A Greater Hope Orphanage - Director's Blog

We are moving!!

2010-04-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

This will be the last post on this blog address.

We have been having log in troubles with this site address and needed to change addresses.

For today's post and future posts please look to the following site.

http://agreaterhopeorphanage.blogspot.com/

You can copy and paste this link to you browser bar and press search.

Remember to book mark the new page or add us to your favorites.

Sorry for the inconvenience, God Bless and thank you for your continued interest.

Kit and Ream Carson

Church and Mud Run

2010-03-23T22:48:00.000-07:00

Where to start?
How about growing our youth group and the children's church.
Lack of volunteers and funding have been drying up the church in our village.
Only 5 children that were not our were attending youth group. Children church does a little better.
The once huge numbers have dwindled because people have not cared or do not have time.
The day I went the paid youth leader did not show up and I was told often dose not show up does not participate in the worship or planning.

Our children clean the church, play worship and teach when others don't show.
So when I found out about it we took advantage of our volunteer being here and asked her to teach the next Sunday. We invited our growing English classes to service next week.
We played games, sung and gave out snacks. That Sunday youth group grew over 50 new children. It was really encouraging for our kids to see such a quick turn around from their efforts. They learned if they want something done do it themselves and do not wait on others. I think the youth group will be more successful ow they know they are responsible for it's growth.
Children's church.

Beginner English, Averages 40 children not today though.

1 of 2 elementary English Averages 40 children in
each class.

ChanChow with his chickens.

Tate with his hen and chicks or as I like to call them Chicken nuggets.

We eat Rachana's chicken this week, it was really, really tough.

Nygn and her hen.

So we had a pretty large Birthday party this time. Courtney provided a lot more this time wanting to show the kids that God can give them more than they ask for, also that he give us life abundantly.
So the idea was in the morning the kids got a snack which was a lot of fruit and candy.
Tong was quoted saying "mom what do I do my plate is to small?"

A couple B-days ago I made hats for the B-day kids, this time it was just a special card.

Lots of games.

Courtney put some sort of face beads on the girls. Kind of cute.

Rosa

Jon

Vicheka

Kyo

This is a traditional Khmer game kind of like musical chairs.
This was new for us. Fill the cup with water using a spoon while the staff holds the cup on their head.

A lot of fun with the kids I think a lot of them missed the cup on purpose.

So our pond was dry ready for repair but 8 inches down under the crust it was thick and muddy. To me this equals fun. So I spent the day before pulling back the dry crust leaving an 8x8 foot pit of slug open for it's prey.

Next day Birthday last game was the Mud Run.

A short run around the yard, around the light pole,

down across the finish line which was placed just after the pit. Many of the children did not know the pit existed.

Vuthy leaps in and is heavily bogged down.

Young tries to make his jump further, but comes up short.

Vuthy with the black shirt on thought he would be first but his weight said no. Buried up past his waist Young scrambled on by, while Vuthy was like two inches from touching the tape.

You can see Vuthy's hand so close.

Back to the left is Tate in the yellow.

Next Tate is crossing the finish line before Vuthy who by now was kind of disappointed.
Vuhty comes in third.
But if you back up 3 photo's, my pictures catch Young and Vuthy cutting the light pole making Tate first place.

Nite just could not do it. A quote from Ice Age came to mind I said "come on Nite you can play extinction later"
Back in for a photo and more fun.

Sam,
Darow

Long was completely covered head to toe. Courtney helped him wash his face before he jumped back in.
Tong
Tate and Sam
Samrang with the Mohawk Tee with the bald look
I think Young's look might be considered Crow indian I know I have seen that on TV.
Rachana with the I'm uncomfortably finished for the day.

So back inside cleaned up ready for diner was shrimp, clams, steak and salad.

Later on was a lot of cake. They did not like the pumpkin pie that much. They ate more banana and carrot cake instead.
So Tate, Tong, Own, Kyo, Nune, Rosa and Peaktra had their birthday's this quarter.

Kyo turned 13.
Nune turned 12. Lim like;s Nunes doll more than she does.
Peaktra our youngest turned 6, his gift drew the most attention.
Tate turned 14
Tong turned 12.

Own turned 14 and Rosa turned 8.

So a really long day with lots of food and fun. Which really it all translates into love. We love the kids and days like these. Each birthday there are memorably moments and laughter.

I was telling Courtney when I see some of these picture of like Tong or Tate smiling and laughing I can hear it. I know the sound they make when they laugh and I love it. It is a shame time passes and kids grow up but am thankful for the time we have with them.

I am grateful and extremely bless for them to have called me Daddy for a time.

I wish you could all spend a month here, I really, really do.

Print a Picture on a Product.

2010-03-17T22:42:00.001-07:00

After a few of these nicer photographs have been posted your probably saying "I wish I had a copy of that one".

Well to the right there is a link that says Print a Picture.

This link will allow you to access higher quality pictures that you can down load or print.

You can have the picture printed on a mug or shirt if you like wearing a picture of me on your back. :)

This is a trial run and depending on your reaction we will decide to keep this service or not.

A busy month

2010-03-15T17:56:00.000-07:00

New Family member SreyRoth

These last two months have been busy. I feel that for once we almost were able to keep up with the children's level of energy.
We have been to the zoo again.

Courtney and cub Engly

The stag was new to the Zoo, with such a huge rack he is lucky to be a live still.

We took a trip to Angkor Wat again. We decided to start taking children with us when we go. It is so cheap and fun for them. I love taking the children to places I wish I could do it all the time. This trip Chan Chow and Rachana went with us. Rachana gets the most car sick out all of our children I forgot this when I asked if she wanted to go. She was sick for 6 hours. We ended up giving her part of a sleeping pill on the way home. Rachana did say the trip was worth being sick and that she would do it again.

Chow and Rachana who are really good dancers loved the culture center that showcased Cambodia's different traditional dances.

We did another outreach to our favorite Sunday School. Lim and Chanlay shared the message.

Ream, Te-a, Wut, and Nite teaching a new song.

Courtney who is going to school to be an Occupational Therapist was able to meet a baby that day who had been possibly poisoned by a bad medicine. Since the baby had the shot she had gotten jaundice and lost her motor-skills. So Courtney gave some advice and has made regular visits once a week to work with the baby give her some toys and talk with the mom. The baby is making huge steps since meeting her. She started to eat solid foods for the first time. She started to lift her head and try to grip the toy given to her. The family is completely touched by these events. After a year and a half she is starting to move and eat. The family will always remember Courtney's help.

These pictures are behind the scenes of to previous blog. The children had their own little photo shoot.

Young's turn, fix the hair, a little light and perfect.

Tong

Tee

These are shortly after Courtney's arrival playing in the yard.

I think there was some slipping and sliding going on to cause all the laughter. Kyo left Wut and Nite. Courtney in the back.

Soccer

For the lady who donated the e-sketches.

For the Terrybarry family who donated the nice kite.

Day to day this is a common scene happy little groups playing and studying. Lots of fun and love.

4 of our girls are in this pictures at school.
Nite, Wut, Nyng in the back and Nune up front. The boy in the middle is not ours ;)

We would like to thank Dan and Jay for dropping by for the day having some fun with the kids.

Also to thank the Vaughn family and the Cain family for helping us buy a sewing machine.

Thank you to Marnie for supporting Somley.
Somley is 18 years old and deaf. Two years ago Somley received support to go to special school for the hearing impaired. Today she will be in the 3rd grade can hear with the use of one hearing aid. She can read and write a little and she can sign.

Our volunteer Courtney can also sign and has been spending time with Somley; really, really awesome to see how happy Somely is and how amazing it is to see another language being used here.

Requests

2010-03-06T23:04:00.000-08:00

I'll try and get a blog out in a day or so.
I have a request and a question.

Is anyone making a trip to Cambodia this month or next? We would like to ask someone to carry some school books so we can avoid shipping charges.

