More pictures from the Harley's in Thailand

Harley's in Thailand

Sorry we haven't written for awhile.  Our days start early, end late and are very full.  I will try to catch you up with what we have been doing in Thailand.  Tim brought an ultra violet light water filtration unit to install at the GROW home. So Tim worked on that also fixing the kitchen faucet since the water was down to dribbles.  That made Beam very happy.  We did have to get a new faucet for them though.

We decided to take the GROW kids to the zoo and aquarium.  None if them had ever been to the aquarium and two had never been to the zoo.  I tell you, it was more fun watching the kids watch the animals than it was for us to watch the animals.  Their faces were priceless specially in the underwater tunnel where the fish and sting rays swam over us. When we came to the place where you could reach into the water and touch the sharks and sting rays, the GROW kids weren't too sure about that.  But after some encouragement from our kids, they were able to do it. Again, priceless expressions on their faces.

Faa and I were able to do some shopping for GROW, so we will have many new things when we return.I have some really neat bamboo placemets and silk pillow covers and so much more. At one market as we were leaving, Faa saw tyhe mother of one of the girls at GROW.  She was selling scarves.  Faa had been trying to reach her but unable, so it was good we ran into her.  Faa explained to me that she had to pay her cousin 40Baht every day for a car she was using.  Some days she didn't make that selling her things.  So of course, I bought some things from her, 100Baht worth.  She was so happy. Sorry the picture is on Faa's camera. It was great to be able to help her out too.  And who would have imagined God using my ability and desire to shop as a ministry.  So cool!

Tutu wanted to spend the day yesterday introducing us to some of the exotic animals here.  SO we took some time yesterday to do that.  First we went to see the elephants.  That was amazing.  We watched them play soccer, basketball, paint and more.  We also took a ride. Val and I were on one elephant.  Val said she was ok with it until the trainer got off leaving us on it along. But we all returned safely.  Next we went to the tiger camp.  My favorite animal in the world!  I couldn't believe that I was actually petting a real tiger.  We were able to see the baby tigers 2-4 months old and a very large tiger.  Zac was too young to come into the big tiger pen, so he had to stay out.  Cool picture I took of Zac, it looks like he is the one in the cage and the tiger not. Tutu really wanted us to see the snake show.  We had tried to get out of that one, but we are glad we went. Other than getting real close with those things and being a little freaked out when the trainer swung the snake our way, it was a lot of fun!

 On Tuesday, we met two men Faa is considering for the GROW board in Thailand.  We had a great meeting with them with good questions on both sides.  There are some amazing people here doing amazing things! Last night, Faa took us to some property she is considering for GROW.  We walked the property as we listened to her dream and vision for GROW.  We prayed over the land too.

Today, we head out to get a few things for our kids at Grace Place: Thailand, then we head up to see them for a few days. We will also visit more possible property for GROW as well as Faa's village. Can't wait to see the kids though.  We hear they are excited to see us too!

Well I am sure I missed something, but you can always ask us about it when we get back! Love everybody!

Sunday, July 24 Evening

Sunday morning was a delight as we joined the Battambang homes for church services.  All the home participate in the service which is awesome. Savorn spoke since he drove up for the weekend. 

Afterwards Zac jumped up to the drums and the kids gathered around as he played.  Back to Grace Place we went for last minute massages and hugs from the kids. 

Final massage

We finally had to begin the process of saying goodbye. And believe me when I say process.  It only took 1/2 an hour this time to tear ourselves away from the crying children. This is the most difficult part of the trip for us because your heart just breaks and wants to stay and love on these kids some more. It would be easier to never come, some may say. A part of you is left behind, ripped out of your chest.  You are never again the same. But it is more than worth it. "At least we have more children to look forward to," says my kids. "It makes leaving a little bit easier."

We drove back to Phnom Penh, rode around in a tuk tuk with Pkeakdey, had pizza down by the river, started to pack for our trip tomorrow to Thailand. Tomorrow we see Faa and the GROW children and Tutu. And now, I say goodnight!

So hard to say goodbye

Gifts from Wooster Grace to Vannak & Home Directors

Sunday, July 24

Who is that on the menu from Apple Creek?

Well it is Sunday night here and a lot has happened this weekend.  We had such a wonderful time with the children at Grace Place: Battambang. They are all doing so well. I had to take a picture at the restaurant where we had breakfast because the Richardsons are on the front cover of the menu at a place coalled "Cold Night" 

After breakfast Saturday morning we headed out with Pkeakdey and her father again to visit three more possible children for the up and coming GROW Cambodia home. 

Two of the girls are 5 year old twins and the other is three. The girls looked like they were 3 years old because they don't get enough food to eat. Their father died in an accident and their mother has some mental illness that comes and goes.  The family eats when neighbors in their village give them some food like a tomato or something.  

