Every day here has been such a gift.

Every once in a very long while you experience something that makes time fly and stand still simultaneously.  The days that aren’t long enough to hold the minutes and hours that are bursting at the seams, not just with activity, but with growth, change of perspective and a fresh fire in your belly.  The sand in the hourglass slipping from top to bottom too quickly, but if you look closely and savor the process fully and completely, appears to be in slow motion, heavy with the weight of its richness.  Seven days somehow sprinting, yet magically extending themselves to feel like a lifetime.

Yesterday we got to see the retail store that Janay will be opening soon.  Though I can’t give details, and again, can’t show you pictures yet, it is in a great location and is a great building for all that is planned for it.  So much fun to see and hear about her creative ideas that will mark the decor, the walls and the vibe of this place.   There was such sparkle in her eyes as she told us about the things to come, of what would go where, of the reasoning behind it all.  Can I just say that it kills me to be so far away when I’d love to be working alongside her in staging it all????  Mark and I signed our names to the wall that carries the signatures of supporters and friends who are helping to make the visions become reality.  I couldn’t get the ridiculous smile off my face as we left.  Anyone want to come back and join me for the grand opening? 🙂  You can bet that when it is up and running, you will find out its name, see pictures of how it looks and hear how intimately it ties to the restoration that God is doing here.

Last night, we joined Janay and her friends at a new local pub.  A very intimate, very “trendy” (our word of the night), and very delicious little place.  There were nine of us all together. ( Once again, by request, I have no pictures of these wonderful people.) This is one amazing community of young adults who truly care about each other in the most practical, raw and honest kind of way.  They have become each other’s family away from home.  They are real, hilarious, loving and easy to talk with.  In every way possible, they truly do life together.  And they each love Jesus and the people of Cambodia with all their hearts – a binding force of incredible strength.

I was practicing “this is my mom!” face in preparation for meeting Janay’s friends.  It might look like she is feigning a worried look of dread, but I think she really was a little bit worried about what her mother might do or say.  🙂

But I think both Mark and I did okay 🙂

This afternoon we will head out to discover even more.

And I find myself desperately wanting to turn this hourglass upside down…