Also my 7 year old camera is dying if someone would like to help us get a new digital camera for the orphanage we would appreciate the help. It is up to the donors discretion but we have been looking at the Cannon G11.
Something that will take good pictures but not to big or costly is our desire.
Please let me know if you wish to help with either of these two issues.
Thank you for giving this a thought.
Kit

New professional pictures of the children

2010-02-24T02:43:00.000-08:00

So we had a nice young lady Erica Simone from New York visit us this month. I found her by chance during an Internet search as she was planning a trip to Cambodia to take pictures of children. So I asked if she would not mind stopping by and visiting us as well. I was really interested in getting some good photographs of our children.

After a couple months of emails everything finally worked out for her trip and her first stop was with us.
Her blog is listed to the right of your screen under "Good sites". There are photo's of her trip and a couple stories about us you might find interesting.
Erica's goal is to produce a journal or book that may include the photos of our children so we look forward to seeing her creativeness in that.

Here are the portraits of the children that she had taken.

Wut and SangHua

Nune and Ly

Darow and SreyNite

SreyOwn and SreyNyng

Samrang and VeChi

Channee and Te-a

Vuthy and Jake

SengLim and SreyJon

Savoeun and Chanlay,

Engly and SreyKyo

Bunheoun and Vicheka

Melor and SreyOn

ChanChow

Tee and Rosa

Tong and Peaktra

Boray and Weed

Tate and Yong

Tate, Long and Rachana

New Staff member Chanda

and a new family picture for us.

Quick Note

2010-02-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you know that to your right there is a label called "Good sites" this is a list of other blogs I would recommend.

There are two new blogs listed there I would like you to see.

Courtney is currently living with us for 3 months, her blog is about her trip in progress and her feelings that she is experiencing while she is staying with us.

Also there is a blog called "Kids in Cambodia" this is a photo blog by Erica Simone.
Currently she is focusing her photos on our children at AGHO.

Thank you for checking them out as well.

Kit

Lim test number 1 in District

2010-02-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

I am devoting this post to Lim.
Lim was born SengLim Ghong on April 16 1994.
We accepted Lim in June of 2007.
Lim's dad Keem, is a single father who drives as a moto-taxi driver in the city. He was injured in a moto accident a while back and was about to lose his leg because he was to poor to afford a doctor and care for himself properly. Lim's father had not been able to support his two children, Lim and Lee his older sister for quite some time the accident made things much harder. The house they had to live in was donated to them and they spent much of their time providing food for them selves until dad could bring home money once a month, maybe longer. Providing for themselves and caring for the house hold made it difficult for Lim and his sister to attend school. Lim and his sister are very smart students top of their classes and this despite not being able to attend school most of the time.

Lim got to go home a couple months after living at the orphanage to say hi and let his sister know how well he is doing.
When Lime was younger he broke his leg and same with his father they were to poor to care for it properly. Then while his leg was still healing the cow he looked after stepped on his foot and broke he ankle. As a result his leg stopped growing properly and began to heal back wards, to what became a clubbed foot. Roughly a year after Lim moved in with us we had arranged for him to have surgery, we also had cooperation with the Social welfare department. Handicap International did the operation for free.

The same time Lim was having surgery to repair the damage to his leg, his father was having his leg removed. Lim and his father spend time in physiotherapy together. His father Keem is sitting to Lim's right and you can see his father's prosthetic on his right leg.
Lim's father rolls Lim in to therapy
but walks him out.

Melor helps Lim out for a while getting him back and forth to school.

Lim's aunt and sister stop by for a visit during a holiday.

Lim came to us at thirteen, chubby and cute just shy of puberty. We helped Lim to changed his life, watched him grow and listen to his voice change. We haven't had to do much to help Lim with his schooling, but we are able to provide him a tutor and the time he needs to study.

Christmas 2009

Lim is turning 16 in a couple months.
This year he is in the 8th grade and has been entered into the countries smartest child contest from his school. Lim's does extremely well with Physics and has placed 1st in the district contest.
On February 23 he will try and place first in the province then the country. If Lim wins he will get a scholarship to study in China for a month and get a vacation at the beach.
It has been a wonderful blessing for him and an Honor for us.

It just shows what a difference a sponsor can make in a persons life to sacrifice so little and receive so much from it.
More importantly than Lim's success at school right now is his faith in Christ.
What little faith he had before he came to us has been given the chance blossom. Lim knows for him this has been his biggest change.

So I give all the credit to God.
I thank the sponsors' sacrifice and I praise Lim for his efforts.
I also recognize that every one that has helped us in someway has been apart of Lim's life and his success.

Thank you

Pictures courtesy of Leanne Dixon

2010-01-31T05:14:00.000-08:00

Photos taken on Jan 5th 2010, courtesy of Australian photographer Leanne Dixon

Nyng, Engly, Wut, Weed, Rachana and Samrang

Lim, Melor and Chi

Lunch time is Mows cooking

Caretaker Phon helping Mow serve

Peaktra

Long

Phon

Nune, Nite and Wut

Ly

Rosa

Vichecka

On

Weed

Joe

Kyo cleaning up the generator house

Engly trying to get the baby sitter out of the nest to let mom take care of the eggs.

Nune getting changed after school

Young

Boray

Lim and Chi

Lim

Christmas Pictures

2010-01-08T19:09:00.000-08:00

Samuel's 6th birthday. This was Sam's happiest birthday, this was his first birthday where guest were invited to share is birthday alone. In the past we just celebrated it with every one else or earlier on with no one else. Though it was still the children from the orphanage it was just the young children and Sam like it a lot.

Joe was quick to jump on the candles so we lit them again continued singing.

Preparing for Christmas the children made ornaments and decorated the tree this year with the bits of craft materials we had around.

The children helped make their birthday cakes this time, and made some sugar cookies.

Christmas day for us was the 26th.
Joe was dressed and ready.

Birthday game in the after noon.
Ly got to go first.

Vicheka

Joe

Chan Chow

Rachana

Most of the children are wearing the outfits they chose to buy this year on their Christmas shopping trip. Not necessarily my taste but it is a weird style here in the village.

Staff gift was a purce, shoes, lotians and some other things.

Brightly colored outfits, this is my basket fruit picture.

For the birthday this year I found some of those relighting candles that caught them completly by surprise. It ws perfect they blew them out and then one popped up again. The children were stund they did not have any idea what was happening. It took like two minutes to finally be blown out. You can see the thick smoke that began to rise as the children laid down a thin layer for spit from all the blowing. I had less cake this time.
This was great for Sam however as he loves to blow out the candles.

Closing out 09

2009-12-29T20:06:00.000-08:00

So what happened in 2009 ?

First, we would like to thank those who have made sacrifices to support this year. I am aware that some of our supporters have even lost their homes this year, yet we have not lost their support. We keep this in mind as we use the monies given to us, to use those funds with care.
Thank you.

Well if you have time you should look back over the past blog posts to see the pictures and get more information.

In short; we continued to helped raise 36 children along with 6 other staff.
We accepted 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls throughout the year.
We have 8 children learning and playing music on the drums, piano, guitar, and electric guitar.
11 of the children have been using the computers learning to use Word, Excel and email. 28 of the children are studying English.

On average or children have between 50 to 60 students per class.
29 of our 36 children are placing top ten in their class.
22 of our children have improved their school score on average of 14 places.

VeChi at age 13 skipped 3 grades from being in 3rd grade not knowing his alphabet or how to read or write to being in the 7th grade knowing how to read and write, learning English and playing the guitar is now number 10 in his class.

SreyOwn went from 44th place second years ago to placing number one the last two months.

Needless to say I glow with joy when I get their scores. I am so happy and proud of their work.

We currently own 12 pigs, 9 of them reproducing mothers. We have 10 goats still and 13 turkeys, some rabbits, geese, chickens and fish.

We repaired water damage in the upstairs bathroom.
We are building a small house for our laborer.
We had a bio-digester methane producing waste tank built that replaced most of our propane usage.
We built a worm farm, micro fish farm, and composting area.

Some of our trees we planted from seed have began to produce this year.

We will add tile to the children walls and repaint the interior next year.

Our July Firecracker Golf Tournament was a blessing raising over $12,000. US dollars or their college education. There is another event planned for July 2010.

For the future we hope to expand our properties to build a team house, medical clinic and possible a private school to cope with the over crowding and poor education our children get at the local school.

