more than a month...

Its hard to believe that we have now been in Thailand for more than a month! We left Battambang (after living there for only two weeks) on May 10 and have been living at the Alliance Guest Home since.

We came here to await the arrival of our second son....Kailen Christopher Bellar, and here he is

He arrived two weeks early on May 29th at 12:23am. He weighed 8lbs 14oz and was 20.5 inches long. He is now two weeks old and doing really well.

Big brother is loving having his little brother to kiss on. We haven't seemed to hit a jealous phase yet, but I'm sure that will come at some point. Both boys are doing well and we are just waiting for Kailen's passport to get finished so that we can apply for his visa to get into Cambodia. Once that is complete we will be making our way back home to Cambodia.

Thanks for your prayers for all of us as we prepare to adjust to life in the province with two little guys. Pray for their health and safety, as well as ours.

More pictures and details of Kailen's arrival will be posted on our other blog: ajbellar.blogspot.com

On the Move...

Well...moving day is almost here.  We are hoping that by this time tomorrow morning most of our things will be loaded safely onto our moving truck and covered with tarps to keep the rain off.  After we send the truck off we'll have a few errands to run and then we'll head off to Battambang in our truck.

Pray for Chris as he manages the moving company tomorrow morning and pray that the truck makes it safely to Battambang without any problems.

Pray for us as we have a farwell dinner with our church leaders tonight and then try and get a good night sleep so that we aren't totally exhausted for the drive tomorrow.  AND pray for our truck to make it safely there as well.  This will be the first LONG road trip we've taken it on...and as it is an older vehicle you never know what to expect along the road.

We'll be staying in a hotel for a couple of days while we get things organized in the house and then we'll be moved in.  

Here's a pic of the front of our new house.  It is one of the older cement houses that was built after the end of the Pol Pot regime.  It is bigger than we thought we would get, but the back of the house will be used for the CAMA office.   We'll have two bedrooms, a living room, office and kitchen...and the large area out front for Aiden to run around in (he's gonna love it!)

As you look at this picture please pray over our house.  Our landlord is Buddhist and he does have a spirit house in the front out near the gate.  Those renting before us were not Christian either so just pray for the Holy Spirit to be present in and around our entire house and for no evil thing to be allowed in.

SO...our next post will be from Battambang!  YEAH!!!

Tex-Mex Meal

Left to Right:  Chris, Julee, Chenda, Aiden and Socheata

(Chenda is Chris' tutor and Socheata is mine)

Today we had our teachers from the Khmer School of Language over for lunch.  My tutor has been asking me for several weeks to make them some 'western' food.   I told her I would but asked for suggestions as to what exactly to make for them....as many Khmer don't like anything but Khmer food!

I asked other foreigners here what they have fixed for their Khmer friends and no one had a positive story to tell, one even saying that she fixed a large Khmer meal (Ginger Pork and another stir-fry style dish with veggies) for some church leaders one time and at the end of the meal one of the women exclaimed "WOW, American food tastes okay too!"

Needless to say I have been wracking my brain for several weeks on what to fix for them.  I wanted them to get a taste of the kinds of food that Chris and I grew up on, but I also wanted to fix something that they might actually like and eat ;o)   So....I went with good old fashion tex-mex!  I made fajitas, spanish rice, beans, and pico de gallo and to top it off I made a chocolate wacky cake and added some cinnamon to it for fun.

When they came this morning I had already made most of the food, all I needed to do was cook the meat and veggies for the fajitas.  As I explained to them what kinds of food we were having and told them the ingredients in all the dishes I could tell they were a little unsure as to how delicious this meal was going to be, but they were still excited and ready to sample it all.

I am proud to say that they seemed to enjoy all of it...though the beans were probably the most challenging for them.  I was really unsure about the rice.  Unless you are making traditional fried rice here you really don't mess with your rice...plain white rice is just the staple of the meal, so I considered making an extra pot of plain rice in case they didn't like any of the food and needed to fill up on something else.  I didn't end up having time to get that done but it was okay as Chris' teacher finished off her first serving of the spanish rice and then took another large serving and finished it all off!

After lunch Chris put Aiden down for a nap and while he slept we played Qwirkle together.  Now that was a challenge trying to explain to them how to play a game in Khmer!  But we succeeded and really had a fun afternoon with them here.

It is sad to leave these relationships behind as we prepare to move on to Battambang, but we hope to try and keep in contact with them and meet with them when we do make it down to Phnom Penh in the future.  Pray for both of these girls as neither are followers of Jesus.  Pray for them to have a continual flow of strong Christian students in the coming years and that they will some day make the decision to become followers of Jesus.

It's Official!!!!

YAHOO!!!!  We are very excited to be able to share with you that as of today we have officially been assigned to work for the next 1 - 2 years in Battambang!

This past Monday-Wednesday we made a crazy last minute trip up to Battambang to talk with David and Doris about what the future is going to look like for all of us and also to do some house hunting (just in case we did move to Battambang).  On Wednesday morning we all came to agreement that Battambang is the place for us to be for this next phase, and we are all at peace and quite excited about it all.

