We spent several weeks in the United States over the holidays so that family, friends, and church could meet Caleb. We also needed to stop by the Washington DC passport agency to renew the girls’ passports. We returned to Cambodia on a 35 hour long journey that included far too long of a layover in…
Tag: Charlotte
World’s Longest Dragon Boat
In 2018, I was excited to read in a news article that Cambodia had broken the Guinness World Record for the longest Dragon Boat. The Dragon Boat is named កម្ពោជិកបុត្តាខេមរាតរី or Kambojika Putta Khemara Tarei, which means Dragon Boat of Khmer Youth in Cambodian Territory. At 286 feet 5 inches it’s almost as long as…
Charlotte’s First Bible
The church I am a member of, Plains Mennonite in Hatfield, PA, has a tradition of giving every child entering first grade their first Bible, in anticipation of them learning how to read. Charlotte missed this tradition as we came to Cambodia during kindergarten an I did not give it much thought as she continues…
How the girls are doing
In October 2021, we had a dangerous miscarriage – a complete molar pregnancy. This is when the mother’s chromosomes are missing from the egg and the cells that would normally develop into the placenta develop into a molar growth instead. This can lead to tumors, cysts, a rare form of cancer, and necessitate a hysterectomy….
Charlotte’s Typing Practice
If I lived in Antarctica… If I lived in Antarctica, I would have special slot googles that would cover my eyes. I’d have huskies to pull the sled. The huskies would have special coats. I’d live in an igloo. For food I’d go fishing in holes in the ice. Everything I know about lizards Lizards…
Kratie Project Visit – April 2022
Late in April 2022, our family was finally – after two long years of COVID travel restrictions – able to make the trip to the remote Northeast and visit the project in Kratie province. When we came to Cambodia in 2019 I had planned to take the girls along on field visits regularly but due…
Visiting Ba Phnom in Prey Veng
Last month during our team visit to Prey Veng province we visited Ba Phnom district. Located in the flat heartlands of the Mekong delta, Ba Phnom holds the only “mountains” in Prey Veng province. Ba Phnom is an ancient cultural center of the Khmer people. The name Ba Phnom actually means [Ancestor] [Mountain]. The first…
The Giving Tree International School
Charlotte and Catherine attend The Giving Tree, a small international school in Phnom Penh that a group of expatriate* parents started as a nursery 14 years ago. The nursery grew into a school with it’s first students and now offers Nursery through to Sixth grade. What’s an Expatriate? Expatriate, often shortened to Expat, is a…
Charlotte’s 8th Birthday
Last month we celebrated Charlotte’s 8th birthday in isolation. All four of us had COVID-19 at the time but, fortunately, the birthday girl had the mildest symptoms of the four of us. She had been hoping for a birthday party with her friends from school but, while disappointed, was completely understanding of the situation. At…
COVID-19 finally got us Two Years and a Month Later
The first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Cambodia on January 27th, 2020. It’s been a long two years of caution, disruption, and uncertainty. As leaders here, we’ve tried to walk the line between modeling appropriate precautions and being calm and reassuring. This month, for the first time in a over a year, we started…