You can always connect with me via Facebook or emailing us and I'll do my best to answer your questions.

Have a wonderful New Year,
Kit

End of the Year

2009-12-23T20:39:00.000-08:00

I am sorry the last blog said I would write again soon and it turned out to be longer.
We just have an a lot of things going on right now.

We put some tanks near our pig pen to collect their waste. While I took a break from digging the holes I looked up and noticed this tree frog pinched between a split branch on the tree only a couple feet away..

Our Pastor blessed us again this year with a second trip. The children always request that he play some worship for them. They are really proud of their American Pastor.

We did celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we do not normally celebrate any holiday, but we certainly enjoyed it. You do not know you miss something until your reminded of how good it was.

One of our many projects happening last month was changing out our planter box. There were to many cobras hiding in the bushes before and the children had a bad habit of braking the branches off. It also really cleaned the yard up and the palms are able to withstand the constant straying of soccer balls.

Sour Sup I believe related to the Cherimoja fruit, Ream Planted this tree from a seed a couple years ago it is about 8 feet now and bearing it's first fruit this year.

It's hard to see them but Vuthy has about 5 long bean plants growing.

Wut's spinach is coming in nice.

Lim's cucumbers are doing well.

Our spinach, the geese killed our first batch so we had to start over with a net this time.

We have a verity of water plants growing this year,a real nice ecosystem finally. So much is living in there, much of it we did not stock.

Our lawn mowers at work. Ours put out gas as your uses gas. :)

Were growing some sugarcane this year, a little snack later for the kids. I never realized how long it takes to grow, it's taking for ever.

This is our worm farm we have been feeding the fowl, fish and pigs with the worms and using the soil for our gardening.

You'll never guess where we are at. Under ground in our new Bio digester or methane converter. It is the only and the last time we'll be able to do this. This system takes out pig waste and captures the gas for our use in the kitchen.
It is saving us 2 to 3 bottles of propane every month now

So we have about 6 cubic meters of space in a large underground dome. The waste is pushed in one side and the old stuff is pushed out the rear for use in the garden. Our 9 pigs produce enough waste to take care of most the cooking we do.

Sadly the best brick work I have ever seen in Cambodia is buried. It finishes up to look like an igloo here is the rear end of the tank.

To start off we needed a lot of waste a couple tons. Pastor was kind enough to lend a hand in the moving it to the tank during his "vacation". :) A bit of warning to other guest, there is always a Dirty Job here to do.

That is one big pile. As you can see Tong has had it up to here with this kind of labor.

It's about 6 feet deep here at the exit and maybe nine feet in the center.

We have been repairing the bathrooms as they were not sealed properly, we are lucky as there is not any water damage to the floor.
We will be painting the interior of the building.
We are adding tile to the walls in the children rooms.
We will be making more tables and beds.
We have started a house for our workers to stay on the property.
We are also making a compost pit and a micro cat fish farm.
Oh also we have to seal our gutters the leak into the house.

So we are off to a busy start, but I like projects so it is good for me, keeps me going.

We will be celebrating our Christmas on the 26th all the gifts are bought.
We plan on eating a goat for the holidays but we are having a hard time choosing which one. The biggest male is the one who needs to go because he is getting mean but he is also our biggest and best breeder. The other males are half his size.

We plan on learning how to grow two different types of mushrooms and we still have a chicken farm to visit, plus we found a lady raising crayfish. I have been wanting to do this for a while as shrimp sells for $5 a pound here but no one raises crawdads which are easier and can live with out water.

We have a visitor coming for 3 months January 27 please keep her trip in prayer that it will go smoothly and comfortable, as she is a young lady traveling by herself for the first time to a foreign country.

I will really try and not let the month go by before we post again.

Kit

P.S. I will have some very nice photos of the children soon. We have a professional photographer Erica Simon from New York going to drop by. This should be a treat for the children and their sponsors early February .

Gardening

2009-10-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

Some of the the children have started on a new project.
They have rented a small space to start their own garden area.
They will be allowed to grow what ever they wish in their garden.
They must care completely on their own for their garden covering all costs from the seeds to the fertilizer.
How ever they also will keep all the money from their sales.

With this project we hope they will use the many skills we have given them. We hope this will teach them greater responsibility, finances, time management, and giving them the confidence that they can do these things with out our help. Hopefully that will also make all other farm classes much more valuable to them.

The children are allowed to grow and easy crop for up to half their land. This happens to be the morning glory/unchoi that we already grow because it grows like a weed. They can use this to feed their own animals that they have such as chickens. An easy crop such as this requires little time from them and assures them some kind of return about .12$ a week.
The other half of the land they rented will have to be planted with any thing they wish. This makes sure they have to work for their funds and that they have to grow something that may be more of a challenge to them. It also adds risk to their project.

The rent is .50$ a meter half of their months allowance. So most of the children only have one meter to start. Some of the children shared the space to cut the cost and labor. If things go well for them they will recover the cost with in the month. Two of our children have been saving for this and have started with 5 meters.

They all have different ideas of what they want to grow. One child wants to grow a small red chilly because they can sell them for .02$ each and there is a lot on one bush. Another group is going to grow spinach.

They each will keep a record book to keep track of their time and money. Hopefully they will come to their own conclusion of what is worth growing and what is not. How long it takes to grow something and how much they can sell it for will be important.

Some of what they sell will be whole sale to our kitchen. Some things they will have to take to the market and sell it to the vendor for a suitable price. Some of the children are hoping to eat their own produce.

Some of the children have chosen not to participate yet. They either did not save their money and spent it on cookies, or the have no time because of school or they are to lazy and do not wish to work any harder than they do already.

I hope that the first groups income will encourage others to change their mind.
Also I will be shifting their work away from the orphanages animals giving them time to spend on their own animals. This will also bring a change in their allowance income as they will be doing less for us and more for themselves.

Our other goal is to help the children start a savings account with the bank in town.
So we will see how it goes.

A little bit of fun. We had been going at each other with water balloons when I made a switch to shaving cream. Then we it turned into hand to hand combat with Long taking the most damage.

Sam wounds were self inflicted.

A friend at church was kind enough to help me find the exact link to our property on Google Earth.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=11.201241,104.790301&spn=0.01465,0.019548&t=h&z=16

I hope this makes the last blog a little easier.

I will be posting again shortly.

Where are we?

2009-10-08T21:37:00.000-07:00

This is our property round about 2005. The white square centered in the picture.
Just recently published. Previous searches showed the land green and separated.
I am supposing the picture was taken shortly after the land was filled in.
You can find us on google earth maps of Takeo, Cambodia.
It might be hard for you to find if you do not know the area or what your looking for. If you did want to find the area on Google maps the best way is to find the mountain to our East and to the right of the picture called Phnom Chisor. The white road north of the property. This road runs to the North side of the mountain, so find the road and you back track that road to us..

When you first type in Takeo, Cambodia you come up south of us. There is a large lake there you go North to the top of the lake where it thins out keeping the road #2 in you sights. So you have the tip of the lake where it meets a mountain where the white road is and then left or east to the road #2 then there we should be.

taking the time to try and find us on Google maps will let you explore our area a little. Our area is not supper quality yet but you get an idea of the country where the roads are and the temples around us.

You might find it interesting.

We had a return visit of our Australian friends. They played soccer and made balloon animals that the children had a lot of fun with.

Our piglets are all gone. 88 babies this summer. Sadly the prices where at a low for us. The children carries a lot of pigs to day it was quite fun.

22 babies a load 4 loads. It was the most babies I have ever seen on a bike.

We finally found the help and ideas we needed.
We where invited to visit a professional pig farm about 20 minutes away.
Over 350 pigs makes about $5000 a month.
What was important for us was to learn about keeping the temperature the same. How they feed and what they did.
I did not really like how they where cadged but over all we learned a lot and now we will think about how we can apply it to what we do.

Their pig where the best I have ever seen it really put ours 207 kilo mom to shame. On average these mothers where over that. They also had a good breads as they only use artificial insemination with the donors coming from Thailand.

