Yesterday morning we were up bright and early to catch the bus to Battambang. By 7 AM we were all in the lobby along with all of our luggage, which was about 20 bags!! We thought the bus was coming to the hotel to pick us up but apparently someone didn't communicate that to the bus driver. After about 30 min. of phone calls and discussions hotel staff, a van showed up to pick us up and take us to the bus stop. Problem is you cant put 8 people and 20 bags in a van....not even in Cambodia!! So Tim and the bags went to the station while the rest of us waited for a second van to pick us up. Needless to say we were the last ones on the bus and the bus was a little late in leaving....not unusual at all here. Cambodian time is definitely different than Ohio time. After a 3 or 4 hour bus ride with multiple stops along the road to pick up and drop off people we finally arrived at Battambang. After checking in at the hotel we were off to see the kids. All six of the orphan homes came to the Battambang "campus" where BB1, 4 & 5 and the pavilion are located. It was pretty cool to get to see the pavilion which is the result of the first Team Hope marathon in Cleveland. Thank you Diane for your obedience!!!!

Each of the six homes performed a dance for us, the kids all sang together, the sound of these kids singing is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard!! After the show was over the kids, and the team were treated to 2 boiled eggs and a can of pop. It was a very interesting combination but the kids were very excited about it.

Things were then rearranged and the dance and fireworks party began!! They turn the speakers up as high as they go and dance, dance, dance. Tim had his own personal dance instructor who really tried hard to teach Tim some moves, Tim gave it his best effort! While we were dancing there was also fireworks, which the kids loved.

When the dancing stopped the kids all went to their respective homes and the team crawled back into the van hot, sweaty, tired and very happy. We came back to the hotel restaurant, several of us had ice cream for supper, yum.

This morning we went to BB2 and painted some swing sets and around the base of the house. It's pretty interesting to paint with 20 kids hanging around. This afternoon it was off to the water park with all the orphans...that's almost 200 kids!!! Oh my, Oh my, what chaos that was! The kids had a great time.

Tonight we are off to BB6, the newest home, to visit with those kids for a while. Can't wait to see their happy faces when we pull up. When the van door opens eager little brown hands reach out to grab us and hug us, it's awesome. We get to experience this over and over each time we visit a home.

Will try to post pictures later tonight.

Temples and Elephant Rides

Today we visited 4 wats (temples) in the Seim Reap area. The most famous of these is Angkor Wat, it's the one you see on the Cambodian flag. The last temple is on the top of a small mountain, so we choose to take an elephant ride to the top. The view from the top was incredible!!

Tim and Carol's elephant

Aaron and Sherrod's elephant

Tomorrow morning we are off to Battambang to see all the orphans there!!

What a contrast between Monday and Tuesday! Tuesday was a day filled with orphans, hugs, laughter and fun. We visited all four orphan homes in Prek Eng. We painted handprints of each of the kids on a piece of fabric for each home, we braided hair, played all kinds of games, Aaron even got a karate lesson at PE2. By the end of the day we were hot, tired, sweaty and happy. It was an awesome day. Thanks for all your prayers.

Today was another full day, but there wasn't alot of joy in it. We visited Toul Sleng Prison and the killing fields. It's hard to understand how these things could have happened...why someone didn't do something sooner to stop it. What we saw today, what happened in those places was pure evil. As unpleasant as these place were to visit I think that it gave us all a greater appreciation and understanding of the people and culture of Cambodia.

There were a few bright spots in the day...the Russian Market, drinking coconut milk right from the coconut and a nice dinner. We also worked on separating all the supplies that we brought for the orphan homes. Tomorrow we will visit all four Prek Eng homes, the plan is to paint the kids names and hand prints on a large piece of fabric that will be hung up in the home.

Oh yeah...I am having trouble with my computer, so if you are trying to contact me via email, it won't work.

Looking forward to tomorrow, being around the kids is way more fun than what we did today.

A Bit of Heaven

I think I experienced a little of what heaven must be like today. This morning we worshiped at the school with the kids. The service was outside in the hot, humid weather, we sat in plastic chairs with children sitting on our laps or hanging over our shoulders. We couldn't understand what was being said but we didn't need to....doesn't sound much like heaven yet....the "heaven" part came when the children sang. I really think it was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard, you would have to be here to understand, I don't have a big enough vocabulary to describe it other than it was heavenly.

