Cambodia... Day One!

Have you ever done anything in life where you intended to be a blessing and you were the one blessed... well if not sign up for the next mission trip that comes your way...Living in Singapore has opened up so many doors to serve internationally and this was only the second time where God was telling me GO... GO... so I went... Join me for the next couple of blog post where I show you just a few pics of our Phnom Phen, Cambodia Mission team and our 4 day trip that changed our lives.

I love God, love to serve, love kids and love the mission leader who asked me to go... so it was an easy yes... but I really had no idea what I was getting into.  I knew we were going to work with a village school that funded by Vision Trust (very similar to Compassion) and do a mini VBS during the day for the children (that knew little to no English) and then ESL for the teachers at night.  This was not the first time a team from IBC went to this school and everyone that I spoke with said how wonderful the trip was and that I would come back a changed person but I had no idea... I should know better to never limit our God... He is mighty, powerful and He brought each of us (on the team) to our knees in different ways in Awe of Him... I will forever remember just how God met each and everyone of us individually and just made our FAITH that much stronger.  My prayer is that the children and teachers of Andong Village came face to face with God and encountered the love that He has for each and everyone of them... I just love how He knows each of us individually and meets us exactly where we are.

So welcome to Sunday night... the night we arrived... we went straight to the hotel and we were met at the elevator with a carpet that reminded us the day of the week.. another reminder each day to dedicate this entire day to HIM and HIS works in the country so I of course had to take a picture of the carpet (yes every day)...

Just some of our team at the airport... we were meeting two others there... some incredible women...

Our Team... a Group of ladies that will forever be dear to my heart and be a part of memories for a lifetime.

I had no idea that our first night at dinner (our kick off rally) would be a great French restaurant... in Cambodia... who would have thought... it was yummy and got us well feed for the week.

Then there just happen to be a shop next door... we of course had to do a little shopping before the work began... I just love this picture of the bag that I got with my purchase... made out of pages in a book... with a cord at the top... amazing...

Come back to see Monday... the day it all began... see you then...

Love from Nana...

More love from family... and lots of fun... notice Pierce is still wearing his shirt from his Aunt and Uncle.. and opening more love from Nana... 



We love to build Legos and play with them for hours and hours... thank you Nana... we love you and miss you...

Love from JuJu and Uncle KW...

We just love being loved through the miles from family... we are blessed with an amazing family and Pierce is definitely being raised knowing that although he does not get to see his aunts/uncles and grand parents on a regular basis but they sure do think of him often and love him so... Everyday we put on a shirt that came from someone, play with a toy that came from someone, eat something (including gum) that came from someone, someone that means a lot to us.. and we are so thankful for.

We got a package over a month ago from Aunt JuJu and Uncle Keith... full of fun, food and favorites...
We love you and are so thankful for all the time you put into this gift of love... Pierce was in hog heaven with the homemade military coloring books...
 
So happy to make his own scrapbook pages/coloring pages with all these great things...

Some were pre-made... and they had a picture of Pierce's favorite dog... Grace...


Here is Pierce digging in... and making his own...

Modeling his new camo shirt... and badges...



Here are some of the finished products of his coloring books... we will cherish these for a long time... thank you Aunt JuJu and Uncle KW... we love and appreciate you...

50 days of school...

We are about to celebrate 50 days of school at ICS... so in honor of that special day... I thought we should catch up on the blog and show you Open House that was about a month ago (I know bad bad).

Pierce was so happy to show off his school and to have both mommy and daddy there for the occasion. As we walked into the class we found Pierce's seat at the front table... he wanted us to stay there and look at all his work.
 

Pierce was so proud to show daddy what he had done at school.

Here is the emphasis "how well you did today" board... All the children start on Green (see their pics next to the green space).  If they make good choices they move up to blue, purple and then pink (where they get a prize) or if they make bad choices they move down to yellow, orange, red (where they go speak to the principal).  This board is something we talk about in our family every day when he comes home.  It is usually the first thing he tells me when he gets off the bus which we are thankful for.  He sometimes stays on green and usually moves down.  He has moved to red once (but it was the first week so he did not have to go to principal) and has moved to blue once (we threw a party).  This reward system is a source of tension in my life but I thought I would write about it so we could always remember and later in life look back and smile (hopefully).

There were lots of projects around the room where us parents could check out their work... Pierce's is 2nd row 3rd column

Our only family pic... bummer....

Pierce's teacher Ms. Angela Wong.




After class we had to stop by the library... Pierce loves the library and he wanted to show us around... and where to get his favorite books.


This year they had some students graffiti the walls... really neat stuff all over campus.


This years school theme is E.P.I.C.  I can not believe we are about to finish the 50th day of school... where does time go?

F1... night race in Singapore.

Another F1 night race... I can not believe it is that time of the year again... I feel like we were just there... man the years are passing by so quickly... but that is another point... back on the F1... this year we all got to go as a family and what a treat... We had another great night watching fast cars...

I don't remember all the entertainment in years past... but this year the entertainment was so strong... check out this band where they were a bunch of acting comedians too... so fun to watch.

For my Houston friends... a little classic Christmas car show at the F1 race...

Pierce was so proud when he spotted the England flag...

We are ready for the races... lets go...

This year we had the walk-about tickets so we got to walk all over the place and we could stand where ever we wanted... it was fun but Pierce kept asking to sit down... he is so spoiled.

Since we were standing the best view I had was off this guy in front of me smart phone... :-)




Time for dinner... satays are a little messy...

We decided to find a seat in the grass and watch the race from the big screen... but Blake was so happy just to hear the cars... they were loud...



Walking back to the MRT after the race... we spotted a Ferrari that we could get close too... looks like a Christmas card in the making... :-)

Another great sweaty night... love me some Singapore fun...