What is it like to raise a family in a different country?

This post starts where the “Exploring Thailand and Cambodia” post left off…I know it is backtracking in our story, but thought it would be valuable for those feeling a call to missions and raising littles. Being led by the Holy Spirit, we felt that we were supposed to sell our lovely home in the woods and our share in the family business..  We prayed that if we were not meant to go to Cambodia, God would close the door, but no door closed.  In fact, our home sold privately in a week! I will share that this process was not easy on any of us…having a big garage sale, seeing our belongings disappear…not knowing fully what we were walking into.  But to encourage you, His way is always best, not always easy but so worth it!

And He just wants that “yes” in our spirits.

So we set off for Phnom Penh, Cambodia in October 2012 with our kids ages 11, 9, 7 and 4 years old. I remember waving goodbye to our extended family as we left in a big van loaded with suitcases. No shipping container…just the max luggage plus buying a couple of extra large suitcases.  So many emotions…excitement, uncertainty, and sadness to name a few.  I want to insert here that it is important to include your kids in the process of discernment, but Holy Spirit holds the final say.  Hear their hearts and take time to process with them, but where God leads, He brings grace and peace to the whole family. We were homeschooling at the time, which made the transition a bit easier.  But really nothing could prepare our kids for that first drive to our home in Tuk Tuks from the airport.  The sights, the sounds, the smells…it was all so new! A Tuk Tuk is a covered cart pulled behind a moto(their name for a scooter). We needed two Tuk Tuks because we had so much luggage.  Needless to say, the Tuk Tuk I was in with two of the kids got lost…oh my…the city is huge!  But God…He worked it out and after our driver contacted the other Tuk Tuk driver, we made it!

Living in the large capital city of Phnom Penh was certainly an adventure with our 4 kids! But overall, they did so well in the adjustment! Cambodia is called the Kingdom of Wonder which the title of this post refers to.  Certainly, it is a place of wonder with so much going on! We made connections with other missionaries who had kids, which was helpful.  But our kids never fully got settled in this city because we knew it was temporary…the home we were renting was only available for 3 months.  So we needed to make a decision.  We felt called to move to Sihanoukville, 4-5 hours south of the city, but our team was not ready to move at that point. They wanted to stay and do more language learning.  Since we felt strongly that the Lord was leading us to Sihanoukville, we decided to move on ahead of the others and that way we didn’t have to move to a different place in Phnom Penh first. What an experience…moving to a city where we did not know one person or the language! Through a local Christian international school and church, we found a language teacher who taught the kids and I, while Chad attended a language school nearby.  We focused on homeschooling the kids, language learning and building connections with other missionaries/ministries. 

Summing up nearly 4 and 1/2 years in a single post is difficult, but overall, Cambodia won our hearts!  The people, the culture and purpose we felt were such a gift, something I would never trade for money!  My favorite thing was seeing my husband’s heart come alive being in his element of empowering others and being that “father figure” so many lacked. Most of these years, we continued homeschooling the kids, but one school year, we gave them a new experience.  There was a Korean-run international Christian school, called Life School nearby our house.  They asked me to teach in their university there…so crazy as I do not have a degree which I told them. But, they really just needed good English speaking teachers so I said I will try it!  This gave us a discounted rate on tuition for our 4 children.  What an experience!  I taught Teaching Methodology in English to university students where English was their second language. But I loved my students and it was a great way to share Jesus and connect with people! And it was so good for the kids to get out and make connections at school. 

Finding close friends for our kids was very difficult in this little town.  For a season, we did spend time at the beach most Sunday afternoons with a large missionary family from the States who had kids similar ages of our kids.  They all enjoyed playing volleyball, flag football, etc. Also, some of our boys were able to play instruments on the worship team at a local C3 Church and we joined that church body Sunday mornings and on outreach.  One of the most memorable outreaches with them was to a garbage dump outside of our town in the countryside.  It was heartbreaking!  These families that lived at the dump rummaged through garbage, looking for treasures…The kids sat there with flies on their little snotty faces, unfazed. But it was a joy to love on them and bring gifts!

About 4 months after we moved to Sihanoukville, our dear friends and team leaders, Joel and Sahra,  joined us in Sihanoukville which was such a blessing!! This is one of our favorite things from our time in Cambodia…the gift of team and authentic friendship/connection.  We worshipped, cried, played and prayed together!  There is something about a team of people who have a common interest/goal who are dedicated and willing to stay connected through the wonderful and the difficult times!  Trust me, it wasn’t always easy but overall, it was so good!

Two of the main things we did as a ministry, Iris Cambodia, was start a day center for at-risk kids from a local village and open a coffee shop that would be a vocational training ground and a place that we, as a team, could meet to worship and pray.  I will do a separate post on the coffee shop, Cafe Awaken, since that was a vision that the Lord placed on Chad & my hearts and was such a miracle coming to fruition! The day center, purposely named the Dream Center, was spearheaded by our friend, Mary Grace.  With her expertise as a social worker and her desire to bring the children into a safe, family culture, the Dream Center was a huge success!  There were so many hurting and broken families in the villages nearby and we would walk with the kids to the center twice a week.  Alchoholism and gambling are rampant which also, gives way to abuse and trafficking. We had a property with a lot of green space where many soccer games were played, as well as, a small building where boo boos could be bandaged and games could be played on rainy days. Our Khmer staff were incredible and loved the kids so well!

In conclusion, the dear Khmer people won such a special place in our hearts despite some hardships we faced such as various scooter accidents, a home robbery in the night, and other sickness. Seeing people encounter Jesus, miracles and freedom were worth every dollar and minute we spent there! Love those around you with all of your heart in every season and place the Lord leads you too! Overseas is not better than the States or western world, it’s just important to be faithful to the calling on your life wherever that may be!