2019 Drought in Cambodia

In 2009, there was a two week drought during the rainy season that resulted in 5,000 hectares of rice being lost in Prey Veng province. This year, Cambodia is just coming out of a prolonged drought that had the Prime Minister call on farmers to plant rice only once in the dry season. Prime Minister…

Book Review: Don’t Follow Your Heart

I was searching for information on the hymn I Bind My Heart when a blog post entitled Bind My Wandering Heart to Thee by Jon Bloom came up. The article was a compelling read so I decided to pick up Jon’s most interesting sounding book – Don’t Follow Your Heart: God’s Ways Are Not Your Ways….

Flowers of Cambodia

These are a collection of photos of flowers (and a couple other plants) that I took while I lived in Cambodia from 2006 to 2009.

អក្ខរក្រមខ្មែរ

On Friday I’m going to do a short presentation about Cambodia at Charlotte’s preschool and I’ve been brushing up on my Khmer alphabet facts. Did you know that the Khmer language has the largest alphabet* in the world? 74 letters! That’s according to the Guinness Book of World Records. *Japanese and Chinese are pictographs rather…

Tuol Sleng

This afternoon I visited Tuol Sleng, the torture prison set up in a former high school during the Khmer Rouge. Through an audio tour I learned about the Khmer Rouge’s goals, methods, and finally their fall from power.  Similar to the concentration camps in Germany, the documentation of the people who were “processed” is abundant,…

Big emotions in a little person

Charlotte has been showing a lot of anxiety over the week – expressed as bursts of excitement, ‘out of body’ clumsiness, more intense relations with her little sister (both fighting more and being more caring of her), and moments of sudden emotion (crying over things like not liking what’s for dinner). Crystal’s trip to Cambodia…

First Visit to Royal Palace

I visited the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh this afternoon as part of my orientation to Cambodia. I wanted to share some photos for the girls.

Crystal leaves for a week in Phnom Penh

Crystal just headed to the airport for a week long orientation in Phnom Penh with the current Country Representatives. She’ll fly through San Francisco and Seoul before arriving in Cambodia around 10PM on Sunday. She has a busy schedule once she arrives that includes lots of visits to Partner Organizations. Morning Afternoon Monday DevotionsIntroduction to…

Storage Tubs as checked luggage

On Saturday, Crystal will be flying out for a week long orientation with the departing MCC Country Representatives. They’ll be finishing their term in June so this is the only overlap we’ll get but they’ve been wonderful to communicate with via email and video conferencing. I wanted to share one piece of advice that they…

Q&A with Charlotte

Why are we moving to Cambodia? Because my parents have a different job. It’s a job helping people. How are you feeling about moving to Cambodia? Very excited. But also very sad because I’ll miss my friends and family. What are you excited for? I’m excited for the kitty. And to play in the waterfall…