When we where done with class we could see some fun looking temples on the mountain so we dropped by for a look.

Ruin, Lim, Te-a, Chow, and Channee.
Ruin is one of our workers. The other 4 boys are from our animal team leaders. Children selected because they really care for their animals well and they will be here a few more years to take what they have learned and share it with other children.

2009-09-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

Teams and Travelers

I have a few teams lining up and some people making trips by themselves.
If you interested at all in making a trip please get in contact with us and I can help you connect with some one if you wish to travel as a group.

Here are dates for groups or individuals that are planning their trip.
from USA Nov 1 2009
from USA Dec 18 2009
from USA Jan ? 2010
from USA July-Aug 2010
from Germany Sept 2010
from USA Oct 2010
from USA 2 trips with dates unknown

Quite often you can find tickets for $700.

I was looking online at our fish that we raise. I found that it can grow over 600 pound and 6 feet long in as little as 6 years. I am not sure we will keep it that long as I think he will put a crimp in our budget. We'll keep him s long as he eats for free and does not eat the children.

I am pretty happy with our children right now. We in the past tried to do a work project with the kids where they have their garden raise vegetables and sell them to make some spending money. Well back then our dirt was pretty bad almost all clay. It was too much work for them and nothing really grew. Back then they where making more money picking up nails from the construction than they where in the garden.

This year we assigned the animals we have to groups of children they are responsible for the animal and make a share when the animal produces or goes to market.

It was only this last month that the children started saving their money to do something with it rather than spend it on snacks or toys.
They started to buy their own animals to raise and sell. Mostly chickens while one girl bought a pair of ducks. It is fun they are buying their own seed and some have chosen to free graze their animals. One boy spent all his money on chicks but he rode home with them tied up in a black plastic bag. They did not last long one he got them home. So he waited until his next allowance and went out and bought 2 more chicks and handled them a little differently the second time.
During their free time the kids take their birds out and walk them around our property.
It is funny that all our teenage boys have become little mothers.

So in a couple months they will sell their chickens make a profit and do something else, maybe the same or maybe a bigger animal. The children are also requesting to grow gardens again but in a different area.

It is quite exciting for us as it take the burden of how much money to give the children. We give them so little and lots of time they want more. So now they have finally taken the mater into their own hands.
Also most people I speak to are concerned about the children becoming institutionalized, not knowing how to operate in the world once they leave here. So I am happy and kind of confident that they will not be helpless when they leave. They will no doubt have some problems when they leave but not as many as people might think.

Also some of our children who have been learning music have begun to teach others how to play. Really cool for me to see.
It is almost like I could leave today and they would continue doing the work by themselves. Very exciting.

part B of our Summer.

2009-09-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

8 new bicycles in the middle was recently donated by a friend in Anaheim Cali. The 5 older bikes on the left and the group to the left with the sad face are still walking to school.

Pastor Tuy, friends and family from Anaheim Cali. Stopped by for the day. We had a really great time with them. It was also nice to have a connection from our Anaheim friends make their first visit.

Around the 18th of August our pond was very low, almost 4 feet. By early September it is near over flowing again. It is nice when to have more water than you know what to do with.

During the this summer we had hoped to get the children off the property a little more. We where trying to make connections with other NGO's that offer training. We have one NGO who trains people better home making skills and one NGO that teaches better farming skills.
But it did not work out this year. We will try again next year.

We did however get the children to a ma who lives fairly close to us. We heard about him on the Christan radio. He has taken all the NGO advice he can and has put it into practice. I found him him to be a very impressive man.
So we made arrangements for our children to go and learn for part of the day.

They learned how to raise earth worms. I had looked on line before how to do it and it was a major project with materials and things, mainly wood which is harder for us to get or use.
Besides the worms ability to repair our soil they will feed all of our animals from the fish to the pigs and everything in between. Pretty soon we will have high protein diets for every thing.
Mostly our big kids went to this class, girls to.

Shortly after our kids made their own pit to start farming earth worms. We will start pretty small and if every thing works out we will enlarge it to actually produce enough worms to use for the animals and the property.

He also showed us how to micro farm a smaller bread of catfish. The children are very excited about this. They eat the worms and termites. The net is to keep them from walking away, when it rains this type of catfish crawls away.

A gardener looks on as the teacher is going to put the worms on the dinner plate.

He also had some larger catfish like ours.

Plus he had 2 ponds for Talapia.

Then he showed us his gas tank. This tank located next to the bathroom takes the animal waste and collects the gases from it and it is used for lighting and cooking. He has had his tank for 3 years and it feeds gas to 3 houses with about 15 people.

Gas lantern

This is the area where the left over waste is collected and reused for the gardening.
I did not think it smelled bad I guess because the stink was already burnt off.

Te-a and Tee looking after their litters. We had like 81 piglet this year, the bad weather made it a bit challenging to keep them healthy but we made it. The next litters should be born in better part of the year. We also have an appointment to visit a real pig farm where the kids will get real information and we will see how to do things better so next year we will hopefully deal with less illness.

Though our pond was pretty low we got some plants growing in there. Which was great for our echo system. We have and incredible amount of life in there that the children like to eat. We only planted the large cat fish everything else came from some where else maybe dropped off a birds foot or something.

We also have a lot of these really colorful frogs living in the pond.

Six and a half pounds now. During the dry season we empty the pond and its fish to dig out any mud that has fallen in. So we put the largest fish in mother in-laws pond once and a while they are caught and we put them back in our pond. We think we will just keep letting these grow.

We had a boat building contest.
Judged on looks and performance.

What I was most surprised was by the amount of creativity there was and some real design.
Most of them had and old shoe as the body but they added sails and paddles and all kinds of things they thought would work.
Vuthy looked and worked well.

Chow got second for looks but quickly sank. The wholes in the bottom and not having any sides made it more of a submarine.

Channee ad Melor a group effort paid off. They got third for beauty but number 1 for performance. The made a rubber band propeller and a sail that worked great.

I was looking at windmills to use here awhile ago. The only ones I could find we really expensive. Then shortly after I made an information request on face book. Ream saw one on the way home. Every time we drive by it now it is umping water. What is great is that it is drawing a large crowd. Hopefully this means some change in the area.

Back in the trees. I had the though that this would make a better picture. How ever our children look so small compared to the building. I was hoping they would line the balconys.
I also I got extreemly sick. The wind was so bad I almost got sick up there and I had a head ache for 3 days.

It does give some of you a better perspective of how large the building is. This is about 30 of our children out there boys on top and girls on bottom.

We did also make it to the Zoo again but my memory card dumped so no picture.
My sister took some so when we get her copies I will post them.

Thanks to though who supported our Summer activies this year. I am sure the sponsors will hear about it in their next letters.

Summers coming to and end

2009-09-07T06:43:00.000-07:00

We did quite a few things this summer.
I will have to load some more pictures soon so lets call this part A.

Part A consist of the Vacation Money Donated to us this year, and we put it to a good use.
First we stopped at the Genocide Center known better as the KILLING FIELDS.
The children know very little about this or what went on just a few years ago.

The grand parents understandably do not talk about it and they do not really have parents to share with them.
They need to know and understand a little of what their country suffered. For one so they do not repeat it and two they know why their country has so many problems. One and two equals three and that is you and me. Do they even know why I am here or why this place is our chosen interest.

By the way our youngest children went to the play ground. While we walked through the newly remodeled site.

The fresh rains always opens the grounds to the past.
I have been here a few times when opportunity for good impressionable photographs present themselves.
I often wonder why they do not just clear out the entire place picking up the bones and teeth, but I suppose it would not make the same impact as it does.
This a common picture from this genocide site with clothing, arm or leg bones and teeth.
The shell casings were a new find for me this time. It is kind of for me a more real connection to the fact that these people were killed. It is not just a grave site it is a crime scene.

From the Killing Fields we went to the Toul Sleng museum where most of the people were taken from and killed in the fields.

