Brian and Karie.....in Wonderland??

Tonight I came up with the perfect analogy for living here. If you have ever seen the Movie Alice in Wonderland, that is us here in Cambodia!!! 

• Alice goes exploring one day: Brian and Karie wanted to go exploring as well. 
• Alice stumbles, falls, and experiences a world that is completely upside down from the world she is used to: same same for us here. 
  
• Alice tries to get used to her world in "Wonderland", but continues to be bumped and scared by weird things that come up along the way: just as B&K think they have mastered their world in Phnom Penh, weirder things continue to happen.

The Lord is teaching me personally (K) to revel in the simple things. For example, yesterday I put on a clean shirt after I got out of my work clothes. My shirt smelled good, fresh, and like dryer sheets!!! Now, you might be reading this and thinking.....don't you normally wash your clothes? Yes, our helper does the wash....but a few factors go into the unsuccessfulness of the laundry: 1.) The water here stinks, and is SO bad that in order for it to be safe to cook with, it has to be boiled for 3o minutes in advance, 2.) Our laundry is hung outside to dry in a humid, smell-saturated country. It was a blessing to smell a smell I haven't smelled in 4 months: the smell of a clean shirt. It is the small things.

Another simple pleasure we enjoy is the ability to buy and cook American foods on the weekends. We are SOOOOO sick of Asian food and white rice. A few weekends ago, I bought the fixins' to make stuffed baked potatoes. Again, this might sound trivial to you...but to us, it is comforting. It's interesting, as you grow older...you realize how truly important traditions, normalcy, and family is to your very soul. 

So as these 2 Alices try to navigate this "Wonder?land", keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Our home and family are constantly in the forefront of our minds and hearts, and we miss you all terribly.