Crystal’s Birthday over Khmer New Year

This morning we celebrated Crystal’s Birthday during the closing day of the Khmer New Year holiday. It has been hot so we already had the pool set up for the holiday. We invited some of the team over to swim in the pool, play games, and eat cake. Crystal has been spending a lot of…

Back to Cambodia, January 2024

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…

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…

Crystal’s Birthday in Lockdown

Yesterday we celebrated Crystal’s birthday in full lockdown. We’d been planning to go visit an elephant refuge in distant Mondulkiri province for her birthday but as the COVID-19 situation in country has worsened we had to abandon those plans. Then, when Phnom Penh went into full lockdown, it became clear that we’d need to celebrate…

Chikungunya

On a Wednesday last month, Crystal felt terrible and had a red rash spreading across her. We thought she had Dengue but when we went to the Doctor they diagnosed her with Chikungunya. Symptoms Most people infected with chikungunya virus will develop some symptoms. Symptoms usually begin 3–7 days after being bitten by an infected…

New Moto Driver

There’s a new moto driver in Phnom Penh! It’s Crystal! We had planned for me to teach her over Pchum Ben this year but – hopefully not a new tradition – I was sick again. But we took advantage of the quieter streets the last couple of weeks to begin practicing. She’s doing great! Her…