Leaving Kyle......

 Kyle, outside his dorm room....

Inside his room...

We left Friday afternoon after Brad was home from school and went to Grammy and Papa's, this was the first time we have been to their new house, it is beautiful.  Saturday morning we headed out to Davis and got Kyle all checked in and unloaded, and after a Costco trip, said our goodbyes!  I am getting pretty good at this, I didn't even cry! Sunday morning on our way home, Dad texted Kyle and he said come have breakfast with me, so a quick detour on our way home, one more goodbye..... I was doing pretty well until the quietness of the backseat got to be pretty overwhelming, how often in the last thiry+ years has there only been one child in the backseat!!  There was no one arguing over headphones, or who would take Jackie out at the next stop.  I know Brad is a little concerned about being the only child, I was discussing it with Kerri this morning and she said, "Tell him, I'll trade him places, I would love to be the only child and have mom and dad totally focused on me!"  The UC Davis campus is beautiful, I think Kyle is really going to like it there.

Grammy and Papa's new house, they have "moved to town".

Life in Cambodia

Dad told Brent how hard it was for him to leave Kyle at UCD.....this is Brent's reply:
     Hey dad I'm sorry to hear it was a rough week, letting go of Kyle must have been hard but he is a smart kid and will do fine, and the Lord will take care of him.  I think each time Heavenly Father lets one of his children go and come down to Earth He must feel some anxiety of sorts, this life is definitely not how we expect it to be nor can it be exactly what we want it to be.  I don't want to be the preacher who says "be grateful for what you have" because I know those expressions are much easier said than done, also I know when they are directed towards me they normally just piss me off like "forget yourself and go to work" or "two years is so short" even if it's true it doesn't help, but I would like to tell you about some things I saw this week, (and that is just this week alone).
      I saw a little five year old girl being beaten by her father, I see malnourished orphan children begging in the rain with little clothes and no shoes, I saw a wife swearing at her husband because he began to cry because of the pain from his sickness (he is partially paralyzed and in a lot of pain everyday), I saw a 9 year old smoking and not a single person gave a @#*# (I made him throw it away and promise to stop smoking, the next day he was smoking again).  I was shaking with anger at the lack of responsibility rampant in the more poverty stricken areas, I saw two kids playing in sewage water when I told them to go home and clean up they said we dont have a home it burned down. When I asked where are your parents they said they were in the house and died.  One thing is for sure this life is not perfect, not fair, and frequently not enjoyable, I don't understand why we are allotted what we are in life, why life can be so unfair, but I do know that we must have a hope in Christ, because if we don't have a hope in Christ, what do you have?  Nothing.  Money will eventually cease to bring happiness, the ones we love will ultimately die along with ourselves, and there is no purpose to our life, but if we have a hope in Christ we gain everything, our loved ones will live again, our failures will lose their significance, and what was not fair in this life will be made just by a Perfect God.  Often I find myself believing because the alternative unbelief is so unappealing, anyways most important is I am grateful for parents who love me, who have fulfilled their responsibilities as parents to their utmost ability, Dad, you are a successful father, a successful husband, and you are my example and my hero, I Love you dad,
Brent

Davis......

Who said this could come so fast?  If you ask Kyle he would say this has come very slowly.  Almost all of his friends are already gone to school and he still has this week to endure at home!  We did a lot of  "school shopping" this weekend.  We bought a microwave, printer, surge protector, socks and underwear.  I think he was most excited about the latter, the more you have the less laundry you have to do, (Kyle's theory) he doesn't have quite enough for the whole semester so mom better give some washer/dryer lessons before he leaves!  And who knew college shopping would include a trip to the bike store--he and dad were at the bike store a few weeks ago and came home with a fixie, but we needed "fixie supplies", fenders, lights (they ticket for no lights), a pump, I'm not sure what else but all very necessary things.  Let's see, two pairs of shoes, running clothes, school supplies, etc.  He had a hat and sunglasses on his list too, but mean ole mom said, you can pick those out yourself.  He needs to learn how to use his own debit card don't you think!  Anyway-it was a fun day for mom helping Kyle accumulate all those things he "needs".

We woke up Sunday morning with a surprise in our email, someone at this baptism had emailed us a picture--thank you, it's always fun to get an unexpected pic or news of your child!

And here are a few pics of Maddie on her first birthday (actually the day before).  Bri and Sarah spoke in church last week so we had the pleasure of going to Tustin to listen to them and hold Maddie.

I think her present from Uncle Brad was her favorite, you push the giraffe down and it makes all the little balls pop.  The giraffe ears are just a  nice size to put in your mouth too!

Beautiful Maddie!

Special-----

 I am a little hesitant to post this...but....

While returning to Takhmao to do splits they enjoyed some "special meat"!

 Also a highlight of getting to return to his former area, a visit with his favorite person--Benyin!

Brent says it's official,he comes home on December 14, we don't have his itinerary yet, but he needed to know which airport to fly into.  He and Kyle decided Ontario, Kyle finishes finals on Dec 14th also, the plan is to fly Kyle into Ontario before Brent so he can meet Brent at the gate.  We'll see if it will work!  I said, "No fair, mom was promised first hug!"  I've been promised first hug down the escalator.

Powell

Brad

Kyle--I can't believe how much he looks like his dad in this pic!

Dengue Fever

Well since my last post about the party for Brent in Battambang he has had some excitement.  I am not sure he wold use the word "excitement" though.  He arrived in Phnom Penh to be a zone leader in the south zone on a Friday, he had been a little ill when he arrived, but on Monday when he stopped by the mission home he told the President he was almost 100%, that night he got very sick and was in the hospital with dengue fever.

 Dengue is also known as breakbone fever, because that's what it feels like, every bone in your body is breaking.  The mission president's wife, Sister Moon had been leaving messages for me with updates all week on our answering machine, however I cancelled Verizon voicemail a few years ago and have never been able to get our answering machine to work.  You get our recording to leave a message, which I couldn't turn off, but neither could I retrieve any messages.  No worries, I didn't really care, most people call us on our
cells anyway.  On Friday I picked up the phone and it was Sister Moon callling to update me again on Brent, I was completely stunned, what!, Brent's been in the hospital all week?!  He was in the hospital for a week and spent another week recuperating at the mission home.  He is back to work and looking good.  He had an emergency transfer to be a zone leader in another area, it seems the previous set of missionaries apparently had death threats so they were transferred and Brent was sent to that area.  He's happy about the transfer, he got a new comp that he really likes.  Oh and the problem with my answering machine, I find out.....Verizon cancelled my service as I requested, by not letting me retrieve calls, but was still intercepting my private voice mail with their service and my old message!  I finally, after three hours of convincing the tech guy this is a tech issue, not a billing issue, I got him to turn off the voicemail, problem solved!