The last couple of days have been a blur, and I'm thankful it's Saturday. I only wish that it was Saturday at 9:00am rather than Saturday at 5:00am, but I haven't completely kicked this jetlag. 

I knew before coming on this trip that my family would not be able to sustain the 16-hour-a-day pace I've set for myself on previous trips, and I fully expected to limit the time I play in the hot, hot sun. I didn't, however, expect my kids to be so absolutely enthralled by the kids here that they would be the ones pushing us to stay longer, to play more, to go, go, go.

I guess I can't blame them -- it's gratifying (albeit overwhelming, especially for an introvert like my wife) as an adult to be the most popular person at the party. It's intoxicating for my children. There's really no rest for them at all, either at the school or at the orphan homes. From the time they step out of the car, 20 or 30 kids swoop in and whisk them off to play soccer, wiffle ball, tag or some other activity probably best experienced in significantly cooler weather.

Yesterday, at about 6:00pm, just as we were sitting down to eat at Prek Eng 2 Orphan Home, Pak's body said, "enough!" and he threw up breakfast, lunch and snack. As we watched our little guy flush his gut, we realized we'd better pick a different pace. A full day of school and a full evening of orphan homes just isn't going to cut it.

Thank God for Saturdays.

We're going to rest this morning and save up our energy -- we have a dance party to attend with a hundred or so kids tonight, and I preach on Sunday.

Sopang's daughter, Prek Eng 1

Xiu Dan getting ready for dinner at Prek Eng 1

Kori and a couple of her admirers

Me. Wearing a suit. Don't get used to it. I was on the evening news, signing an agreement with the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Well, neither Kori nor I slept terribly well our second night in Cambodia. We both woke up at around 4am after a somewhat fitful night’s “rest.”

We are thankful, however, that we were not greeted this morning by the sound of a pack of feral cats eating a baby strangling a parrot. That, or something very like that, was our cock’s crow yesterday. This morning, we were wooed to semi-consciousness by the collective groan of our household realizing simultaneously that sleep would no more grace our weary, sun-baked bones. 

So at 5:30, our adventuremongering son, Pak, who had previously promised to “go out every morning and watch the city wake up” croaked, “Less juss eat here this mrnnning…”

Yesterday was a big day.

We rose early (thanks to the aforementioned and unwelcomed cacophony) showered, dressed, and headed out to my favorite breakfast spot, a road-side phở stand off Mao Tse Tung Boulevard, across the street from a Cham Muslim mosque. As I suspected, my family was enchanted by the toothsome mélange of beef, wide rice noodles, shallots, herbs and chilies swimming in a savory broth. Pak ordered a second bowl, and would have eaten a third if he hadn’t already snacked at home.

We headed off, fatter and happier, to Prek Eng, and arrived at the Asia’s Hope Christian School, greeted by a hundred smiling elementary kids. I got a few hugs, but most of the attention was lavished on my wife and my kids. “Kori! Hello, Mommy! I love you!” “Hello, Chien! We miss you!” “Pak, Hello, my friend!” “Xiu Dan! You are so beautiful!" 

My kids were somewhat bewildered, but allowed themselves to be led off, grinning, to various parts of the school. For the next four hours, we played games, sang songs, and participated in classes. “Where’s Pak?” I asked. “I think he’s teaching in one of the rooms,” answered Kori.

When the lunch bell rang, the kids went back to their homes for their three hour break. We drove to a nearby restaurant and reflected on the day thus far. “This one girl kept tickling me,” said Chien, trying hard not to smile. “They keep pinching my cheeks!” exclaimed Xiu Dan. “Can we go back now?” asked Pak.

We finished our lunch quickly and headed to Prek Eng 2, the nearest orphan home. We played with the kids for another hour or so, and then walked with them back to school. Kori took a short nap on a cot in a shady area behind the school, I sat in on a staff meeting with all of the orphan home directors, and the kids participated in the classrooms. When the school day ended, I barely had energy to drive home.

After a delicious dinner at a local Thai/Khmer restaurant, we returned to the guesthouse and crashed. Hard. I guess it was about 7:30pm. Maybe waking up at 4:30am isn’t so bad after all, considering.

This morning, we’ll relax for a while and maybe eat breakfast at the guest house. I’ll probably take the kids out to the school, and then I’ll return for an important meeting with the ministry of Social Affairs. I’ll need to put on a suit (I’ll only do it for Asia’s Hope. No one else, so don’t ask.), prepare a short speech and exchange pleasantries with various officials including, I hear, the Secretary of State. I think maybe I should shave, too.

