A gift for Seda

This picture was one of the things that I gave Seda for our 1st anniversary (the paper anniversary)... it was a collage of different pictures of us... (I gave her a much bigger copy!)

Dinner with Patrick and Carol Kelly

As always, we were blessed to spend time with our good friends Patrick and Carol Kelly. Here is a pic from a dinner that we had recently...

Lunch with Savorn, Sony, and Jen

Seda and I were invited to have lunch with Pastor Savorn, his wife Sony, and our friend Jen yesterday at Savorn's home. These are people who have shown us so much love and encouragement during our dating relationship, and into our marriage. We will miss them very much. Savorn is the Cambodian director of Asia's Hope.

More goodbyes

After we stopped at the optometrist, we made a quick stop at Cambodia Family Dentist which provides free dental care for orphans and poor children... once again, from Australia (just like the eye doctor). Seda was able to say good bye to her friend Sopheak. Don't quote me on this, but I think that all of the women who are being trained to work as hygenists here have been rescued out of some sort of sexual abuse. Asia's Hope has been taking their kids here for a while, but I know that they spend a lot of time doing extractions... Cambodian dental care (contrary to my wife's own set) is not a priority.

New glasses

I got a free eye examination, and then bought new glasses for $37! can't beat NGO prices... my old glasses have really taken a beating here in Cambodia... and no, I am not considering a career in eye glass modeling... they wouldn't take me...

Chanthou at the eye doctor

Chanthou told Seda that she was having trouble seeing at school, so we took her to a free clinic to have her eyes checked. She read the wall perfectly... whatever...but it was funny to see a scaled down version of the eye test... still accurate. I had mine done the day before!

Mangos and the Motor Driver

While we were outside of the optometrist the other day, this motor driver struck up a conversation with me in Khmer (which I understood surprisingly well) by asking me if I was a Christian. We had a good talk about how he has been a Christian for the last 11 years, and how Jesus has changed his life... it was a really nice gift for me.
I took some pictures of this mango tree from a distance, but I was just amazed at how much fruit was hanging off of it...

Dinner with my evening class

We met my evening class for dinner at a Suki Soup restaurant last night... had a nice time... here are some of the pics...

Appreciation party for Seda

The evening that we got back from Kompong Thom, we went to an appreciation party for Seda held by Transform Cambodia. It was a very nice time of seeing friends that Seda has worked with (and for) for the last 3 1/2 years. As always, Mr. Ken and Mr. Wayne said very nice things about her and her contributions to Transform. We are very grateful to them.

Seda and her friend Apov

When we got back to Phnom Penh, Seda and I met up with her friend Apov. They had not seen each other in six years! Apov works at a casino on the Thai/Cambodia border, so it was a really long trip for her to get here. Seda wanted to see her before going to the States. Apov went to an appreciation party for Seda that night.

Seda's Last visit to Kompong Thom for a while...

Sunday after church, Seda and I got on a bus and went 3 1/2 hours northwest to her home province of Kompong Thom to say goodbye to friends and family... we also stopped at her father's grave twice. I know that was the most difficult part of the two and a half days that we were there, but she did well. While we were there, her cousin Socheat's wife gave birth to their second child!

Last church service with the orphans...

We have begun to say goodbyes to lots of friends and family... we started this past Sunday going to Asia's Hope Christian School in Prek Eng to have church with all of the orphans and the staff...



After church, we went over to The Prek Eng 2 orphanage for a few minutes, which is sponsored by Central Vineyard Church in Columbus...

My evening class

Pictures of some of my students on my last day teaching...

Very apt...

The University that I just stopped teaching at has a tendency to give little to no attention to the concerns of its staff. Nevertheless, they handed out a survey the week before I left asking for our opinions on the university. My last day of work, a friend came to me and showed me where the returned forms were supposed to be placed... someone, in immense wisdom, had placed the box for returned opinions over the trash can... he pointed out to me that there was probably just a hole in the bottom of the box, and that the opinions would go in the top of the box, and then out the hole in the bottom into the trash can... just helping to expedite the process that the administration had planned in the first place... I just was excited to have my camera with me to catch the truth in action...

My wife is pretty funny...

Ticket to Ride (We'll be home soon...)

Hello friends!

Seda and I bought our plane tickets the other day and we will be back in the US on February 22!

Below is a picture of her with her visa at the US Embassy.

Today was my last full day of work at Panasastra University... I have one class to teach tomorrow...

We are starting to say goodbyes... we will be at church with all of the Asia's Hope Orphans on Sunday, and then in the afternoon we are off to Kompong Thom (Seda's home province) to say goodbye to her childhood friends and family...

Pretty exciting! Please keep us in your prayers!

Our nephew Riatry

Our nephew Riatry has been spending a lot of time with us in the evenings... I think that he knows the time for us to leave is coming soon...

Seda has her visa!

Here are a few pictures of Seda the day that we picked up her visa...

From my most recent tests...

A couple of pieces of wisdom here...

1. One way to help the environment is to plant a lot of threes.
2. I don't want to ignore myself.