Adjusting: sickness...

I’m starting to feel like I might be superhuman.

 Well, no, not really. But we are very thankful and amazed that I haven’t been sick over the last month.  So many bodily fluids flowing around me- green snot, yellow diarrhea and vomit (various colours); as well as a few different rashes plus migraine and cold/flu symptoms. 

Since we moved the 4 of us have been sleeping in one room together while work continues on the house. Despite the continuous streams of colour, and the sleep deprivation that comes when one quarter of your bedmates are vomiting overnight and another quarter are coughing , I seem to have (so far?!) escaped sickness.

Storms are a migraine trigger, and this years storms extended a few more weeks than we expected. 

New view

Follow the Lamb

those who have received the mark of the beast on their foreheads

persecution and threat of martyrdom

the incompleteness of 666

the dragon and his first beast whose habitat is the unruly sea
the Lamb who stands on firm and holy ground

the completeness of 144,000  

security in Mount Zion

those who have the name of the Lamb and of his Father written on their foreheads

.............

I really like how John Stott writes about the contrasts between Revelation 13 and 14 in the Bible study book we are using.   These are all his phrases, I just rearranged them.

Reading Psalms at church

Psalm 135. NIV & MSG

Singing and Psalm reading are my favourite things at church these days.

Mostly Sundays are really hard. Between being non Khmer, a mother of young kids, a wife of a preacher/musician - there are so many factors that make church a completely different  experience to  how I used to think of it.

Singing and choral reading of Psalms seem to be the most enjoyable for me as a non native speaker. If the kids let me I can actually participate. Each week we read the next Psalm, so we can even be reading the Psalm though out the week as we know what is coming up.

Mostly I think of The Message as more poetic than translations ('worthless things' vs 'toys and trinkets'  Ps 119:37) but in Psalm 135: 6 the NIV seems much more poetic to me. 

Recording the "Firsts " before this time morphs into routine

Today is the first time I'm cooking pancakes since moving about 2 weeks ago!
I've mostly been eating bread, salad veggies, cheese, tinned tuna.  I haven't really started cooking meals yet as we aren't unpacked or settled. But I have made hummus, egg salad and a chocolate cake in the rice cooker. No oven yet, a few essentials to get in place before getting the fun things.

We've never had a full size oven, they cost so much and I'm the only one so far who would really appreciate it, so hasn't felt like a good idea to spend the money. But with the kids getting older it might be worth it.

On Thursday I had my first walk to the market from here, our son helped me buy some veggies and fruit.  The other day we had some friends over for lunch, our first white visitors (actually only one is barang).

Transport and daily routines still feel a bit all over the place.

If you look at my Instagram it turns out I've been mostly taking photos of the sky and mud, such a different and amazing view.

Sand and sawdust, endings and beginnings.

Chaos and change.
Random disjointed thoughts about this random disjointed time.

Sharing a kitchen with extra people and without a stove.
Teething problems with plumbing.

Getting used to an absence of rubbish collection, wifi and cable TV;
and a presence of  big, fast vehicles on the road and wide open skies.

Weather changes, boat races, water running backwards.

Two big constant things ending,
not sure what the replacements will be like,
or even if there are replacements.

The start of the academic year in Cambodia,
the end of the academic year in Australia.

Sand and sawdust.
Living out of routine and out of boxes.