We also were able to find a house to rent....which was a double blessing since it all happened SO quickly!  Unfortunately everything was so rushed that we forgot to take any pictures...so you'll have to wait on all of that.

The house is an older one and needs some work, but the landlord was agreeable to do a few things for us.  It is a cement house with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, living room, office and kitchen.  What is great is that we will only be using the front four rooms and the kitchen and then the spare bedroom and the "garage" area will be used as the CAMA Office so its a great deal for all of us.

Thanks to those of you who have prayed for this, we do now have a yard area that Aiden can run around and play in and our part of the house is only one level so we won't be having to climb up and down stairs with two kiddos.  The extra bonus is that this house sits directly across the street from David and Doris's house and is also quite close to Sharon (our Filipina teammate's) home so we will have a sense of community with our teammates which will be extremely helpful as we welcome baby #2.

An update on that situation - It looks as if Aiden and I will be traveling to Bangkok during the second week of May (need to be there by the 14th) and then Chris has been told that they will allow him to head that way on May 25th, which is 2.5 weeks ahead of the due date.  SO, pray that this baby doesn't come before the 25th!!!

Once the baby is born we will have to get him a passport and then work on his visa to get into Cambodia.  Please be praying that this part of the process goes smoothly and quickly so that we can get back to Battambang and settle into our new life there.  Pray for Aiden...there are lots of transitions coming his way and we need wisdom to know how to take care of  his needs.

Chris and I are so grateful to God for his blessing and guidance in this process.  It has been a long and at times stressful wait, and we know there are rough times ahead with transition, but we trust in God's goodness and rest in that.

Almost there...

Its hard to believe that we are getting ready to start or LAST full week of full-time language study!  We have seven days left to go, and we are hoping that they will be fruitful days of study, and fun times with our teachers.  Its sad to think that we won't be seeing these people who have been a HUGE part of our lives this past year on such a regular basis.  We have promised to come back to Phnom Penh to visit, especially after the baby is born - they are all still secretly hoping that its a little girl!!  Pray for our two teachers at KSL who are not yet believers - pray for the next students who enter into their lives to be strong followers of Christ and that they will continue to hear about the love that Jesus has for them.

We hope to hear sometime soon (around April 1st) where it is we will be moving to.  It still seems that the two most likely locations are Battambang and Siem Reap, so just keep praying for those who are making the decision and then keep praying for a house for us to move into.  

Most likely once we hear which city we'll be headed to we'll plan a quick trip up that way to do some intense looking and then come back and pack up our things.  Our contract on the house we are currently living in is up on the 10th, so we are thinking we'll have to ask for a two or three week extension on that in order to give us enough time to gather our things and clean things up a bit.  Pray for our sanity through it all...and especially for Aiden as his little world is getting ready to be turned upside down!

One year and counting...

     It's really hard to believe that we have officially been in Cambodia for ONE entire year!  We arrived here in Phnom  Penh last February 15th, lived with a Cambodian family for a couple of weeks and then found the home we are currently living in and began our language study!

     At times it seems that time has just FLOWN by...and at other times the days have seemed to drag - you know those days when you just miss your family SO much that you want to pack up and go home.

     This is actually the first time in a few years that we have lived in one place for this long!  In February of 2005 we moved from our home in Wilmore, KY and spent the next 4 months traveling between families and churches while we raised support for our apprenticeship with CAMA Services.  Then in July of '05 we moved to Battambang, Cambodia for 11 months.   After Battambang we moved to Manila, Philippines (for 10 months) where we studied at Alliance Graduate School.  We spent the first 6 months of that time in an apartment in Quezon City and then the last 4 months in a house a little ways outside of the smoggy city near Antipolo.  In April of 2007 we moved back to the US from the Philippines and settled for a bit of time in Lexington, KY while we waited for Aiden to be born.  Then we began several months of traveling back and forth between Texas and Colorado between our families.  In all, we spent 10 months in the States.  And now we have been in Phnom Penh for 12.5 months!!!!  WOW!

     Needless to say we are getting a little 'stir crazy' and feeling the need for a move! ;o)  Ok, maybe not...it has actually be really, really nice to have a place of our own for a bit of time.  However, the time is coming that we will be moving from this city out to the province.  We are still waiting to hear whether we will move to Siem Reap or to Battambang, but our projected move date is sometime in April!

With a new baby coming in a few months time we've got a TON to do so here's how you can be specifically praying for us:

 

          1)  For a decision to come sooner than later on the city where we will move to  (the sooner we know the sooner we can begin looking for a house to rent...which can be a grueling process!)  BUT we also know that this is a big decision for the CAMA personnel here on field, so pray for their wisdom and for God to speak clearly to all of us on which city we are to live in.

