This is where I sit this morning as I write in Kep (pronounced Kype), Cambodia.  For the next two days we are staying in the most incredible villa I could have imagined….But more on that in a minute…

I cannot explain the thrill that it is to see your child in the place where God has called her heart.  8,000 miles from home, from the safety of my own comfort zone, but smack dab in the middle of right where she is meant to be.  To see that smiling face and to be able to kiss it with my own two lips, to hear her voice without the interruption of a bad FaceTime connection.  To be part of the place she loves and to see  what she has learned, how she’s been stretched, the deep character that forms when you are so far from home in a place that holds more darkness than you’ve every known before.  Our Janay.  In her element.  Looking more radiant and beautiful than ever.

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The beauty of this place is unspeakable.  Even pictures don’t do its beauty justice.  As we made the three hour drive from the airport to this treetop paradise, I couldn’t help but try to take everything thing in.  Every details of sight, sound, smell.  Not just for my own sake and memory, but for each of you who have been such a support to Janay and this cause and have been so excited for us in this adventure.  With every picture I post, I want you to feel as if you are on this journey with us.  To experience these things outside our normal and comfortable box.  To see things more beautiful than our eyes have ever taken in.  To hear sounds we never even imagined.  To feel and taste textures and flavors our tongues had never dreamed of.  To be part of something so much bigger than us and our own backyard.  Stepping into the untamed, experiencing the work of God’s creative paintbrush even in the most remote corners of this earth.  This is only one place.  The world is full of such glorious unopened packages, whether at home or abroad, literally or figuratively, if we will just let brave fingers unwrap such treasures.  The possibilities are nothing short of endless.

I am seeing the handiwork of God in His creation, so obvious, so breathtaking.  But even greater, I am seeing the work of art that He is doing in and through Janay.  My baby, now a grown woman in a land outside my comfort zone, that is quickly becoming well within hers.  The simple things of seeing her ride a moto, speak to a local in their native tongue, explain to me the foods and customs and practices of the people here that she has grown to love.  Living out the calling on her heart.

THIS is the most beautiful thing of all…