A Tearful Goodbye

Ryan was here.

We did it. We said goodbye to our friends at Sovanapoom and are packing the last of our things to go home. There was not a dry eye among us as we gave a 100 hugs and and encouraging words to every kid. Of course there were a few that were especially hard to say good bye to, those are the ones that have made more of an impact on us than we could have made on them. I am thankful for all of the time we spent with them, getting to know them and hearing their stories. These children are precious in every way.

This morning we went to the dump to pass out bananas and any food we had left over. It was really hard to see the people living day in and day out at the dump. They seemed grateful for the food but are used to being tourist attractions, for that I felt bad. The stories from the dump will have to wait until I have a little more control of my emotions. Right now I am still reeling from such a heartwrenching day.

Oh how I will miss these children.

We now have 40 hours of travel to look forward to. Ahh yes, and Ryan just woke up with a fever.

Cambo Craziness

The past two days James and I and the boys have been exploring the city. The last three weeks we have spent at the orphanage and we have finished all of the projects we set out to accomplish. The rest of our group went to Siam Reap to see the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, a trip that would have been pretty long for the boys. It has been nice to just relax and walk around, savoring each bizzarre sight before we leave. We both think of the children at Sovanapoom often, I can't tell you enough how they have made an impact on my life. It has only been two days since I have seen sweet Goontee and Robbie but I am really missing them, not a good sign.

Yesterday we had breakfast at a local restrauant, on the riverfront. It is fun to watch traffic here, as you never know what you are going to see. Along with carts of bbq-d snails and motos with families of 5, we saw an elephant. Yes, an elephant was walking down the middle of the road right in front of the restrauant. I thought Ryan and Kenden were going to have heart attacks! They could hardly contain themselves. James got better pictures, this is one I took, I never left my chair. That might say something for how calloused I am to wierdness, an elephant walks down the street and I didnt even get up. Almost make me feel bad!

There is no shortage of oddities at the markets. They are wild. Ryan has a really hard time with the smells, he gagged through quite a bit of it before I took him out. James continued on a bit more, so intrigued by the stuff they eat. The boys and I passed out Jesus Loves You stickers to the kids, something they all seem to love.

James spotted a tractor dealership so we stopped in to check it out. We then set off to find other tractor stores. They sell these big things for about $20,000. The little walk behind ones are cool, I have seen several in the villiage. I think they are a bit more reasonable for the locals. James really liked the old Ford tractor, not sure how much that one was.

We have gotten to spend more time with the Carraways, missionaries from New Tribes that are here for the next few years. We love hearing their stories and seeing what is going on here from their perspective. I admire their dedication to the work here and the way they are able to jump in and serve. Hopefully we will be going to see a farm project tomorrow with them. Spending time with them has really been a blessing.

One Last Sunday

Wow, our fourth Sunday here is behind us. For someone that gets a bit emotional when encountering God at home, flat running into Him here is overwhelming. Seeing Him intervene for the children here is incredible. Their cups have run over and spilled onto our lives. I hope I am stained. Ryan came home from the moto tour with a really bad sunburn, no surprise right? James put sunscreen on him three times during the day. They had a great time and Ryan got to play with his friend Jeremiah all day. However, by nighttime he was miserable. By morning huge blisters were covering his face. His eyes were swollen and of course it was hard for him to sleep much the night before. John actually prayed for Ryan specifically in church, it was one of those times you feel the Spirit, the kind that takes your breath away for a second. Later that afternoon Ryan woke up from his nap with no burn. There are small scabs from the blisters that had already popped, but all of the red is gone and his face looks back to normal, freckled and cute. Praise the Lord! I cant wait to tell you the other stories similiar to this one, we have seen God take care of us while we are here. I have been reminded that God was serious when He says "seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened", I need to get better about asking.

There were the usual #1100 or so people that turned up for their noodles. It is something I never get tired of seeing. Ryan is a pro at handing out the food, he knows just what to do. When you look at all of their faces, thinking about each precious person that crams into those walls trying to walk away with food, each with their own story, but each being prayed for that day, each having heard the gospel and learning more about Jesus love for them. I love it, Light in the darkness.

Living Cambo Style

I think I have commented a couple times about how I am getting so used to things here, things that would have shocked me or things that I said I would never do (such as ride a moto with my kids!!) have now become common. I will try and get more pictures today of things that are truly weird, but oh so normal here!! Our new routine is to get dropped off by the ferry and buy food from one of the vendors. Never thought I would be eating food from one of these tents, but now I do it all the time! They have great bread. To get to the vendor you have to cross the creek of trash on the little board bridge. Very normal looking here. Why wouldn't you have a trash creek where you eat?? Then when we are on the village side of the river we get motos to take us to the orphanage. Ryan is all about this. He hates walking when it is hot and I get tired of dragging him along, promising him that we are really almost there (its about 3/4 of a mile). We pay about $.25 for the moto ride, money well spent. They are pretty fun, and in the village there is not much traffic so it is not as dangerous.

Ryan is greeted at the door (if you ask him he will say attacked) by this old lady named Zoom. She works and lives at the orphanage and two of her granddaughters live there. She LOVES Ryan and his freckles. She has to pick him up and kiss him EVERY time she sees him. He takes it well but usually looks really bored and limp. All of us think it is funny, well all of us except for Ryan.

Yesterday James got hit by one of the villagers. Yes, I am serious. I guess this nasty drunk guy came out in the street and was yelling at him as James was walking to the ferry. James moved past him and the guy slapped his back. I can imagine James' blood pressure rising, but he had Ryan and like and good dad, just kept walking. A lady told James that the guy was crazy. It is sad what people do when they are drunk, proves they are the same here as they are at home. He also harassed Chuck and Stan. Glad I got to miss out on that kind of action, to scary for me! That makes two in our group to have gotten hit by locals. You wouldnt believe who the other one was, lets just say Cheryl will have some stories to tell!

Most of the group is going on a moto tour of the island (where the village is). They have all rented motos so James is pretty excited to get to drive is own. They went helmet shopping yesterday afternoon. Ryan says that his is "the coolest thing on earth." So many bizarre things here and he thinks that is helmet takes the cake. Sooo Ryan. He wore it all evening and put it on first thing this morning. He also thinks it makes him look like he is in Star Wars so James gave him the flashlight to use as a light saber. Ryan is really excited about the ride today, it is going to be around 6 hours long, I hope he can make it!