After church we helped with a community outreach health clinic, I think about 60 people from the community showed up, many were there for the service. Sherrod asked for a couple of us to mingle with those waiting, talk to them about their families, find out why they were at the clinic and pray for them. This was way out of my comfort zone. I asked one women about her family and when Ravi, my interpreter, the director of PE4, ask her this question she became very upset. Turns out one of her four children had recently died because they didn't have the money to get him to a hospital. All I could do was to pray for her.

The other part of heaven came this evening. We had left the school for lunch and then back to the guest house for a quick rest. We then returned to the school for a party! When the children saw our van coming down the road they all started to jump up and down and cheer! They are always so happy to see us. We can hardly walk when we get out of the van because we are being mugged by hugs! The kids all had chicken wings and pop for supper, they ate outside. The staff had prepared a wonderful meal for us. After dinner was over we all went outside and the music and dancing started. Oh my, can they dance! Even the orphan home directors joined in. The kids tried really hard to teach me some dance moves, I'm not sure they were successful though, I just can't dance! Emily, Aaron and Jenna didn't seem to have any problem fitting right in and learning some new moves!! There is just so much joy in the kids and our staff!!

Sorry there are no pictures today, will try to post some tomorrow.

Thanks for all your prayers.

Fri. and Sat. Update

Team and Asia's Hope staff in Phnom Penh airport. We were greeted by Asia's Hope staff who a flower lei for each of us - they smelled wonderful.

We were taken to Narin's guest house where we unloaded and took much needed showers then headed out to lunch. After lunch we went to the Asia's Hope Christian School where we were greeted with lots of hugs from most of the kids from the 4 homes in Prek Eng. They also performed several "shows" for us. Below are pictures of some of our new friends.

Today, Sat. we did an outreach at an outlaying village. We took along several of the older Asia's Hope kids. About 180 kids showed up.

Hopefully I will be able to post more tomorrow, however, that will depend on our schedule and the availabilty of internet service.

We Have Arrived

We made it! Five airports and 30 some hours of travel time later we are finally here. We were met at the airport by many of the Asia's Hope staff who gave us an awesome greeting complete with wonderful smelling flowers!! We then traveled by van to Narin's guest house, which is beautiful!! Will post more later, time for team meeting for afternoon instructions!

Crunch Time Ramblings

It's almost time!!! So many thoughts are swirling around in my head...something seems to be swirling in my stomach too, it's either excitement or those huge blue malaria pills we just started taking.... so this post will most likely be very random thoughts.

I am so thankful to be sharing this with my family, what an awesome blessing/gift from God that he has made it possible for us all to go. We get to drive in the HOV lane!!! Sunday morning's sermon was about not doing life alone and how we were created to need each other.

Giants...we talked about those in our ABF. God has already shown that he is capable of slaying them in making this trip possible. He has provided financially in so many cool ways...from total strangers to close friends and family......from those close to home and friends half way around the world....an offer to loan us any balance left at no interest... every single donation regardless of the amount was an encouragement to us. We have also been humbled and encouraged by your interest in our trip, your donations for the kids, your prayers (and ice cream), your luggage "loaners"...we will do our best to return them in the same condition!! I have no words to express how you all have blessed and encouraged us. Thank you for being a part of our trip.

Just getting ready for this trip has been an adventure, I can't image what actually being there will be like!! How will I possibly be able to compose my thoughts enough to write them down then!!! Oh My!!

Please continue to pray for us....health, safety, pray for our hearts to be open to what God is doing and for us to join in.

Better go check my list, I am sure there is something that needs checked off!!!

11 DAYS....and counting

Only 11 days left until our family embarks on the biggest adventure that we have ever taken!! It's still hard to believe that we are actually doing this. God has provided in such cool ways, donations from lots of family, friends, our church, even a donation from a complete stranger!! We are trusting Him to provide the remainder of the cost of the trip, so keep those prayers coming!

Today we met the other members of our team and discussed lots of things about our trip....long plane rides, shots, travel modes, Cambodian history, daily activities, orphans and on and on. My brain didn't stop spinning for several hours after the meeting. Below is a list of things that we are collecting to take to the orphans, if you would like to donate any items please have them to us no later July 18.
Medical Supplies:Tylenol/ibuprophen, cough/cold meds., toothbrushes and toothpaste, antibiotic cream, band-aids, etc.
School supplies: pens/pencils, blank notebooks, markers, scissors, stickers, etc.
Fun Stuff: hard candy(nothing that will melt please), any type of ball, frisbees, UNO cards, Scrabble Slam, water balloons, small stuffed animals/dolls, nail polish, anything else that a kid likes to do!

Keep those prayers coming as we count down the days!