MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Hello my family and friends! I’ve missed you this holiday season…
But, the Lord is on the move! (As if we should be surprised or something.)
So, this was my first Christmas away from my family. I honestly didn’t think I was going to have that tough of a time. I figured I would be so invested here that ‘Christmas’ wouldn’t really seem any different than any other day. And, for the most part, I was a trooper. The lack of internet helped, I think. But, when Christmas came, I was a bit more emotional than I would have expected. I even shed a tear or two thinking about you all before I went to bed.
But, rest assured, we did have a wonderful Christmas.
Remember, we’re out in the middle of nowhere, Cambodia…so ‘Christmas Activities’ were slightly limited. So, we head out bright and early, via Tuk Tuk and motor bike to ‘water buffalo land’. Yep, we went out even further into the middle of nowhere and we took turns riding a very annoyed water buffalo.
Check that off my list. (Though, I’m not sure it was ever even on my list.)
Then, as we were heading back home the guys stopped at this bridge to take in the beautiful view, (pictures will never do this place justice.) So we all get out of the Tuk Tuk and off of our motor bikes and look around at God’s creation, when someone (I’m not entirely sure who) decided that we should jump off. So, on Christmas, six undignified ladies and a couple undignified gentlemen jumped off of a bridge in the middle of nowhere.
And then, we did it again.
Merry Christmas!
We stank. But it was definitely one of those things that I would have never guessed would happen. We finished the day off by exchanging ‘Christmas presents’ and watching Elf and Hook.
AND
We all got a phone call from at least one person in our family. Joy and Tom, I couldn’t go back to sleep for at least an hour because my heart was made so happy! (Sorry I wasn’t exactly with it…)
All in all, it was a pretty spectacular Christmas.
And now, a poem written by the ever lovely and wildly talented Erin Joanna Thames:
‘Twas the Night Before Cambodian Christmas
‘Twas the night before Christmas
with no hope of snowing.
The frogs were attacking,
the roosters were a crowing.
The snowflakes were hung
by gold ribbon with ease
in hopes it could be cooler
than 90 degrees
Six undignified women
each asleep on their mat
all dreaming of coffee or cola,
yes, the end to their fast.
All under the bug net
resigned to the reason
there could be no Christmas spirit
in Cambodia’s dry season.
Then from below
there arose a strange sound
all six ran outside
and delightfully found…
A shiny, red Tuk Tuk
coming into view.
It carried three brothers
names all starting with ‘U’.
On Uee, on Umong, on uncle Sitay,
On Song, on Kimsay, and our favorite Utry
In Khmer and English
they praised God with all their might.
A merry Cambodian Christmas to all,
And to all a good night!