Later that day after lunch and a rest we went to the skate park.
For parents you remember perhaps the time to helped your child learn to ride a bike or roller skate. It is scary your so nervous for them that they will get hurt. Well times that by 35. I though Ream was nuts. I was so sure we would go to the hospital next. God bless the group that chose not to skate. How ever it turned out okay, only one injury a slight wrist sprang.
Melor was skating barely when a girl came fling in and they went flying. I saw it all in slow motion so I remember it well. She first with her left hand hit his chest grabbing his shirt midway. As she continued to push past her hand clinched Melors' shirt and ripped it wide open buttons every where. They both did a little spin and Melor ended up on bottom and she on top. She was quite embarrassed and quickly got up and skated away with her face covered.
Melor how ever was extremely stunned. He has no idea what happened or by who. He did not even know his shirt was wide open.

While is was kind of funny the poor look on Melors' face was so sad it just made me want to hug him and say it was okay.

So this is a we are having a lot of fun picture.

How ever most of the time it looked like this. Half the skate floor was covered by AGHO kids falling down or in some strange way trying to get up again.

Kim was kind enough to get out there and give some more lesson.

The next day it was a newly discovered water park out in the middle of a jungle.
This was a blast completely fun all day long.

Mommy on the Zip line

Tee on the line

My high speed really comes in handy.

Lim saying high to the sky.

Our staff Phon taking the plunge. She got pretty beat up today. She rode the raft with me one time bounce around and flipped over and that was her last ride.

Sedung and Te-a

Sam coming off the slide.

A really nice set up for Cambodia I was impressed.

Melor and Tee

Tee got stuck and had to walk out.

Vuthy and looks like Channee

Channee

Nite and Chan Chow

Chi

Vuthy and feet

With a good push and a little lift you can get a lot of air.

Needless to say we had an incredible day and can't wait until next year.

Post B soon will have more educational part of our summer.

Big Fish, Joe's cake and rice planting

2009-08-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

We went to Chan Chow and Melor's grandparents house this past Sunday.
I have told this story before but it has been a long time.
Chow is very good with children he often watches Joe and Sam much better that the nanny.
Ream asked him one time why he watches so carefully our children.

Chow said he use to watch the neighbors 1 year old child because the parents worked and the brothers never did Chow knew if he didn't do it no one else would.
One day Chow was very sick and wanted to watch the neighbors baby, he knew no one else would. Grandma would not let him go out he was to sick she told Chow it was their child the family should look after their own children that he was to sick.
Hours later Chow woke up to the mother screaming and crying the child he often cared for had drowned in the pond. The family left and told their other children to keep watch, which they did not.
Chow takes watching children near him very serious. He does not blame himself for their loss but he knows he could have made the difference that day.
It is a sad story that such things happen to children.

I think Chow will make a great husband. He is a Godly, responsible, handsome, smart, kind child who loves to dance and is good at sports.

So anyway the kids did some songs they had practiced.

Te-a lead the songs and opened in prayer.

Chow shared.

Jon shared.

We played the same games. Frisbees still the favorite.

The soccer game was quite the challenge as it had been plowed and was nothing but bumps.
Everyone was tripping ball would not roll straight it was like playing soccer with a supper ball. But was a lot of fun.

Joe's birthday. A fine display of how to eat birthday cake.
As we count the steps.
1 stab the cake.

2 eat the cake.

The black cloud behind Tee is toads. Tadpoles.

Are catfish I told you about

Are cell phone antenna and electricity in the far far back was where suppose to be here a year ago.

Here is a picture of our observatory.

They observe the older boys helping plant rice next door.

These grandparents are like 70 years old or around there and where thankful that we helped out a little.

This is a cool action shot. Rachana and Englem are playing tether ball. Yong looks like he is sitting on the pole in the way but actually he is playing line tag with the kids in the above picture. Yong is just sliding by the pole. Young is about 14 and is our best soccer player. He is extremely good with his feet. I'd like to get him in a camp or something, his only problem is his willingness to pass. How ever I understand when your the best player it is hard to give it to lesser players.

Our unchoi has done very well for us. We haven't bough any since March. It is saving us about $60 or more a month on feeding the pigs and children.

June birthdays and Sunday outreach.

2009-07-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

Okay 2nd quarter birthdays. Made this one a little more decorative.
Lim, Nite, Nyng, Weed, Vuthy, Chow, and Melor

Show below Nite Nyng and Weed

Lim Weed Vuthy and Chow. It is about the average smile and level of excitement I get from Vuthy went it comes to pictures. Maybe be it was excitement over load, a bit of birthday shock I suppose.

Melor displays a different level of excitement when mom mentions his sexy hat.

Mom just got back from the USA so the presents are a little better than normal.

Melor

Darow's little gift from his sponsor.

Out in the fields for some games. We got out the real bats and T-balls they did really well.
Ly was amazing he's 6 or 7 and he hit every ball I tossed. It was their first time with a small bat and small ball.
Rosa

Jon and Kyo

Peaktra, Rachana and Boray

Lim, Kyo and Channee

Bun Heoun and Chang lay

Te-a

Samrang

Couple days later Australia team came through again. It has been a while since we have seen them. So they did a lot of stuff including a water balloon fight.

Ra obviously was up to no good. Thankfully the camera kept me safe.

2 more baby goats I think that makes 13.
Our one goat ate to much wet green grass and started to bloat. So I spent all day caring for him and a little research online. Saved him from a very serious problem. While trying to burp him the mother went into labor. I knew it was coming because she was acting weird. It was a lot of work. Vuthy and Chow made the job a little easier.
I do wish I would have know earlier that when a goat begins to bloat the gas comes out easier forward rather than backwards. I spent most of the morning cleaning out the wrong end, poor guy. So anyway here is our Beautiful brown baby boy goat. He is wonderfully soft and active.

So Sunday this month we went out to a different church to share and have fun. It was really good about 75 children came I think.

The girls opened with some songs.
Jon, Own, Kyo, Wut, and Rachana.

Tee was suppose to share but in the car we found out he did not prepare so older brother stepped up. Te-a did really well wasn't nervous and had a lot to say. Unfortunately he went a little long for his audience he will make a great preacher I think. He is very talented.

Rachana also shared she did really well in the beginning I was very surprised, but then she started to wonder looking all over the place and losing her thoughts. Still she did well for having to speak in front of people for the first time. She is a pretty girl with a great smile. I have always liked Rachana because of her willingness to smile even when it is taught.

Spiritual Tate followed up with a wonderful prayer.

Then it was outside for some great fun. The Frizzbee's Don Gordan brought continue to be the favorite. Soccer, Jump rope, and Sack races it is really easy to please them.

Back inside to pass out some candy and say good by.

So what has been the fruit? The first time we did this last month our children loved it and wanted to keep doing it. We invited the older children from that village to attened our English class and some have started to come. Also the following Sunday when we did not return to the first village and we got an immedate responce from the children at school "when we where we coming back". It is hard to know where this will take the children. We have a lot of villages we can visit. It will be interesting to watch our children to see what they will want to do and which village they like and why. We hope that they will end up going out on their own in pairs and continue with the places they like most.

There are great needs in each place. There are children in each place that are so cute it is very hard to walk away from them becuase you want to take them home.
Most people stay something like that at some point, "oh you so cute I want to take you home". But I am in the possition to do just that. It is a weird place to be in where your wife says I want that one and it could be so easy to just take it home. All I would have to do is offer the family to take the child and they would most likely give them to us at a chance for them to have a better life. Where Ream often suggest we send Sam away to start school I do not want him to go. I do not want someone else raising my child.

It really is two different worlds we come from. Perhaps they are the better parent to love their child so much they give them away. I would probably prefer that Sam had no future if it ment giving him up. I wouuld prefer family to success.
What do you think? What kind of desision would you make?
Glad we don't have to make those desisions aren't we.

Thank you to the Summer Family for buy a little pool for Sam and Joe.
Also for the sorry game which has become Sams favorite to he just loves Spunge Bob.

Well I have to go I was just told our pig is delivering. And she is not doing so well.
You can keep this project in prayer, the weird cold weather is difficult for the babies. We are taking steps to help them but we need God to give me wisdom on what to do and that they do not get sick.

We are on face book now pass us a long and we have a website just about to open.

Thanks for you attention.

