were going to the Orphanage
She asked to take some of
her clothes to give to the children.
Here this little girl is wearing à pair of pjs.

This little girl was abandoned
at the Hospital. She is 8 months
and has no strength
in her legs to hold herself up.

Braxton loved the Baby, He thought of
 sharing his bed with her. :)

This young lady stole my heart from the moment we arrived.
She is 8 and (we are told) has no parents
she just recently came to the orphanage.

The children Eating lunch plain white rice.

It gets dusty at times.

3 Boys With 2 wonderful ladies enjoying the ride.

Also this month we had the wonderful privilege of taking a short vacation one weekend to visit the beautiful gulf of Thailand off the coast of Cambodia. I am amazed over and over again the beauty of Gods creation.  We had a long drive in a van before we arrived. we seen and experienced a lot on the very busy hiway for  the 4 plus hours of traveling.

The road to the Beach.

                                               
 Some times you go a little stir crazy traveling so far after pretty much never traveling in a car for 6 months. The passengers are not required to wear seat belts as long as your in the back of the vehicle. No kids car seats either, in someways its nice in other ways its not so nice.

 

                 Some of the homes out in the country.

The sunset on the beach shortly after we arrived. Breath taking beauty.

     

Its Dinner time.....

                                                     

Yummy lobster. 

           

beach pedi, for a sweet little 5 year old princess.

The kids both cried tears the days after we came home.
they really wanted to just live at the beach.

                                         

October 2014.

We are beginning to wonder if we will ever have constant normal again.  Just when we feel like were adjusting to a certain schedule, way of life. There are some sort of changes. But change keeps us alert and if we have open minds we can learn a lot through life that way.

English speaking church friends.  The girl on the far right knows English and Khmer.

The Children are so thankful for other playmates they can communicate with. There most favorite thing to do together is there crazy made up plays, they make us sit and watch. Life is never dull when these children are together.

Things we see in Cambodia... 

        

   

Durine fruit cart.

No need for a 18 wheeler when you
can load a small van up like this.
Note: I did not take the van pictures.
I got permission from a friend to use it. :)

A common construction site.
To me that is a horribly muddy mess.
 But they seemed to know exactly what they were doing in it all.

       

We received a package from home and it is covered
with stamps. But we didn't really think about it
 until after we opened the package.




Different ways of transportation.