Our Big Little Girls

We've had a crazy busy start to this new year - this last week especially! Therefore we don't have many pictures to share, but here are two!

Grace has decided that Jasmin is old enough to take over her chair at meal times. She refuses to sit there herself sometimes, and repeats "Angui, Angui!" (sit, sit) while tugging at Jasmin's shirt. She doesn't give up until I put Jasmin in her seat. Jasmin likes the idea as well. Here they are exploring spaghetti. Grace does pretty well with no table, though we do end up with a puddle of rice (or whatever) between her legs!

This is grace's new accomplishment. With very little help she figured out how to stack them in order. Here she is pointing at each, imitating the sounds of the animals. Jasmin is giving her a high five with her foot??!!? I was so excited when I found this set of stacking blocks - I've been looking for about 6 months! Expensive pieces of cardboard really, but so far well worth it for the amount of time she spends with them. Hopefully they'll survive long enough for Jasmin to enjoy them also.

Day of Improvision

Today Sarin was sick so I suddenly had full control of my household. It was fun :o) It reminds me just how much I appreciate Sarin's help. It knocked a few usually smooth-running things sideways so they broke down or at least ran rather raggedly. It made us extra thankful for the abundance God has blessed us with.

Meals. Usually Sarin brings the day's food with her in the mornings and cooks it for us. Even the last minute announcement that she wasn't coming today didn't mean a trip to market as we had enough dry foods in our cupboard top cover the day. We had to eat vegetarian and unusual meals though :o) Oatmeal (with soy milk), flavored mashed potatoes (wrapped in seaweed papers), and spaghetti (without any meat in the sauce).

Grace had playschool this morning. Usually a great time for getting lots done. But Jasmin refused to give in and take her nap - until 1/2 hour before I had to pick Grace up. As Michael was at a meeting, I had to wake her up and take her along... poor girl! Grace enjoyed being greeted by mommy AND Jasmin though!

And best of all we had the run of the kitchen so Grace and I tried to bake some cookies even though we no longer have an oven of any kind! I'm quite tickled, because it worked! Rather a precarious set up of a metal pot and upside down lid, and a metal mixing bowl over the gas ring. We didn't burn any, though we did lose a few to the floor behind the gas canister.

Now we are off for our "bath", a bucket under the bathroom wall tap. I guess we've gotten used to this improvision - I almost forgot about it!

Do you think we need to get a car?

Let's have a party:Jasmin is sleeping through the night!!


The only hitch is that come 5:30-6:00 am is is wide awake and looking (calling) for playmates...

Which means mommy (or sometimes daddy) has more time in the morning because she inevitably wakes Grace up, and between the two of them make enough noise and trouble to warrant a parent getting up too.

Other than the need of at least another hour's sleep, I find I actually don't mind all that much! We get to enjoy the coolness and mosquito-free courtyard, I often manage to get in a bit of a Bible read/meditate while "watching" them play with the water tap, and, when things go well, I feel more ready for the rest of the day.


Grace has always liked to play with the water. Jasmin didn't take long to decide it is more fun to join in than just watch from a dry spot! She doesn't actually crawl yet, but she can get where she wants to go just the same!

Trying to catch the water stream...

A No Picture Week

A piece of advice: if you're going to have a baby overseas, make sure you can return to Canada at least before he turns one, preferably before he is 6-7 months old! Our experience with Jasmin's passport, citizenship, and visas has not been fun. Lots of applications, research, waiting, juggling dates - for 7 months now, and we still haven't got it sorted out! Of course, there are many unique facts to this case (we only get visas for 6 months at a time, Cambodia is unusual in requiring passport validity 6 months after your visa expiry, etc.); it might not be so problematic in another time or place.

The Story in Full

As soon as we could after her birth, we applied for Jasmin's Canadian passport and proof of citizenship (needed to get a proper Canadian passport). It took longer than expected due to passport photo specifications, a fender bender, and short office hours.

Jasmin got a temporary passport just in time for us to return to Phnom Penh before our Thai visas run out. Or so we thought; on our way out we discovered we'd overstayed our visas by two days and had to pay out our last Thai money in fines.

Her temporary passport is for one year only (until July 2008). A little research turned up the fact that Cambodia's visa laws require a valid passport for 6 months after your visa expiry date (February 2008). As the Citizenship card is supposed to arrive in Feb, we should be able to just squeak by. It also surfaced that Cambodia possibly will give Jasmin a visa until April.

Just in case, we dug a little deeper for other possibilities. More research and a flurry of emails with embassies discovered the possibility of a limited extension to Jasmin's passport- 9 months more (April 2009). We breathed a sigh of relief and began considering later departure dates.

November came and went without the citizenship card showing up. All our Cambodian visas needed renewing (we only get 6 month visas). Experienced counsel told us that Jasmin would not likely be issued a new visa without the extension on her passport, so we made a few trips to the embassy and applied for the promised extension.

Last week we received her extended passport. It is valid until September 2008 only, not the April 2009 we were expecting! What!?! The extension was counted from the date of application, not from the expiry date of the passport!! And the citizenship card has not yet arrived; indeed, we have not even received the notice saying the application is in process.

So, it looks like God wants us home in Canada earlier than we thought. Unless her citizenship card shows up. Unless Cambodia gives her a longer visa anyhow (it has happened before). We are still not settled when we will be coming to Canada! I'm getting rather antsy to have it settled so I can plan properly - I really don't want to have to do EVERYTHING in the last few weeks before leaving!

EH? What are they doing?

The first Sunday for the new year was certainly different at our church! We threw paper airplanes and lit candles. Although this picture was taken afterwards, I'd say it embodies the girls' thoughts about it all.
We each wrote down our prayer requests for the year, folded them into paper airplanes and threw them around the room! Which ever one was near us at the end, we picked up and prayed for that person's requests. A different way of doing things :o)
The candles were to remind ourselves that a whole bunch of small flames can make a lot of light: so all we do individually to better Cambodia, help another, etc. all joins together to make a difference.
Grace enjoyed the different activities, but this is what Jasmin actually did: took her morning nap.


And the success of seeing Grace voluntarily play with Jasmin to begin the new year is special too. Still there are plenty of "no!"s exclaimed when Grace doesn't want a curious Jasmin looking on or grabbing at what she's doing.