March Birthday pitctures and some noodling

2009-07-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

I found my missing photos on a different card.
Tonight I will share the Birthday party we had in March.
Own, Nune, Kyo, Peaktra, Rosa, Tate, and Tong

We played a few games. Since it was close to Easter we did a pass the egg relay race.

We also hid are Frisbee's and balls around the property rewards for finding them where different kinds of candy. The kids always like to play that. Also I tossed Frisbee's off the balcony people who caught the got candy. This is my favorite. I love watching these waves of children back and forth and all over the place.

This one was new I learned kind of from my step father. Putting some money in the balloons. They thought the contest was to pop a balloon until they realized there was money in them.

Joe will fit into or get into everything he can, buckets, laundry baskets, even moms desk drawer. That would have really scared her if he would have kept quiet.

Last was noodling day. Time to clean out the pong back in March. It is quite a lot of fun trying to catch the very last fish. The girls sit up top directing the boy where they saw the last fish move.

Later on how ever some of the girls where in there as well.

OK tomorrow I will post the June birthday party so see you in a little while.

Rev 9:3

2009-07-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

I wanted to mention shortly that our needs so far have been met.
Our Tax return this year was double what we where told it was going to be, along with our paycheck arriving we be able to move forward with Ream becoming a citizen.

Thanks to the Lord and second to everyone who has helped us with this need.

I have been listening to John Coursn on Search Light,
http://www.joncourson.com/

His July 5 topic was very good about who you go to first when you have a problem. Take note that he lost 2 people in his life to accidents and this Sunday his wife was in an accident. I can't imagine what went through his mind or how he felt for that minute when he saw her car as he drove to church. He say his message was about going to God first and how he went to his friend for help first not God.

His studies on Israel right now are very good.
I also really like how they are teaching on Sundays they go through the old and new testament.
There is one teaching in thought I will share. In Revelation 9:3 my version say Locus had the sting of a scorpion. John notes in the Israel teaching the military is designing NANO weapons. Little airplanes that can shoot poison darts. We have the toys just put a weapon on it. It is very interesting to me.

This may not be a popular thought with some but I have a feeling with a our new president being more Muslim and changing policy towards Israel provides a lot of opportunities for the end to occurred.

I have the thought that because the President is black he is at a greater risk for assassination. There where already people arrested for this. A group of men with guns headed to one of his conventions before he was elected had the intent to kill him.

Also if he was assassinated I think more than ever is the chance they would be able to bring him back to life.
I know everyone says likes to say someone is the Anti-Christ so I will avoid saying that.
How ever when I meet a lot of Christian who really like him and put out of their mind what he is for, such as pro-gay, pro-abortion, pro-stem cell, and anti-Israel. He seems to bring peace to those he should not and I really think all the pieces are coming together.

I also have a thought that would seal the deal. What if the president ends his term and chooses to becomes the head of the UN. I think right now he is the most powerful leader on Earth but as America declines from our different powers the likely hood that the UN becomes the larger power is possible. I think also a popular ex-president....
Well there is a lot of room to speculate.

The main thing for us is to always be aware of the times. To always act like it is the end, to live every day as it is our last. We need to take this opportunity with the world being in hard times to minister to it. There is also the likely hood of the last great revival where the last person gets saved and then we all go to heaven.

We should say to every person we know that we are a Christian and what we believe. There should be know one out there who knows you personally but does not know your a Christian. For those who do not know you are tell them short and sweet.

Say to them "I would like to tell you something, I am a Christian and I would like to share with you why I believe that." Then go with it, be nice, be simple and let them lead has been the best way for me. I never get into an argument or make people uncomfortable. I deliver the message always, every time this way, that is if they want to hear you at all. If they do not want to hear it tell them it is important to you that they give you a chance, but stop if they ask you. Respecting their wish may prove different to them and they may come back to give you that chance to share.

I think we are very close to the end. No dates or times but I think if you think of Presidential terms and the possibilities that surround him making a step to a higher power.
I don't think Sam will make it to high school.

It was off the subject of the orphanage so I hope not to scare anyone off with a little political thoughts.

It is what has been on my mind lately and I am working to make changes and a difference in my life and how I think and interact with others.

June 2009

2009-06-25T02:40:00.000-07:00

Ream is working on becoming a US citizen.

Our case is quite difficult since she does not qualify under normal conditions; with difficulties comes money.

So Ream made a trip to America with the main propose to raise funds to help us pay the lawyers working on her paper work.

While in the United States Ream took the opportunity to also promote our work here at the orphanage. It was a bit sad that the Orphanage overshadowed our present personal need for help, but I know God will bring the blessing and both our family and the Orphanage will continue be cared for.

Ream made a lot of new friends and inspired a few new churches to get involved with us. It is quite exciting to have future teams set up and people wanting to do more.

One of the things Ream did, she put on a cooking class for sponsors and people who where interested. Since so many people like the food from here we though why not show you how to make some easy dishes. Most of the dishes are pretty healthy I would say since Fish sauce is used rather than oils and the vegetables too, are very good for you.

We hope to do this for you in the future as well as it brought really good response.

We are sorry that some sponsors were unable to come because of timing or being out of the State.

What have we been up to in June?

We started to take the children into the "real" village once Sunday a month.

The goals in mind is to help the children share their faith, help others with less, stop rumors and correct thoughts of the orphanage by the children sharing with people of how they live and what they do. We also want to strengthen the children’s faith by having them voice it to others.

We started the first Sunday trip with Melor and Own sharing their favorite verses. Lim and Vuthy shared and answered questions. The group that we visited sang some songs, we prayed together and then went outside for some fun.

Above is Lim and Vuthy sharing.

Nite and Kyo headed back to encourage a few children who where scared to come and play.

We played tug-o-war, jump rope, sack raced, threw Frisbees and played soccer.

On the way home the kids saw a berry tree full of fruit so we stopped for a minute as they raided it. Some kids where not even out of the van yet and the first half was already at the top of the tree eating.

Here Peaktra shows he has been eating the berries.

What I liked most about our Sunday trip was I got to see children I met a long time ago, I have pictures of them 5 years ago. I suppose they stood out to me because they have so many girls in their family and they are all so beautiful. I told Ream I would hate to be their dad with all the stresses that a handful of pretty daughters would bring.

The one boy I met 5 years ago was very clingy and lovable. Just make you want to

keep him and this time the same thing held my have the whole time helping me get Frisbees.

Really wonderful kids in that village I am glad I have had the chance to know them so long.

This grandma can’t stand up straight. This is all she has in life, a broken body and a house with holes in it. I sure would like to help her out a little more than we can.

This grandma is 81 years old. It is really an amazing thing for someone here to live so long, normally if sickness doesn't kill you a war will.

A negative thing about not speaking Cambodian is the inability for me to hear their stories.

Here are a few pictures of the kids working around the house.

Ly and On picking up leaves.

Own and Ream caring for the baby turkeys.

Melor and Bun Heoun at the pond.

Tee's taking care of the goat food.

Vicheka, Rosa and Nite are cleaning out the bird pen.

Young is getting pig food.

Ly, Nyng and Wut are out in the field getting grass for the rabbits.

Darow watching the goats. We plan on eating a male this year for Christmas.

Playing games.
The children are wearing out the Stratego game. They play it everyday, every hour even the girls are beginning to play when they can get it away from the boys.

Rumacube has become the second most played game in the house.

Cards and dominos too.

A wonderful couple from Hawaii that we met last September has been sending us wonderful books; the Max Lucado type.
The other day I spotted them in the yard reading. The beautiful pictures in these book have made them very popular with the children to look at and the staff translates them often.

Bun Heoun was quite serious for a while. You can tell she was very responsible at home probably the mother figure. But now she is just one of the children.

After a long dry spell, volley ball is back in action. A lot of our boys have hit puberty this year and are growing tall. The ability to spike or even hit the ball over the net has given them the desire to play more. It good for a while I regretted leaving the space in the yard, I thought I should have put the grass in.
Most of them have turned 15 this year and are a pretty good group of boys. I am glad we have them.

Getting ready to leave for morning classes.

Evening bible study.

Here is our newest staff Phon 22 year old level 1 English teacher. She is doing really well and we think she will work out fine.

