Blogging at naptime.

If you were to visit the Russian Market in Phnom Penh, you would observe rows of "Rolex" watches, "Dior" sunglasses, iPod's, Northface backpacks, best selling books, and vast rows of CD's and DVD's, all offering a wide selection at a very fair price (made more or less "fair" by your willingness to bargain). And what do all of these things have in common?? They are most likely knockoffs of the real items. They might have the name sewn into them and be crafted so well that you couldn't distinguish them from the real thing, or the pages may be so poorly copied that it's hardly worth paying for, or the girl at the DVD store may tell you not to buy the copy of that new movie because it's not a "good" copy. This usually means that the person recording in the theater had a camera with poor quality, had shaky hands, or that he sat behind people who insisted on getting up and down throughout the whole movie (no respect for bootl...

As I referenced in a previous post, Josh and I and some of the staff from Foursquare in Cambodia had the opportunity to go to a five day conference in Bangkok this past week that featured teaching from a woman named Beth Barone. We joined a group of roughly 75 other pastors and workers from countries including Bangladesh, Japan, Bhutan, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, the Philippines, China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Nepal. It was challenging and sobering to meet people like Pastor Hosea from Bhutan who was recently released from prison after being kept there for 45 days for being a Christian. And Pastor Benjamin from Bangladesh who had three of his fingers cut off and an eye cut out also for being a Christian. It is a valuable reminder to me to be aware of what I take for granted and how often I complain if my comfort isn't met (Phil 2:14,15). I’ve struggled to know how to succinctly convey the vast amount of information we all consumed in a very short period of time at this ...

I have been compiling a list of things I've learned during my months in Cambodia and I present it here now for your general information and education. I aim to inform. Sometimes it’s worth…. -paying to park at the airport so you can eat at Dairy Queen. -splurging on things like cheese or cereal at the grocery store. It is okay to…. -wear your pajamas out in public at any point in the day. -pick your nose but not your teeth (it sounds gross, but it’s true!) -Honk at cars and motos as you pass them while driving during the day. It lets them know you're there. (**Does not apply in America) Always… -anticipate at least one hour of total drive time when you run an errand. -stack your truck as high as possible. No, actually, stack it far beyond what any vehicle should ever be capable of carrying. This is acceptable, and common, even if the truck becomes entirely lopsided while in transit. -move slowly and use “big arms” (elaborate motions that alert drivers and keep onlookers amus...

We arrived home from Bangkok yesterday where we spent the week attending a conference with a woman named Beth Barone. More on this soon!.... But first, one of the big draws for me personally in Bangkok was the alluring aroma of a freshly brewed Starbucks Americano that I had not had the pleasure of consuming in nearly 3 months (the hardships of being a missionary...). The night we arrived in Thailand, my husband kindly forced me to go to the floor with the Starbucks while he and Kris waited for our ride. I didn't realize how glorious my encounter would be, both with the coffee itself, and the dichotomy I found of being alone within the company of a handful of strangers, all drawn to this same tiny airport cafe for our own various reasons. I opened my laptop, sipped on my coffee, and contentedly journaled some thoughts amidst the background noise of conversation and the gentle whirring of the espresso machine. I am an introvert. This has more narrowly come into focus the past few w...

I have started bringing my video camera with me to church at Cham Chao (our Training Center) on Sundays to record some of the great elements they add from week to week in a service. This week some of the kids did a dance to the song "One Way," and I wanted to share it here (I apologize for the poor video quality, our internet refuses to indulge us with a higher resolution).

Within the past two weeks we have celebrated Josh's journey into his late 20's, and accepted with sadness on our part Emily's journey back to her homeland (a magical place we like to call "California" ) . We have created a moving, high quality, high resolution (as always) video montage to immortalize both of these events. It captures a little bit of Josh's birthday, including a wild party we threw for him yesterday with all of our closest friends, his fabulous "Birthday in a Box," sent from our favorite Ferguson family back home, as well as the free cake we received at Lucky Market (our favorite Phnom Penh grocery store) celebrating their 16th anniversary. In addition to this are shots of Emily's "Beef and Prahok Party" (otherwise known as "fish cheese," considered a delicacy in Cambodia, though some people with acute senses of smell would argue against this..) Please enjoy. P.S. It was also Emily's birthday on Saturday...

I aspire to be a runner. I found online yesterday (and if I found it online it must be true) that I am well on my way to this because I eat a banana before my morning workout and oatmeal with fruit right after. This is 90% of the battle people. I have ventured out on a long, creative, frustrating, addicting quest to be healthy in my remaining months in Cambodia. I began my time here by indulging in a wide variety of “health foods” (as some would define them) including Pizza (sometimes I would remove the pepperoni, which makes it like diet pizza), Pringles, Soda (it’s hydrating), Cookies, Cheetos (made with real cheddar), Snickers (peanuts are good for you), Iced coffee drinks (the cream in them has calcium), and of course Swensen’s ice cream (it’s life changing. and energizing. so you can exercise more. entirely logical). All of these wise choices, combined with 97.2% (people love statistics) of our meals here consisting of some sort of fried food, has led to my current health conscio...

After debating for a good two minutes as to whether "photo journalist" should be 2 words, 1 word, or hyphenated, I did what every good researcher does. I Googled it. And when Google asked me, "Did you mean: photojournalist ," I realized that yes, indeed, I did. Thank you Google. Josh and I think and dream and pray about what life might look like for us as we prepare to transition home in August. Currently there are certain factors we know will exist, like staying with Tom and Ronda at first (and lots of late night rounds of " Fourteen ," a Ferguson card game staple), spending time with friends and family who we miss so much, lots of good coffee (not so much for Josh but for me), hikes, Target runs, and getting to grocery shop and have english muffins and Life cereal for breakfast (my 2 love languages). As we plan toward all of these things, we often joke (dream) about becoming photojournalists so we can have an excuse to travel while utilizing two things...