Catching Up.

Hi everyone! Let’s see, where did I leave off three months ago? (sorry about that) ....... Oh yeah, January wrapped-up with a week-long trip to Happy Home Chiang Rai, Thailand, to work on a database project with Rose. The weather was so nice and cool and crisp that week. Oh how I remember it fondly, now that it’s 100 degrees every day here in Poipet! While there, I met these two lovely sisters in the Lord, Spring and Lisa, from San Diego, who came to SE Asia to visit MMF as well as other ministries. It was awesome to get to know them and share life together for a short time.

While in Chiang Rai, we took a day-trip up to the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. For this photo, I’m standing in Thailand to take the picture, the land on the left is Burma, the land on the right is Laos, and the Mekong River divides the three countries. Pretty cool!

Well, my worst nightmare for my life has come true……… I’ve become a SOCCER MOM!! Aaarrgghh! And I LOVE it!! Haha! Who knew a kids soccer game could be so exciting?!! A Christian ministry in Poipet started a boys and girls soccer league this year for the first time. The girls’ league was open-age, so our big girls and housemoms joined together to form a girls’ team. They played their hearts out, but never won a game….. except by forfeit. Nevertheless, they took third in the league! (Gotta love a league like that!) Girls’ sport and athletics is a foreign concept in Cambodia, so this was a great opportunity, challenge and confidence-builder for them.

What about the boys? Well, the boys missed the deadline for registering for the league, which turned out to be a blessing-in-disguise. The players in the boys’ league were HUGE! They would have crushed our boys! So the boys have been playing weekly pick-up games with boys from another children’s home in Poipet. They were also able to play in an Under-13 soccer tournament one weekend. Soccer fever is still alive and well at Happy Home, and everyone is already looking forward to next year’s season.

In late February, we added another little boy to our Happy Home family. Meet Somnang (his name means “Lucky”). Somnang was born in a Cambodian prison and lived there all his little life before coming to Happy Home. His mother was pregnant when she was convicted 5 years ago, and is still in prison with 5 more years to serve. The prison is a mixed population of men and women together, so you can only imagine the problems that can create. We learned of Somnang and his mother through a Catholic sister who ministers in the prison every week, and we were very happy we could help this little boy. As expected, Somnang’s first couple weeks were difficult. He was very scared and insecure; everything was new to him. But now, he’s thriving! He loves to play soccer with all his new brothers and sisters and ride in the truck to go to kindergarten. What a beautiful transformation to watch! Praise God!

The first week of March we had an awesome team from Calvary Chapel Pacific Hills visit MMF. They have always been strong supporters of the Poipet home and MMF ministry and they blessed us tremendously. On Sunday, the team planned and prepared a BBQ picnic for all of us, about 70 people in total. It was a full day of fun, food, and games, and was capped off by a terrific thunderstorm with torrential rain….a real taste of Cambodia.

The next week, the team was divided in several different groups. Some of the men hosted a 3-day Leadership Conference for local pastors and our staff. Some of the women hosted a women’s conference for the pastors’ wives. And the third group completed work projects at the Home and Preschool, and helped care for our kids while we were at the conference. The whole team was amazing with the kids and really poured God’s love into them. We are thankful for their ongoing love, support, and prayers for our Home.



March seemed to be the month for sick kids. One little girl had a bad case of typhoid, which really knocked her off her feet for almost a month. Thank the Lord she is now fully recovered and back to her normal self. At least three kids had mild cases of the mumps. Two were fighting infections in deep cuts. And one little fellow required a minor surgical procedure to clean out a cyst behind his ear caused by a piece of imbedded wood that had apparently been in there since he was very young. Go figure.

At the end of March, Rose returned for a month-long visit with a team of four Thai high-school boys from the Chiang Rai and Chiangsaen Happy Homes. The boys were on summer break from school, so this was an outreach opportunity for them.

Also with Rose were two amazing young women, Taylor and Anna. Taylor is serving with MMF in Chiang Rai for six-plus months and originally came over with Spring and Lisa, whom I mentioned above. Anna is a Bible teacher with YWAM in Sweden and met-up with Rose to learn more about other ministries in Thailand.

The team really worked hard in the month they were here. They did a lot of different work projects around the property, including helping install a drainage system in the front yard to collect rainwater from the yard during rainy season. The kids really loved spending time with the Thai boys; they were like big brothers to them since we’re all part of the same Happy Home family.

Starting April 1st, we began home-schooling 12 of our older kids every morning instead of sending them to the private school. For the first hour, the house parents teach the kids life skills, like shopping at the market, managing money, sewing, gardening, etc., to help prepare them for the future. Then for the next 2+ hours Somearn, our education director, teaches the kids English and tutors them in their Khmer subjects. So far, it’s working-out well and the kids are really enjoying it. We really hope this will give them a boost in their education and help prepare them for the day when they will graduate from Happy Home.

Two weeks ago we celebrated Khmer New Year, April 14th-16th, the biggest holiday in Cambodia. The kids were off school for three weeks, and about a third of the kids were able to go home to stay with their families for a week. For the kids that were not able to go anywhere, we made sure to do some celebrating of our own! The traditional way of celebrating Khmer New Year is with water fights. So for three days, there are countrywide water fights, and you can be sure of getting soaked wherever you go.

People line-up along the road with hoses, buckets, water balloons, water guns, etc and douse everyone who drives by with water and baby powder. We joined in the fun too! On the first day, we set-up in front of the Home and did our share of dousing others. On the second day, we loaded up our trucks with kids and buckets of water, drove around town, and were mostly on the receiving end of the dousing.

On the third day, we went swimming at one of the casinos that has a nice pool. It was a wet and wild week and truly great fun!

Well now the teams have gone home, the kids are back in school, and things are pretty quiet again. I have a little time to catch-up on things I’ve put aside….. like sending out an update. How quickly time passes. When I think about it, I can’t believe that it’s already been a year since I was home last; or that it’s already been a year and a half I’ve been over the Home; or that it’s already been almost two years I’ve been in Cambodia. Wow! May the Lord help each of us to enjoy, treasure, and be thankful for every day He gives us. And yet, may we hold loosely to this life, remembering that our life is but a vapor and this is not our true home. May we be ready in our hearts and spirits for whatever tomorrow may bring, even if it the Lord Jesus Himself! Maranatha!

As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more.

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,

And His righteousness to children's children, to such as keep His covenant,

And to those who remember His commandments to do them. Ps. 103:15-18