GROW Cambodia orphan rescue candidates

We spent quite awhile talking with the mother and her friend whom she was staying with in Battambang while she brought her daughter to the hospital.  We gave the girls some beanie babies the Roselers gave us and the mother some money to buy some food for her daughters and self. She began to cry as I, Pheakdey and her father all handed her some cash. She was overwhelmed by the love we were sharing with her.

We then headed to Grace Place to pile all 40 kids, the staff and us into 2 vans.  Yep, that's a lot of people in a small space, but we did it! The kids had so much fun at the waterpark.  We pretty much had the entire place to ourselves.  For hours we went up stairs and down slides, played Keep a Way and splashed (see more photos below). 

After dropping the kids off, and changing, we met the staff of our home at a BBQ and buffet restaurant as way of thanking them for what they do for these children and to give them a night off..  At first we weren't sure we were going to eat at all because everything was raw (meat and fish).  Then we learned that we cook it at our table on these little grills in the middle of our tables. It was quite an experience. Vannak and another staff member kept bringing us new foods to try. You may not wish to know what all we ate, but it was pretty good, never mind we all felt a little queezy in the stomach and bowels later. Yikes. But better now!

We returned to play with the kids some more of course.  By this time my kids are wanting to stay here and never leave. It is that or hide 40 kids in our suitcases! We Skpyed with Pastor Ivanildo and the older kids who are doing very well in English, spoke with him.  I will say I do not think I will do that again because Nga began crying after speaking with him.  She held onto me for 15 minutes or so crying about how much she missed him and wanted him to come back.  This began a domino effect as about 5 other girls joined in holdiong on to me.  I was able to convince all but Nga to join the others dancing and having fun.  I passed Nga off to Tim and she help on to him most of the rest of the evening crying.

Sokha

Sokret

blog entry from Harley kids

Hey this is Val! The kids were completly awesome! It was so hard to leave them after only spending 3 days with them. I didn't relize how hard it would actually be. The love they give you is enough to last forever and the amount of hugs too :) Ive totally fallen in love with all the kids, we just left Battambang and I already can't wait to go back to the kids! I'm really excited to get to the Thailand so I can play and get to know the kids there as well! By far this is the best trip I have ever been on. The food here is umm lets just say interesting :) We've had a few nights of eating American food so we got to take a little break.

 

This is Zac writing now. Once I met the Grace Place Battambang children, I immediately became attached to them. They were all so loving kind. They gave us massages every time we came. It was incredible the amount of love these orphans showed us. When it was time to leave, they all started crying and hugging us for a long time. It was so sad to see them all crying. But there are more kids to see in Thailand and I can't wait.

 

 

Contrast of darkness & Light in Cambodia

Internet wasn't working last night, so tonight I am writing for two days.  Yesterday we visited Angkor Wat which is a large complex of ancient temples and cities.  This helped us to understand a little more about the religion of many people here.  I am including a picture that sums up our thoughts on this day.  Here you see a tree's roots clutching the temple rocks. These are everywhere.  It reminds me of how the Evil one takes people into his clutches, destroying lives, and not letting go.  This is what I saw with people bowing down before stone statues.  Satan has them in his clutches for sure. We even saw an elderly couple with a flashlight searching in a dark part of the temple looking for a water well that supposedly contains holy water that will heal them.  They dipped a bucket into the dark well and pulled out the water placing their hope in that. Very sad.

 

Today was a much brighter day!  The day we have been waiting for.  The day we get to go to Grace Place and see the kids.  Vannak surprised us when we arrived at the hotel with about 25 of the kids there to greet us.  That was so awesome to have them there hugging us already.  After spending some time with them, they returned for lunch and we checked into our hotel.

 

After lunch, we met Pheakdey and headed out to visit some children that GROW is looking to bring into a new GROW home in Cambodia.  We had to walk quite a way due to the rain making the roads bad then down a bike path to meet the three children.  They are living with their aunt and uncle and their two kids on $3 a day.  The children do not have enough to eat and are in desperate need of being cared for.

 

We then traveled to Grace Place. Wow what fun we had.  Nathan played guitar while Zac drummed out a beat on the chair and Val sang, we played snakes and ladders which we brought (a big hit), we ate dinner with them, and danced.  Zac spent about an hour with Nga imitating everything she said in Khmer.  Most of the kids gathered around and laughed at the scene. It then went to mimicking motions and soon broke out into dance. Volleyball, soccer and lots and lots of hugs rounds out the list of things we did with the kids.  We were exhausted when we left tonight.

 

Hope all is going well at home.  We miss everyone, but couldn't't be happier than to be at Grace Place.

 

Mealtime at Grace Place Battambang

 

Sharing with our kids at Grace Place Battambang

 

 

Our Kids!