Vun and Hak in previous post have moved on to go to bible school.

So we are still at 3 staff total, looking for our 4th and final.

Lots of pitcures

2009-05-11T00:08:00.000-07:00

Joseph is going to turn 3 years old in a month and a half. This last month he has grown a lot.
He is on the verge of talking, he is copying everything we say and it is great to know we are so close to having him communicating with out a whine or a cry.
He also started using the potty this month. Though is only for #1 and not during the night. But it is real fun watch him grow up.
Joseph is also learning important things like good things come in small packages and the usefulness of carry on luggage.

He is learning music and how to make faces

Some before and after of our newer children.

Peaktra is 5 years old

and his sister Vicheka who is 9

Long is 6 years old and his brother Samrang is 9

Chan lay is 13 and her cousin
Bunheoun is also 13 years old

Boray is 15 years old.

Savouen

Engly and her sister Rosa

Yong

Vuthy and his sister Nite

Own and her sister Kyo

Wut

Lim

Sisters On and Jon

Sister and brother Nyng, Ly and

other sister Nune

Te-a and brother Tee

Tong and his brother Tate

Chan Chow and his brother Melor

Darow

Channee

Water Balloon launchers Kelley brought for us, Shoot about 300 feet and have been a lot of fun.

You can see the angle the kids are looking at, how high and farther the water balloon flew.

Just after Jake catches one in the lap (center child wet shirt) another flies over Mica's head (the green blur above the girl on the left)

Sam jumped out of the way on this one blue blur in the middle.

Looking from the other side of the field.

I have been wanting to do this for a long time.
It is a little hard to see still, can you see it?

A G H O (A Greater Hope Orphanage)

35 children now, space for 5 more girls.

Second gardener Kgum

Our 3 guardians
and our Nanny.

This is a really great picture in the larger pixels, of a Bearded Dragon outback on our Jack fruit tree.

I am sorry it has been so long I wrote a blog in April but forgot to publish it. I will try not to do that again :)

March 13

2009-03-19T00:52:00.001-07:00

It has been a while I know. Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to.

We completed the shade over the laundry area.

We completed the water storage area that will store over 7000 gallons of rain water.
Last month Metamorphic gave us a donation to help with our animal projects making the goat pen repairs possible and paying a large portion of the expense for pig feed. We moved the bird area to under the remodeled goat pen.
Both buildings had pretty bad termite damage so combining them saved us on material, will help keep the dog, keep the thieves away and keeps the noise down during nap time.

Channee, Vuthy, Chi, Young and a good neighbor help put the pen together.

Delivery man is here. "Ox cart and Bamboo"

The pond only has about 1 foot of water left the rest is mud.

We also have been using the left over mushroom and yard clippings to fertilize the back yard which is still mostly clay.

It is also really nice not to have the fence up or the big blind area in the back yard, it really cleans things up.

It is the dry season for us, only rain twice since late December. Our pond it almost dry and we are looking at pumping the mud out. This year and contemplating a liner or cement to prevent the erosion

We just had a team finish visiting from our church. It was really nice to have some children on the trip that related with the children really well. I will share some pictures on that later. Two of the team members sponsor children here as was a great blessing for the kids and the sponsor.

We did go up to the mountain with the team and luckily we got to see a movie being made.

The script was written by the King of Cambodia and his oldest daughter the High princess was directing it. We also got some pictures of the leading man who really looks the part of a prince. If I would have got a picture of him flipping his hair it would have been perfect.

So that was a fun day.

Upper temple and looking down to the other 2.

Second temple mid way.
Third and last temple

A long walk back.

Then we went back to the mountain next week because we heard they where still filming and the children had no school because it was a holiday. Unfortunately they film was on holiday as well.
We did go down the the other temples which I have always seen but never walked to. As you see the walk and climb you can understand why it might be my last time seeing them.

I will post the new pictures of our new children soon.

Cheese

2009-01-12T18:41:00.000-08:00

We had two baby goats. One Christmas eve and one New Years eve, both males.
This mom again had trouble with her breast not flowing properly. So we milked her until the baby was able to nurse from it. It was to big for the baby to drink from. This lasted for a week so we learned how to make cheese from it. Almost all the children tried the cheese and most of them liked it.

Below is our mushroom fields. This is our second attempt at growing straw mushrooms. The first time was our learning time we got about half of what we planted because the children over watered part of the crop but still we made a good profit from it.

We are getting a lot of compost from doing the mushrooms it should really help us out in the areas that we need.
A smaller ball of cheese and crackers. A really big mushroom over 9 inches a long with some of the smaller market size.
The market gives us half price if they are open for some reason. So I am working on preserving them to try and sell them in a different manor and make the same price.

Joe has started on the computer playing a Clifford game. He knows quite a lot for two and a half.
he can start the computer and get past the log on. He can start movies and play some of the games. He does much better than Sam has. Sam gets caught up with the noises and goes crazy clicking.

Sam and Joe got out for a swim the other day at a very nice hotel. It was very cool and they did not last to long. We can't wait for summer.

Calendars

2008-12-23T00:26:00.000-08:00

Calendars
We produced a calendar for 2009.
It contains picture of the children and of Cambodia.

It is a very nice calendar and if you are going to buy one would you think about buying it from us.

I think we have a hundred or so left and we would like you to have an opportunity to get one.

While they are available for donation are printing and shipping cost is $3.
Since this is a fundraiser we would appreciate a large donation than just the cost.

I know you will like it.
Let me know by emailing kitandream@gmail.com and I will get you the payment info.
Here are some sample pictures to entice you

Also please take advantage of the tools on the side of the blog. These are there to let me know how I am doing with the blog.
Also there are feeds. These will let you know I have written a Blog or other blogs you can visit, that I like.

I finally got a counter on the blog so that is my best help letting me I am not just writing to myself all the time.

God Bless your holidays and I will write again next month.

Things to pray for:

All of our health here all the time.
Property and animal to prosper
Wisdom with the children
The ability for others to visit and join in our work.

thank you

Kit and Ream AGHO

Time to open their gifts

2008-12-22T23:29:00.000-08:00

The opened the gifts after lunch this time so we could get the treasure hunt out of the way while it was early.

We also had 8 birthdays this quarter so we had cake after lunch.

The younger boys had a lot of fun on the slip and slide. It is also a good way for us to water the grass.

Also the children are learning to grow mushrooms. The neighbor that we helped pick rice the other day came to teach us the children how grow it. First the packed rice straw in tight roles in long lines.

Then they burnt it. Planted the seeds and watered it.

Finally they covered it with more straw.

We are suppose to get about two and a half dollars a kilo so the children are excited about it.

Christmas Treasure hut

2008-12-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

We held Christmas this Sunday the 21st; AGHOs' third Christmas.
This year we had a treasure hunt with a bible theme to it. We started on the roof with 5 teams.
Each team had one of our best English students, a swimmer, a small child and one child with the best logic thinking to make the challenges as even as possible.

The teams started with their hands tied together with one person locked to a pole and one person in the center.

The 5 people in the center had to find the right key to unlock and untie their group.

When their group was untied they headed to a find the hidden picture page where they had to use their dictionary to translate the word to find the picture.