So, we’re busy. We’re tired. But we’re happy. Thank God for Asia’s Hope.

Its 5:02 am. I’ve been awake off and on throughout the night. Even the Ambien wasn’t enough to counteract the exhaustion and the jetlag currently wreaking havoc on my body and brain.

The boys seem to have come through this remarkably well. They slept reasonably well on the plane, napped for a few hours upon arrival, went to bed early – about 6pm local time – and appear to have slept through the night. Kori reports that Xiu Dan was up for a while in the middle of the night; it must have been during the time the Ambien was working, since I don’r remember it at all.

The kids also seem to be adjusting reasonably well to the new surroundings – no fighting, no extreme grouchiness – in fact, they’re treating each other better here than they do at home. We’ll see how long that lasts; we’re going to actually try to get them out and about for a while today, visiting the Asia’s Hope Christian School around lunch time.

We were greeted at the airport by Savorn and Sony, and by all of the directors of our Phnom Penh-area orphan homes. They gave each of our kids single stem roses, and had garlands of jasmine flowers for Kori and I.

The staff hustled us off to our guest house – a beautiful three bedroom apartment in the center of the city, near the famed “Russian Market,” or Psar Tuol Tompoung. The property is managed by a local church pastored by our good friends Narin and Quenie Chey. The Cheys and their four children, Donald, Donna, David and Joshua live across from us in a slightly smaller but otherwise identical unit.

The staff handed over the keys to the apartment and to the car, and Savorn said, “We’ll leave you. You’re tired.” We quickly sorted out who’s sleeping where, and unpacked as much as we could manage – we were running on empty, so we didn’t get far.

Aside from a quick trip to the store to buy eggs and juice, we really didn’t go anywhere or do anything. I took the kids on a short walk, after which the boys went to bed. I haven’t seen them since.

As much as I’d hoped we would be able to sleep through the night and wake up bright and early, I have a feeling that we’re going to be taking it slow today. Thanks for your prayers and good wishes. I’ll try to post more tonight, perhaps with pictures from the day.

Greetings at the airportXiu Dan and Sony

Pak and Savorn

Daniel and Donna, Narin and Quenie's kids

Well, in about a week, Kori and I will gather our kids, wrangle our luggage and begin our family’s first-ever trip together to Asia’s Hope’s ministries in Cambodia and Thailand. The initial journey will take us from Columbus to Chicago, Chicago to L.A., L.A. to Taipei and Taipei to Phnom Penh — about 40 hours of airplanes and airports. We’ll spend about a month in Phnom Penh, three weeks in Battambang and three weeks in Chiang Mai, 70 days in all.

It’s hard to believe that since founding Asia’s Hope in 2001, I’ve spent almost a year’s worth of nights away from home. Finally, I get to take my home with me. What a blessing it will be to integrate both sides of my life in such a beautiful way.

Kori’s always been emotionally invested in the ministry, but she’s always been the one stuck holding down the homefront. I’ve gotten all the hugs; she’s had to pay the price as  a “ministry widow.” I’m so excited for her to experience the joy of Asia’s Hope firsthand. She’ll finally be able to put all of the pieces — videos, photos, stories — together with tangible experiences. She already knows the names and has fallen in love with so many of the kids, now she’ll finally meet them face-to-face. I can’t wait.

My oldest son, Chien (12.5), visited Cambodia and Thailand a couple of years ago, but neither Pak (11.5) or Xiu Dan (5) have made the trip. This is going to be an experience of a lifetime for them.My son with Chien with his friends from the Prek Eng 2 orphan home in October 2007. They all look quite a bit different now...

I’m going to be busy – on the clock pretty much 24/7 – but much of my job will include things I enjoy anyway: interviewing and interacting with the staff, documenting the kids and their homes, strategizing and building relationships with colleagues and ministry partners.

I’m going to try to blog as much as possible, probably at least two or three times a week. I’ll post lots of pictures, and will try to keep things as entertaining and informative as possible. I’d encourage you to bookmark this blog or subscribe to its RSS feed. Pass it along, too! I’d love to give as many people as possible the opportunity to “virtually” travel with us. 

Please pray for our health, our logistics, our attitudes and our finances as we embark on this epic journey together!

As most of you have heard, there's a lot of political unrest in Thailand right now. Until recently, the violent anti-government protests were occurring only in Bangkok, hundreds of miles to the south of our work near Chiang Mai.