 

 

Zac trying to repeat Khmer words to everyone's laughter

 

Surprised by Vannak & kids at TEO Hotel

 

Orphan Children to Rescue

 

 

Road to Village

 

Angkor Wat

 

Harley's visit the Killing Fields & the Homes of Love in Cambodia

It was important for today that I arranged for us to visit Tuol Slang and the Killing Fields to get a better understanding of what people here have experienced and what lurks in their memories.  For those of you not born yet in the mid-70's or for those who really didn't learn what had actually happened here, I will only briefly share now. Basically the Khmer Rouge, a group of Cambodian people aligning themselves with the Communists, attacked their own people killing 2 million of them in the worst possible ways.  The educated, the professional, the wealthy, the leaders, and their families brutally murdered.  The vision of the Khmer Rouge was to reduce Cambodia to a non-thinking group of slaves who did whatever the Regime told them to do.  They set out to destroy Cambodia financially, socially, spiritually and physically.  They wanted to destroy the culture and make pure, innocent, loving people into killers.  Just about everyone you meet here has been directly effected by this event.  Some lost their parents, some fled the country, some were taken into the military where they were taught to steal and kill.  It was a great tragedy and still has its ugly evil fingers trying to grip the people of Cambodia.

After an emotionally heavy morning, we decided a visit to the Asia's Hope Christian School would be a great way to end the day and lift our spirits.  We played with the children during their recess. Tim and Zac played vollyball using the tree branch as a net and a soccer ball. Then we visited the classrooms, Nathan, guitar in hand, and played some songs they knew in English ,and they sang some we knew.  It was a great time of fellowship. [Please note that Pastor Daron will post pictures later]

Tomorrow we head up north to Siem Reap. Thank you so much for your prayers. Keep them flowing please! So please leave a comment of encouragement.

Monday, July 18

We arrived safely with all of our luggage yesterday. Today we met up
with Pheakdey, a friend of ours and former Asia's Hope employee. She
is expecting her second child in November. So even though my body felt
like sleeping, I persevered and took her shopping, what else of
course, as a way to be an encouragment to her as she has had a
difficult year. We were able to buy her some maternity clothes. She
was very excited. We also spent time purchasing some jewelry for
GROW. The rest of the family didn't need as much time at the market,
so when a cat came into the market, they found ways to entertain
themselves. I just kept hearing the cat meow and the kids laughing.I
am not sure i want to know.

Cultural note - My children learned that the old saying, "children
should be seen and not heard" is still alive and well in Cambdodian
families. Pheakdey explained that at the dinner table the parents talk
to each other and the children are silent or silenced with the wag of
a finger. Parents do not interact with their children as we do. This
was quite foreign to our children who as many of you know are never
short on words. Their response was that would be boring if we didn't
talk to them. Dinner time around the table talking with family is
precious to me.

Well we are still on Ohio time or somewhere in between and I don't
think i can stay awake any longer. So more tomorrow..

On the way to see our kids in SE Asia (Guest Post)

We made it to San Fran a little tired and very hungry as we went from dinner Thursday night to 3:00 pm Ohio time Friday afternoon without food as the airline didn't serve any meals, not even a snack. So when we arrived at the hotel and saw a Denny's next door, we joked that it looked like Hyde Park to our stomachs. It was the best Denny's food we ever ate.

 

When we heard that our students here in San Fran were serving a meal to the homeless, we decided we counldn't miss the opportunity to begin serving even at this point in the trip.  So we took a cab downtown and met up with with the team at Youth With a Mission.  It was great to see everyone from Grace!  I can't wait til they get back to Wooster and have a chance to tell everyone what this trip did for them because the students have grown by leaps and bounds in their spiritual lives.  

 

Nathan & Zac with homeless friend

It was so encouraging to see.  They are so excited to be here doing what they are doing! Zac joined Nathan at a table as hosts where they engaged in conversation with the hungry, homeless who sat at their table.  Val and I took orders, went to the kitchen to fill their plates, then served the people at the tables. We took the opportunity to talk to people too. 

 

The students then took time to pray for our trip.  What a blessing that was to us. Afterwards, the students had a debriefing meeting while Pastor Nick took us to get some dinner and catch a cab back to our hotel. It is now Saturday morning and in a few minutes we leave for the airport. Steve Knight is escorting Nathan to the airport to meet up with us. We will have a 12 hr 20 min flight to Seoul then a 5 hr 25 min flight to Cambodia.  We should arrive in Cambodia 10:00 am your time Sunday morning.

 

San Fran Team prays for Harley's

I want to thank everyone now for following us on the blog and praying for us.  We are bringing so many hugs with us from all of you to give to all the children, we can barely wait to give them out. Pray for the usual health and safety, but more so for the encouragement we can be to others and the love we can share from Christ.

 

God Bless All of You,

 

Jeana Harley for the Harley family

Harley Family Prepares to Leave the USA

Tim, Jeana, Valerie and Zac Harley are preparing to leave Ohio early Friday morning to meet Nathan in San Fran and head to SE Asia. Please pray for them as they love on our children at Grace Place in both countries and at the GROW home, encourage our staff there and more.