Once they found ten of the hidden pictures they had to find a piece to a puzzle hidden in their boxes.
The puzzle divided into 6 pieces was a picture of their team leader. When each child found their piece and completed the puzzle it decided what team they would be in for the remainder of the hunt. On the back of the picture puzzle was their first clue.
That clue was "On day 3 what did God create, and where was the the picture of in on the wall?" the answer was the Earth God separated the land and the sea.
Here Channee and Nite where the first to figure it out and find the clue. The second clue read "God created man, what did he create man from" Answer Dirt. I had a large man drawn in the volleyball court hidden in the hands, feet, and head was their next clue.
Channees Team out diggingThe third clues was "What did God create on the sixth day man and what else? Adam was in charge of naming these and your clue is hidden with them."
It took Channees' a long time to figure it out and Lims' team passed them while they thought about it. One of their answer were snakes snakes and we said yes but we do not raise snakes and then they thought some more.
Chi s' team make a run for the animals that where created on the sixth day. Hidden with the rabbits, chickens, fish, pigs and goats was a forth clue.
This clue was about Genesis 11. "the people built a brick ----- to make them famous. go to the top of our brick ----- for you next clue."
The answer was tower. Talking about the tower of Babble.
Lims' team made it to the top of our building where they had to complete an activity for their next clue. This is where they learned about line of site. They had a picture with a point of reference on it and matched it up with a mark on the railing. Then the rest of the team went out into the fields tying to stay on a straight line directed by the person still on the roof. Somewhere along that line was their next clue hidden in a bundle of straw with a small fag on it.
This was Channees team
Melors' team
Vuthy's team
Lims' team who was in first was now second two last.
Chi s' team who got a penalty for not following directions was bringing up the rear but catching up real fast.
The clue 6 they found in the field was "Moses crossed the red sea for them to find the crossing over our little river north of the orphanage.

Here Whitney was waiting for the teams to show up. Lims' team had to wait because they lost a member of their team.
The 7th clue was referenced to Baby Jesus. Rachanas' family down the road has a younger baby there. So we asked the family to participate with the mom being Mary and baby being Jesus.
At the river crossing the children where also given one chocolate coin each. They where instructed that they had to give the baby Jesus at least one of their gold coins from each team like the wise men bearing gifts.
We wanted to see who would be willing to give their candy away for the benefit of the team.
turns out most of the children gave the chocolate away. On one team only one boy ate his and on another team only one girl gave her chocolate away.
They also had to answer a trick question to get their next clue.
That was "how many wise women went to see Jesus" the trick being not wise women but wise men and 3 of them."
I got pinched when I said there where not wise women back then. ;)

What was funny when the family playing the part where told that the coins where chocolate they took it from Baby Jesus and eat it themselves.
It was fun to interact with the other families in the village.

So the clue they received when they answered the question right was about Pastor Khon playing the part of older Jesus.

Being "who is the wisest bible teacher int he village and who did God have start the church and place in charge of it."
Hear I caught up to Channees' team now in 1st place again, running down the path from Baby Jesus house headed to older Jesus "pastor Khon" house.

Here at Pastor Khons' house their test was asked about and was rewarded. Those wise children who gave their candy coins up to the baby got twice as much back.
Pastor Khon ream the verse Matthew 20:29 saying "Who ever has given shall receive a hundred fold.
Then Pastor asked the Clue"Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit. John baptized with what?
Answer was water. They where instructed that one would be baptized in out pond where their next clue was hidden along with one extra prize.
Channees' team was first to the pond but since his team cut a corner they had to go back to pastor Khons' house So Vuthys' team pasted them.
Pretty soon other teams where arriving.

I had 2 litter bottles tethered to some bricks floating just under the water and spread around the pond.
Vuthys' team found their clue first
But Channee found the extra prize. Sunk in a bucket was wrapped in a bag was the Slip and slide that the Halls sent us.

Melor had his nice cloths on so he did not want to get wet. The only other person who could swim was Wut. Wut always the trooper and a really great child over all jumped in and found her clue right away.

So after a few of them where all wet they reas their next clue Vuthys' team was out in front followed by Channees' team.
The last and final clue was about the reserection. "Jesus died for our sins and after three days
rose again. Proof of this was an empty tomb. Where where a lot tombs and to find the empty one?" So the children all know the temples behind us have a lot of tombs there. There are two really old ones there one has a door and is sealed and one does not have a door and is opened. Here are the long lines off children streeming down the rice fields.

At the tomb they where told that Jesus had gone to be with his father and so should they.
This brought them running back home.

Here is a sequince of pictures I found in the camera but did not see it happen.
In the first picture part of Vuthy's team is headed back towards the building. Tea in front Rachana in the middle and Vuthy in the back. The middle picture Rachana is gone. In the third picture she is there again.
What happened was Vuthy stepped on her foot and she roled off into the field. Vuthy stopped to help her up and then they where off and runnning again.

At the house they came looking for me. I was hidding behind a door waiting to be found. Three teams found me and I told them where to find the hidden treasure. In the dog food.
I got some pictures of them up and down the stairs.

Chi s' team who origanaly got a penalty and was in last most of the hunt found the treasure which I thought was cool. Plus there where some pretty big pouters on that team if they would have lost they would have let us know they where not happy.

Ream and I came up with some cards, like movie with dad, or meal with mom, get out of trouble, and double my allowance. They where some of the prizes they found along the hunt.
The 6 children on Chi s' team got a lot of chocolate coins, some real money, some jewlery and pencils and stuff. A pretty big box of goodies they split up.

They children who did not get the prize where allowed to raid the Christmas tree that had all the fruit and toys on it. That helped take their minds off of all the work they put in.

There where also to remote control cars as prizes found by Melors' team and one by Chi s' team.

Christmas Pictures and more

2008-12-22T17:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2008, 28 children 3 caretakers

Ream and staff set up the tree we bought. We hung fruit on it this year which turned out quite nice.
Some of the children wanted to dance that night.
Christmas pictures with their new outfits.

Nite Kyo Own Tate

Hua Jon Nyng Rachana

Nune Tong Darow Yong

Melor Chow Jake Savoeun

Wut Channee Te-a Lim

Vuthy Engly Weed Rosa

Ly On Tee Staff, Sedung, Hak, Vun
Joe and Sam. Sam turned 5

Children preformed their dances last Sunday when the church celebrated it's Christmas

Nite form is great Seang Hak is our newest staff Girls coming home from school
First time I have seen this giant spider
Our cat fish are 4.4 pounds and 2 feet long.

7 in Khmer class 20 in English, elementary 12 in English, middle school
22 in English, High school

picken rice

2008-12-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

We have decided to help some neighbors pick rice this year. We thought about it last year but most people do not want kids doing it because they may ruin a lot of what they pick. The people this year are a real nice Christian couple and allowed us to help them. All of out children already know how to harvest rice because they did it every year with their own family. We only spent a half hour or so having fun and helping out.
With our little group we cut a huge section of rice for the family. After they where quite pleased with how much a lot of little hand could do.
We think beside getting to help our neighbors out it helps the children remember how to harvest rice if and when they need to also reminds them that they should try hard in school so they do not have to do this for a living. Because while it was fun for only a half an hour it took that family 3 days to harvest the rest and my back was killing me after such a short time of it.
Vun one of our staff is in the center with green shorts. We will help her mom pick rice next week. The man on her right is the owner of the field. After we picked his rice he offered to teach the children how to grow mushrooms.
The children are very excited about that because mushroom crops can produce a lot of money.
A group of children have already begun to pool their allowance to buy straw and seed to start growing mushrooms.
Savoeun, Kyo, Tee, Rachana, Wut helped pick rice.
Others came out to find crabs which was kind of the reward off picking rice.
We played a human knot game with their hands and had to untie themselves with out letting go.
The cheapest thing to do when they are out of school is go to the Zoo.

It is amazing to me how many eagles they have here. I can see one around our property now and then.

There where a lot of baby alligators this time. They easily come in and out of the fence so we had to be careful.
From our pond. About 17 inches
Chow found this turtle in the street. So we decided to set up the fish tank again.
All the fish, crabs, frogs and snails we picked up from around the property.

For Christmas we are Celebrating on the 21st so Ream and I can get away to town with Sam and Joe. We will try and hook up with some other missionaries in town for some fun.

But for the children we bought them all new outfits and any accessories they needed or wanted all for around 5 or 6 dollars each. Plus we are creating a treasure hunt for them that will have extra prizes along the way.

We are doing it with a bible theme answering questions and completing challenges.

It is looking to be a lot of fun. If it work out well and the kids have fun it might be a good idea for teams to do when they come. Also to invite other children to do it maybe from church or around town.

Thank you at home for making this last year possible for us and the children here.

We know times are hard at home and appreciate any sacrifices being made to stay with this commitment.

Some good new we are seeing prices drop in every area to were they where in March. So maybe 2009 will be a better year for us cost wise.

Thank you all,
we will post again after Christmas to let you know how it went.

God bless,
Kit Carson