         2)  A new home!  There are a few things we are looking for in a home...especially since we'll have two little energy filled boys running around!  We'd like to have a nice outside play area (with NO snakes, and few mosquitos thank you very much!), preferably a quite neighborhood with some other children around to play with, a decent kitchen for me to play around in (Khmer kitchens are quite different than what we have back home...and I want a nice place to make good food my all my boys!!), a nice area where we can really REALLY relax and be a family.  Most homes here have tile floors and tiles half way up the walls which can make for a "cold" feeling and its hard to decorate.  I want my home to not be TOO western feeling, but also to be comfortable and relaxing for us.

** I'm also hoping that our new landlord would be willing to let me paint a bit in the boys bedroom....I've never had the chance to have a "nursery or kids room" and I want to do something FUN....or at least make it colorful for them!

3)  Closure - though our good-byes won't be long term as we'll be back in the city several times a year, we still need to have good closure with neighbors, people at church, and all our language tutors

I'm sure there are more things that I just can't think of at this point, but we'd appreciate your prayers for all these things.

Remembering...

     I can’t believe it’s already been a year (and this is my first time to blog...this is Chris by the way)!  One year ago, on February 13^th, my family and I left Colorado Springs to head back to Cambodia.  I love to fly over Colorado because I get a chance to spot mountains that I have climbed or mountains that I want to climb in the future.  So it was no surprise that I was looking out the window as soon as we left the ground

     About ten minutes into our flight I knew exactly where we

 were…over the Sangre De Cristo Mountains (the Blood of Christ)…I could see the sand

 dunes where the Great Sand

 Dunes National Park 

is located and I knew then that if I just glanced up a bit I would see Her…and Ohh did see Her!  She was covered in snow but that didn’t hide the massive rocks that connect the Crestone Mountains together.  The Crestone Needle was on the right and the Crestone Peak was on the left…and I was setting at about 20,000ft. (and climbing) in awe of the sight.  Then I began to remember…

I have so many great memories in the Sangre’s…but I have one story in particular that I would like to share with you now.  In October of ’96 (or ’97) I went on a climbing trip with some friends and family (my Dad went with us on this trip) to climb the Crestone Needle.  Our goal was to climb the Ellingwood Arete…but what we got surprised us all.

I will not embellish the story here but if you want all the details (from my point-of-view) ask me to tell the story in full sometime.

A good friend of mine, Kin White, and I started out to climb the Crestone Needle while our friends started off for another climb in the next valley (f.y.i. – Kit Carson, The Prow), and my Dad was watching us climb from camp with binoculars.  We had a slow start and continued at a fairly slow pace throughout the day.  When we reached the two hardest sections of the route we had already lost a lot of daylight…we realized this and were doing our best to pick up the pace.  However, on one of the difficult sections Kin took a lead fall and twisted his ankle in the fall.  We were faced with a decision: keep going up (we were not too far from the top), or start going down (and hopefully getting down before dark).  After much discussion we started back down the mountain. 

This proved quite difficult in that most of the sections we were repelling down did not have adequate ledges for re-setting a double-rope repel.  Nevertheless, we managed to loose quite a bit of altitude before nightfall, and found a good ledge to sleep on…so we cuddled up for the night.  Unfortunately, we had failed to bring adequate gear and clothing for a night on a cold mountain (in fact we only had one emergency rain poncho and a snickers bar…and our climbing gear…what was I thinking!).  We anchored ourselves to the Crestone Needle and tied our knots in a way that we would not easily undo them in the event that one of us lost our mind during the night (Hypothermia has many symptoms…loosing your ability to reason is one of them).  It was a long, cold night!

At one point during the night I clearly remember looking at the beautiful stars and talking with Jesus (I did a lot of that that night).  I said something that most of us have said at some point in our lives…I said, “Jesus I’m helpless here, and I’m freezing…I need you!  If you will just get me through this night…I’m yours…and I’m not just messin’ around…I’m serious.”  I would like to think of this more as a commitment to Jesus and not an ultimatum (sometimes I wonder about my view of God from that mountain top).  Regardless, I was helpless and in desperate need, and sometimes that’s how we have to feel before we look for help. 

Kin and I woke up the next morning (if we really ever slept) and started down that mountain with nothing more than sore muscles from shivering all night (Kin had a pretty sore ankle too).  I give full credit to God for protecting us from the cold and keeping us alive.  Getting stranded at 13,000 feet on the north face of a mountain in mid October with snow already on the ground, and no real protection for a cold night is not the best way to find Jesus, nor to make a dangling commitment to him…but it sure got my attention…and continues to get my attention.

I remembered all of this…as I was flying over that same mountain one year ago…I remembered just as I am remembering today.  And now, one year later I’m renewing that commitment.  I am just as helpless as ever and in need of mercy, wisdom, direction, peace, and a love that knows no limits.

So here it goes.

“I still need you Jesus…after all these years.  I’m so cold; I’m so far away; I’m so desperately in need of you.  I’m yours…and I’m not just messin’ around…I’m serious.  How can I be a dad without you?  How can I be a husband without you?  How can I help the poor and hurting without you?  How can I be merciful without you?  How can I see injustice all around me and continue to stand firm without you?  How can I love all of these people in my life without you?  No ultimatums this time, just one statement that I make to you in front of all the people that may read this:  Jesus…I’m Yours!”