Even though I blog about my struggles, I really do love my life. So I thought I would share what I love about my days in Cambodia.
I love preparing meals for my team. We live on the second floor of the orphanage, and the boys live below us. Our kitchen sink over looks a courtyard where the boys play. There is nothing that makes me happier than standing over the sink cutting carrots while watching Silas or Heather throwing the kids up in the air. I love cooking while listening to the kids screaming and laughing, it makes me feel like I am a part of a family.
I love eating dinner with my team. Every night we sit around the dinning room table and eat together. Even though we spend all day together, it is nice just to be able to talk. Sometimes after dinner, we play music and just sit. Sometimes we move to the living room where we watch movies or Grey’s and trade back rubs. I don’t know that life really gets better than that.
I love visiting the girls house. The girls live about a half hour walk away from the boys. Some days I don’t feel like going through the hassle of going to the girls house, but I always leave in a better mood than when I arrived. When I get there, the girls run to the gate to greet us with tight hugs. Then we swing, and talk, and do each others hair, and bounce the babies, and sing songs. Sometimes when it is time to leave, they make a human wall, and it really does take all my strength to make it out the door.
I love walking the streets of Phenom Phen. Most people don’t drive cars here instead they drive motor bikes and Tuk- Tuks (Tuk-Tuks- think carriage pulled by moped). This means that is is very easy to have contact with people just as you happily walk along. As you walk down the street everyone greets you, and kids run up to you just to give you a high five. The other day Courtney and I were walking home, and we passes a father pushing his daughter down the street in a stroller. As he approached us, he stopped, reached over, and had his daughter wave to us. It was all so cute that I practically skipped home.
I know that the things I love about my life are very ordinary. But even though I have traveled to seven countries in five months, even though I have seen great wonders like Victoria Falls, I still don’t think that life gets better than just being and serving people that you love.
