Best News Yet

Latest doctor visit shows improvement on all fronts - enough that if the trend continues over this week, we can say for sure it is not pre-eclampsia! Yet I am fighting this infection still. Maybe, just maybe, I might have a healthy last 3 months of pregnancy!

Grace enjoying Mom on bedrest

Grace's window on the world - she loves watching what is going on in the street. Now she has figured out she can lift the flap and watch on her own without waiting for someone to open the gate...

Good News and Bad

Another Dr visit uncovered yet another different infection which could explain away at least one symptom of pre-eclampsia: Good news! This same infection caused some cramping to begin so I'm on bed rest for a few days: Bad news! We have a very competent house helper who can keep things running well. God's goodness to us!
Also good news is that my blood pressure was down this time and the requested ultrasound shows a healthy baby.
We are in contact with our delivery doctor in Thailand as well now, so soon we shall know if we have to make any adjustments in responses to all these things.

For those who have been wondering, worrying, and/or praying...

News has gone out through emails, calls, etc. that Liz possibly might be developing pre-eclampsia. This is a serious condition of pregnancy that could force an early delivery or other complications. As Liz is only in her 25th week of pregnancy, this is difficult. It's most visible symptoms are high blood pressure and swelling of hands, face, legs, and feet. So far these symptoms are showing only mildly in Liz and there are other things that can cause them, so the diagnosis is not confirmable at this time.

Liz is resting as much as possible as per doctor orders, and is seeing the doctor regularly to monitor the situation. Please go on praying that it will prove not to be pre-eclampsia, and that Liz's blood pressure will remain manageable. The last doctor visit showed some improvement in swelling, a stable blood pressure, and a still healthily growing baby, so there is much to be thankful for as well.

Grace seems to know something is different and is rather clingy, but she quite likes a mommy who now naps with her :o)

Mango Season has arrived!

And so soon will come the rains. Now there is oodles of mangos to choose from in the markets, and also people selling them in the streets with a haunting call of "swii dom ahu swii dom!" There are more kinds than I knew about too! Green ones, yellow ones, orange ones, red ones, small, medium and large....! Ranging in price from 20 to 50 cents depending on variety, size, and ripeness.

Grace likes to have the seed to "eat". It is all the more tasty for the fun she can have with it!
It is difficult to hang on to, but worth the chase when I get a bite...
Of course, the mess is not complete until I've wiped it through my hair...

Then comes the cleanup. Almost as fun as the eating when mommy despairs of an easy mop up and lets me play with the water tap!

French Horn

Do you remember our prayer request about the French horn? (Milizlinx letter Jan-Feb) Well, God answered! One attempt to fix it in Thailand failed, but Vichet was able to call his teacher who just retuned from America: “Vichet, I’m so glad you called! We are holding your graduation ceremony here in Vietnam and I had no way of contacting you. Come quickly, and we’ll fix your French horn too.” So Vichet brought his French Horn to Vietnam, received his bachelor’s diploma in music, and returned with a way to make his chosen living in Cambodia. You have never seen a man as happy as Vichet on that day. He played his horn on a following Sunday in honour of our help to him. You can watch Vichet's Sunday Horn playing by going here.

Calmette Baptism in Kompong Saum

We were told to arrive at the church to board the buses for a departure at 5am sharp on Thursday. By 6 we were finally on the way. In the meantime...

Grace met the church's future guard dog. they were great friends until he barked at her!


The ride there was fraught with delays...
first came the fact that nearly 40 extra people showed up (hence the late start while we squished people into buses and hired another)
Then, shortly outside of the city, our second bus broke down. The circulating story was of the radiator blowing up(! how true, I'm not sure). So, more squishing to put most of that bus load into the the other two buses. We ended up leaving some people behind to wait for yet another newly hired van.
Next came the usual heavy traffic of buses and transport trucks mixed in with motos, cars, bikes, and anything else used for transport.
So, 4 hours later and a good full two hours behind schedule, we arrived at the beach in Kompong Saum... didn't take us long to get all ready for the beach!


Grace didn't enjoy the ocean at all. I think she didn't like the waves, gentle as they were. She cried even if we sat in the water with her. I think she only likes to play with water as long as she doesn't have to be in it! But Grace had a full contingent of admirers and babysitters out of the water - and loved it! (She doesn't like it that mommy can't carry her everywhere any more) besides, all these baysitters offer yummy food and don't make her try the ocean...


Once those left behind finally arrived, the actual baptism service began. As there was 60+ people getting baptized, it was quite the big affair! There was a sort talk reminding them of what they were showing by this committment, and an excellent explanation of what baptism is for the benefit of all the listeners and curious beach goers who stopped to listen.

Here those about to be baptized are filling in a short covenant card of Christian living.


They are sitting in rows according to which group they belong (Calmette has a number of church plants and daughter churches). Each group had a photographer and 4 people to baptize: two girls for the girls, two men for the men. Michael was surprized and pleased to be asked to help baptize those from Prek Pneau church.

The trip back went much smoother, but still was very long and squished. We sang worship songs for awhile. Grace was fascinated by the guitar playing. She wouldn't touch it when we gave her opportunity, but wanted to climb all over the player when he resumed playing songs!
Of course, much of the way back was quiet as many slept, catching up on such an early start - Grace and Michael included.

Avoiding February Blues

Avoid cold weather :
It is now approaching hot season. The days are hot and will only get hotter until the rains come sometime in May. I miss snow, crisp cold sparkly days, and the kiddish excitement of power outages and snow days off school. I don't miss the power outs - we get more than enough of those! Last week we had at least one every day! Grace and I keep cool by playing in the water bucket and experimenting with making Popsicles in our fickle freezer.

Avoid mournful music :
There was a funeral a few houses down yesterday. This means a clogged street as the mourners all feast together under a canopy put up in the street in front of the house. It means loud broadcasting of monks reciting "scripture", a running commentary on the deceased's good qualities, and mournful wailing music - all day from before dawn until after dark. These sounds are all-pervasive - there seems to be no way to block them out of your house or your mind. Thankfully yesterday was Sunday so we were gone from 8am until nearly 2:30. We ate supper out just to get out from under the mournful music's influence! Not only annoying and meloncholy-making, these sounds remind the church how much need there still is to pass on the hope that we hold...

Play crazy games :
Friday night we hosted a games night. We had an assortment of games that people had brought with them - most travel sizes or compact ones like UNO or SkipBo. The 10 of us played a majorly miniature version of Cranium. Picture this: a gameboard of no more than 2 inches square, cards no bigger than a thumbprint that require acurate reading of tiny paragraphs printed on them, a many-faced die smaller than a pinky finger nail... it certainly added challenge and hilarity to an already challenging and fun game!
Grace enjoyed the evening too, with so many people to pay attention to her and another child to follow around and play with! What we didn't enjoy was the cranky girl in the morning from such a late night!

Go to the beach :
This Thursday Calmette church is having a baptism... at the beach! Only catch is, it is about a 3 hour drive away so we are starting early - 5 am to be exact! Still, a trip out of the city and a chance to spend time with friends on the beach is a delicious prospect.

Okay, so it isn't February any more, but I know until spring arrives February blues can still hit hard... or in our case, until the rain comes....