I received a call from Tutu, our Thai director this morning, and she told me that a bomb exploded at a market in Chiang Mai. She had left in the market only 20 minutes before the blast. While I'm thankful that Tutu was not injured, I'm also concerned. There have also been a number of other such blasts in the past couple of weeks.

Historically, coups and transitions of government haven't disturbed us too much, and I'm certain that our ministry will remain unaffected by the final outcome of these squabbles. Please join me in praying that this tension will be resolved soon, and that our staff, kids and friends will remain safe.

A common scene in Thailand: a Western man, buying a young Thai girl forced by poverty and oppression into prostitution.

As most of you know, Asia's Hope is committed to providing long-term, loving care -- in safe, family environments -- to orphaned children in Southeast Asia. These children are at extremely high risk of sexual and economic exploitation.

In Thailand, we work exclusively with ethnic minority "hill tribe" children. This excerpt from a report from ECPAT, a UK-based child advocacy organization sheds some light on the dangers facing the children we are working to protect.

While there is a general reduction in the number of Thai children in the sex industry this is not true for all children. The northern hill tribe children are especially vulnerable to internal trafficking due to state policies that discriminate against them in education and citizenship and thus expose them to poverty and disadvantage. 

The reasons why and how children are commercially sexually exploited are numerous and include:

• Poverty: A third of the population lives on less than US$2 a day and in the agricultural northeast one in six people lives on less than US$1 a day.
• Ethnic hill tribe children: There are approximately 800,000 to 900,000 hill tribe people living in the border region of northern Thailand. They suffer from disproportionate levels of poverty in relation to the general population and most of them lack citizenship cards. This means that they do not have access to health care or primary school, which limits their further education or employment opportunities. This discrimination makes the children and women especially vulnerable to trafficking and other forms of sexual abuse.
• Trafficked children: Many children are trafficked into or within the country through criminal networks, acquaintances, former trafficking victims and border police and immigration officials who transport them to brothels across Thailand. Because foreign children are unable to speak the Thai language and are often considered illegal immigrants, they are particularly vulnerable to physical abuse and exploitation.
• Sense of duty: According to traditional customs the first duty of a girl is to support her family in any way she can. Due to this sense of duty and to pay off family debts, many girls have been forced into prostitution and some have even ‘married’ their abusers.

Many organizations talk about human trafficking. With your help we're doing something about it.

Please consider making a contribution to Asia's Hope today. Help us protect these precious children.

I just finished a Skype video chat with Duang's wife Lew and their two daughters. I'm so happy to report that all are doing well. Both Lew and Kelapaw face a long road of recovery, but are happy to be out of the hospital, and living as a family again.

The family, along with Lew's mother, are living for now at the home of Tutu Bee, our national director. They will recuperate there for as long as necessary -- two, perhaps three months. Tutu is glad to have them there, and Lew's mother is enjoying her role as caregiver and helper.

Lew is still in rough shape. The swelling has gone down in her face, and she is doing physical therapy regularly to improve movement in her hand. Her hips and legs are her major struggle right now. She is unable to stand, and will use a wheelchair for at least two months, after which she will transition to a walker. Please pray that God will accelerate her healing, and bring her to full health and mobility ahead of schedule.

Kelapaw is getting around with a walker, and hopes to return to walking on her own in a few weeks. Both she and her sister were giggling and smiling; they will always feel a deep sorrow for the loss of their father, but I can foresee a return to some sort of normalcy over time. They are truly beautiful girls, and it was so good to see them smile.

The family is extremely grateful for the prayers, the condolences and the financial support they have received from all around the world. They know that they are loved, and they thank God for all of you who have kept them in mind during this extremely difficult time.

I too am very thankful for all of you. Please continue to pray for this family. And please continue to pray for Asia's Hope. 

I've updated many of you individually on Lew and Kelapaw's condition -- I also wanted to put some information up on the blog.

Kelapaw has been released from the hospital and is recovering. Lew, however, will remain in the hospital for another week or so, and will require more physical therapy and some significant time for healing.

We're going to keep Lew on staff, but change her duties some. She's very much looking forward to reuniting with her two daughters, and with Josiah, the little boy she and Duang cared for.

We will continue to collect funds for ongoing medical expenses and expenses related to the staffing changes necessitated by Duang's death. If you are interested in contributing to this, you may do so by visiting http://www.asiashope.org/support/. If you write a check, put "Duang's family" in the memo line, and we'll make sure it's allocated correctly.

Please continue to pray for this dear family.