Pieces of art

Meet one of my favorite artists, Melissa Jane. Here are just a few of her pieces of work... I think they're so beautiful! And she just happens to be one of my best friends, too, which makes it extra nice.

"Let Me Tell You a Story"

"Red-Haired Lass"

"Rediscovery"

"Snowflakes That Stay on My Nose and Eyelashes"

If you're interested in more, check out her Facebook or Deviant Art pages. Enjoy!

Summer/Fall 2015

This year has gone by all in a rush. So many things happened. Here's a quick catchup and update...

May

We jumped into school life after our long holiday, and definitely kept busy. Both classes and outside-of-school things were on the agenda.

A last-minute, surprise birthday party with "the gang"
for one of my students (who is in the dark shadows on the left).

The Grade 8 Tech Studies kids made alphabets, took pictures
of them, and handcrafted messages on the computer.

Tim & Wendy's house got torn down because of termites,
and they began to recreate a new one.

I always enjoy spending time over at the orphanage.
This is Mat Sitha, at house 11, making bok svay (pounded green mango).

Random violin practice. Hey, whatever does the trick!

June

More of the same...

Hanging out at dorm study hall.

Shannon and Sreya got engaged over one of the holidays.

We had a special baptism ceremony.
There were about 66 baptisms, it was special to see!

Most of my "gang" got baptized. Special guys!

Another birthday-cake celebration.

Laura and I tested out making some Khmer food.
It turned out yummy (though we've practiced more since then)!

July

July was a month of wrapping up classes, writing exams, giving exams, packing for home, and wrapping up all sorts of loose ends. It flew by so fast, even though at times it felt like it was going slow. And all those goodbyes at the end... whew. Not so much fun.

A birthday party for a student's little sister.

With my fellow volunteers. Fun bunch, these are!

This smiley boy hung outside of my office window a lot!

At the last Pathfinder outing of the school year.

Grade 7 class party just before exams.
Popcorn, bread, and old grade 6 videos made it lots of fun.

Three sweet girlies I love!

Exam time in Grade 8.

Another party - this time after we finished exams!

Lots of goodbyes! One of my grade 12 students.

A couple of fun-loving grade 11 guys.

One of my grade 7 girls.

One of my little grade 7 guys whose family moved away after I left.

A bouncy grade 7 guy!

More goodbyes at my house...

Even the little ones came.

It was not cool to leave. Even the sky cried...

Back home with family at last.

Peaches!!

  

I spent a weekend at YD Camp.
It had been two whole summers since I'd been back!

August

Fun times at ASI, seeing and catching up with so many old friends!

On a walk with my sweet doggy.

Enjoying my cardmaking stuff again...

Every Sunday night I hang out at my brother's apartment
and play games. Dutch Blitz is our go-to favorite.

Our friends had a double birthday party - ocean theme!

September

I went to the county fair a couple of times.
Julianna and I had a good time watching part of the horse show!

Great Sabbath evenings spent with friends...

Kids, kids, and more kids + Legos = great fun.

October

Laura and I have enjoyed FaceTiming more often these days.

A few of my Pathfinder girls at the UCC Pathfinder Camporee.

Christmas is already at Walmart!! I'm so excited!

Now I'm in Canada at my friends' home, enjoying a nice long visit. As for the future... it's still unknown (whose future isn't?) but I'm doing what I can at home while praying for God to lead in the next few months. If things work out I may end up back in Cambodia in the near future. We'll see!

These days...

April flew right by... I guess time flies when you're on holiday! Here's a photo update on what's been happening during the last while.

Our 2-week Khmer New Year holiday was rather quiet around here, but it was nice to get some extra rest after many busy days of teaching. And actually, even though a lot of the kids were gone, quite a few things happened.

Caleb (Tim's oldest son) and his now-fiancee Savorny had their engagement ceremony in her village. It was a very nice occasion, simple and beautiful!

A family from Canada came to volunteer and stayed through the long holiday. They brought 7 of their 9 children - all boys except for the smallest two, which they adopted from Vietnam. We had a lot of fun with them! They helped to build a playground for the school, put on a spiritual emphasis week, and helped with many other things. All those kids especially provided a good dose of comic relief! :D

How many kiddos does it take
to pump a bucket of water? ;)

Ollie working hard to dig holes for the playground.

Sabbath afternoon under the Maddocks' mango tree.

April equals mango season, as well as many other kinds of fruits. The kids are always after the fruit in the trees!

Shoes knock down fruit really well!

Barang and his prized cashew fruit.

Near the end of our holiday, we had the annual orphanage birthday party, complete with games, Wendy's yummy vegan pizza, and a slippery homemade water slide.

Yovan

Mun, Yuhan, Sombech

Lots of fun, especially with soap!!

One of the girls and Nhy

We recently began school again, but I only taught my Grade 11/12 English class for about a week before they stopped studying to prepare for their upcoming evangelism trip.

Grade 8.

Grade 9 in the science lab.

On the tire-climbing portion of the new playground.

Grades 11 and 12 are now doing evangelism in a nearby village, Svaysor. Keep them in your prayers as they work!

Sreymao and Lin doing visitation.

Teaching English and Bible.

I hope to share more with you soon about some experiences I've had with students recently. There have been many challenges and yet some blessings that have re-inspired my faith in God.

So yes. It's very busy here! Students and teachers alike are starting to count the months, weeks, and days until we finish the school year. We're nearly there - about 12 weeks left, not including holidays. I'm looking forward to taking a trip home for a month this summer.

God willing, I am planning to return after my visit home, for another school year. There is so much work to be done among the students and I don't feel that my portion of the work is done yet. But... I am still rather short on living expenses for next year. If you would like to help sponsor my work here in Cambodia next year, please contact me via Facebook or e-mail: emmykrishe at gmail dot com.