good days are bad

Good days in the middle of chronic illness remind me of people who smile at you but don't mean it. At the time it seems good and nice but looking back you realise you've been deceived.

Soeun feels long overdue to leave Aust, we're only still here because sometimes things seem ok, so we think maybe it will get better around the corner. But now it feels like being in this situation for so long is making things worse. All the way along we have been wondering "are things too hard, should we change, or keep persevering?"

hello? hello?

With no postal system, no access to internet or land line phone the only way we can reach our Khmer family is by mobile phone. It can take days!

 Over the last five years or so it seems there have been so many new companies popping up. Our Khmer friends and family regularlly change their phone numbers , I think sometimes it might be cheaper to buy a new SIM that put credit on your exisiting one, or maybe when they see a better deal they go for it. So with people changing numbers it can be hard to get hold of them, we often don't have their most recent number.

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enjoying trains

 After an unplanned trip to Cambodia Soeun has been feeling healthy, and we are excited about making new plans. However he still needs to some how concentrate on The Last Four Essays while struggling with the approaching Dizzy Monster.

exciting FOCUS time

The last 6 weeks Soeun has been away, although it was an unplanned trip actually turned out to be good timing for me. At work its been so busy and exciting!

It started with the beginning of semester two when we met some of the new international students who have just started study, then there was the flurry of getting small groups up and running as well as our weekly all-in meeting. Almost as soon as semester started we had a weekend away, 40 plus people spent a cold but happy weekend hearing talks from the book of Jonah. My favourite thing about it was hearing the Christian students chat about their faith with each other and with the non Christian students who came.

After the weekend away our weekly all in meeting seemed to have an extra buzz, and more people. During the actual meeting there were more people, and dinner afterwards, which had been around 5 ish some weeks suddenly became around 15!

Next we had a special invite- your-friend meeting which turned out to be HUGE! We had a party sort of atmosphere, a talk with lots of props and free food while we chatted to visitors about Jesus.

phew! almost too much excitement, but the semester continues

rice paddy fun- there's more than one way to catch a fish

 When Soeun was growing up he caught various kinds of protein to eat, so many things live in rice paddies! He recently had the opportunity to re live this bit of his childhood. He has a "groma" around his waist to put the fish in once he catches them.

Got it!

breaking out of the cycle!!!

Soeun is spending some time in Cambodia. It wasn't a planned trip, but the side effects of chronic illness got too much for us, the disappointments and frustrations. It felt like it was useless- even destructive to go on how we were. So we are feeling relieved he can have some time getting healthy, and that we are making new plans.