Random day at school

Hope School is settling down into the new school year with a delightful sense of Christian community, good work ethic, and the odd random fun event.

Today is "Wear something on your head day"...just because... So here I am with my bee and flowers.

It is great that in this small community that the influence of peers is so encouraging. With the simple lifestyle here, little things can be a cause to celebrate and unite us rather than divide. Creative expression is encouraged, not teased. I thank God that my children are growing up in Hope School and coming to a sense of who they are in Christ so naturally and freely. Graham and I are blessed to be here, to be able to be ourselves and know we are appreciated for we bring to the school.

Fiona

Hope School art class - with a difference

Although there is a lot we do not have in Cambodia, there are some pretty unique opportunities that are not commonly found in western nations. Mrs Rachel Saunders organised for a tuk tuk to come into school so the children could draw it in art class. Here we have the year 7 and year 1 class working on drawings. Just imagine the world these children are growing up in and the impact this will have on their faith and sense of purpose.

Our visit to Australia

What would it be like being in Australia after 2 years abroad?

• would I be so glad to be back in Australia that I would be disappointed that we had signed up for another season in Cambodia?
• would I be too critical of western materialism and compare everything to Cambodia.
• would I just be confused the whole time.
• would everyone lives have moved on so quickly that we meant little to them anymore?

It might sound weird, but I was worried about coming home to Australia. It was a new experience and I had nothing to compare it too. So I decided not to think about it. Just to plan a few things and see how these unfolded. That waiting time was hard because I was very anxious.

So what is it like to visit your home country after two years.

Well it was a holiday. A fabulous holiday where we met up with family and over a hundred friends. A time to share our story with family and friends and a couple of churches. A time to relax with God, to read new books and drink nice coffee.

Nathan, Naomi and my Dad waiting for the ferry.

I did plenty of reflecting on God's call and came to realise that I had not returned home, so much as visited Australia. Cambodia was home, for now, and that that was okay. This time was an end in itself, not just a means to an end. I could allow myself to enjoy Australia and not feel bitter about having to leave it again, nor angry that it was so comparatively expensive and inward focussed.

It was indeed much easier to leave Australia the second time than the first. The great unknown of two years prior, was no longer unknown. I knew I would make it through and that Mum and Dad would too.

The kids and I did however, have to leave Graham behind for a few weeks, while he finished some university obligations. But that separation too, is something that, with all of Graham's camp work away from home in 2007/8, we had experienced before and knew we could make through again.

So thank you everyone for a remarkable time in Australia. We would have liked to have caught up with even more special people if we had had the time. Just as being in Cambodia has been a precious time of growth for each of us spiritually and personally, so returning to Australia was a time of growth. A time that, before I visited, I never appreciated would be so formative also.

Please pray for our second term in Cambodia. I know this is where we are called to be, as strange as that sounds, even to me when I say it sometimes.

God Bless

Love Fiona