Cooking chao tom

Students came over to make chao tom (grilled shrimp paste wrapped around sugarcane sticks) for us. It was delicious. This item is common in Saigon but not in Dalat. So when Andy told them about it, one of them learned how to make it and came to make it for us. What a treat!

 

I have a kitchen!

We've moved in to the new home for three weeks now. We are still getting used to the new place and new neighborhood as this is our first time living off campus after four years in Vietnam--with real local neighbors, dogs roaming around in the neighborhood, water and electric bills to take care of etc. And for the first time in four years, I have a kitchen, and a kitchen sink! No more washing on the floor or in the tiny bathroom sink.

The one thing that I did notice when we first saw the place was that there is no hot water at the sink. My heart kind of sank a little since even at the university guest house, we managed to pull the bathroom shower hose over to the sink for washing with hot water. I could not imagine washing dishes especially oily ones with plain cold water. My first thought was to install a water heater. But Andy said just wait for a week and see. Students and many families here don't even have hot water ANYWHERE in the home. Many of them just boil hot water for showering and washing dishes when needed. And here I talk as if it is a given to have hot water and that with a flip of a button I can just put in a water heater without thinking twice. So, so far, we've been filling a bucket with hot water from the bathroom and haul it to the kitchen sink for helping with dishes--another humbling experience living in a developing country and learning to be thankful...

 

Started school today

Caleb started school today! We managed to accomplish everything that was on our schedule: math, English, reading, writing, dictation, and history! Not sure if we can keep that up. I am already feeling I am coming down with a cold from all the unpacking and cleaning. But I am grateful we've moved in and set up most of the daily necessities. Pictures to come when I feel up to it :) Some students will be coming tomorrow to cook and hang out. That calls for flexibility and working around the schedule with homeschooling. Challenging, but I am learning how to handle it more each day. Praise unto His name.

A visit to orphanage

We took a trip to visit our friends at an orphanage last week. It was an hour bus ride away and it was a nice trip cooking lunch, making crafts, and playing games together.

Colorful bug right outside orphanage

Coffee beans

Boys working on flying bird project

Trying it out

In action

Watching bird in flight

Paul teaching Rachel how to read

New Home

We've moved in to our new place for five days now. Have been busy packing, cleaning, unpacking, and more cleaning! We are so thankful for your intercession and His Divine provision even though it was not at all easy. We've been back in Vietnam for merely a week, with jetlag and all, and it is amazing how so much can happen in a week. Here are a few pictures of the move and our wonderful and efficient moving crew. From loading the truck to unloading all boxes it totaled only one hour!

 

Students coming to help us move

Note truck driver's cigarette

Can't believe nothing fell out of the truck o n the way to new home

Wonderful moving crew in front of new home

First meal in our new home with our sisters

Saying goodbye to our newly harvested daikon at our university guest house

 

What am I doing here

One knows she's back in Vietnam when she steps out of that airport, into the muggy humid air, into the sounds and smells that so overwhelm the senses, into the stares, into the closeness of bodies behind her at custom counters and in security lines. For each of the past four years, I hear myself asking the same question: What am I doing here? It is difficult to answer from a human point of view. It is. But I also know that after a couple of weeks, I won't be asking that anymore. Our Creator has given man amazing adaptability. However, I do not hope for myself to just adapt, but to be able to respond with joy. The same joy that was set before the Founder and Perfecter of my faith. The same joy that enabled Him to endure the cross (Hebrews 12:2).

 

Layover

It is 5:45am at the Hong Kong International Airport. We just landed here for a three-hour layover connection to Ho Chi Minh City. Free wifi here at the airport. How about that.

Summer went by too quickly and we are already missing our friends and family. Thank you all for your love and support as we step into another year of trusting in the Sovereign's leading.