If Christian life is a matter of living in an unfinished drama, then the improvisatory discipleship to which we are called requires something of a double immersion. We must be immersed in the biblical story and we must be immersed in the world. Only through such double immersion will we have any ability to discern faithful improvisations from missteps and dead ends. Rooted in a biblical vision of life, being formed in our very identity and character by this narrative, we attempt (in fear and trembling) to discern a path ahead.

-Brian Walsh & Sylvia Keesmaat {Colossians Remixed}

• Grate natural soap + then pulverize further in a blender.
• Heat 1.5 litres of water with 1/2 a cup of soap until soap is melted.
• Take off the heat and then add 1 cup of baking soda. This creates a fun chemical reaction and makes the detergent nice and thick.

That’s it! This website is a great resource for homemade laundry detergents with and without borax. (I chose without because I have never found Borax anywhere in Cambodia). And so far so good with this detergent. I use it to clean our cloth diapers – 1/2 cup of the detergent for a small load with some vinegar in the rinse cycle. For any stubborn stains, the Cambodian sun bleaches them out in no time!

It beats buying packs of wipes every other week or so (no Superstore or Costco where I can buy bulk here in Cambodia), and since we’re using cloth diapers, there isn’t any extra work involved. We just toss the wipes and the diapers into the same pail. We’re washing diapers multiple times a week, what’s an extra few bits of material right?

Homemade wipes are also surprisingly easy to make.

Step 1: Get some fabric and cut it into the size of wipes you want. (I’ve folded mine over for the photo on the left). You could also use baby washclothes. I picked out some soft cotton at the market and had a tailor (I don’t have a sewing machine!) serge the edges.

Step 2: Make baby wipe solution:: Mix a tablespoon of baby soap (any kind will do! I’ve used Johnson’s and Kodomo pictured in the photo) and a tablespoon of baby oil with a cup of water. I usually double the recipe and put it in a larger sized (see right) jar so I don’t have to be mixing ingredients as often.

Step 3: Find a tupperware container – or whatever container you prefer – and layer the wipes inside. I fold mine so that they are easier to pull out of the container.

Step 4: Drizzle the baby wipe solution on the stack of wipes in the container and allow to soak through for a few minutes.

Voila! Your own baby wipes.

This quote landed in my inbox this morning. It was so beautiful I had to share.

“The work of Jesus was not a new set of ideals or principles for reforming or even revolutionizing society, but the establishment of a new community, a people that embodied forgiveness, sharing, and self-sacrificing love in its rituals and discipline. In that sense, the visible church is not to be the bearer of Christ’s message, but to be the message.” (Peter Steinfels, On John Howard Yoder, qtd. in The New Christians)

We love food. Love eating. And mostly, we love sharing these two things with friends and family. Our time in Canada was positively amazing for this. We visited local brew pubs, {Bushwakkers, I love you!} drank home-made beer {thanks to my father-in-law and brother-in-law}, picked blackberries and crab apples and rhubarb and made crisps and sangria and other delicacies. We bbq’d. We ate steak countless times.

We feasted with abandon {The first trip home to Canada in 2.5 years deserves celebration!}

There were a few things we noticed though. People eat a lot and often. Portion sizes are wayyyy bigger. {Especially compared to portion sizes in Cambodia – where I am convinced the French have left their mark in yet another way}.

Food is so accessible.

Since being in Cambodia, we’ve grown to appreciate scarcity. All the things we are used to in Canada are harder to come by here. And when they do make an appearance, they’re expensive. And so…we’ve become more creative. And we definitely make more things from scratch! Interestingly enough, I {who always hated cooking growing up} have found it FUN to make our own things.

On the weekend, we went on a limb and made bagels. They were delicious.

It brings us back to some fundamental human value. Sourcing + making our own food. No packages. No extra sugars + High Fructose Corn Syrup. We work with our hands to make something we can eat – with great pleasure – along with friends and family. I think it’s a good skill to be remembering. That food hasn’t always come in plastic. And that it deserves time + care. And that we should make what we need so we don’t have to throw a whole bunch out.

Sure, it’s just food. It’s just calories and energy to propel us through the day. It doesn’t feel like a big deal. But there are so many opportunities to pursue justice with the food we eat. Local ingredients = less fossil fuels used. Sharing our food builds community + relationships {And maybe pursuing justice with food will also help Steve + I get back to our pre-Canada weights!}

No, it doesn’t answer the problem of the famine in East Africa. And it isn’t ending global hunger. But maybe, just maybe, if we all thought more carefully about what we eat, and where it comes from, and how much of it we buy and consume, and if we made changes to our lifestyle to consume more locally. Maybe then we could change the world.

It might just be food. But it has the potential to be just food. And that’s what I thought about while making bagels.

As the Global Body, may we always choose the way of peace, though it be the path least traveled. May we always choose reconciliation, though it be difficult and arduous and uncomfortable. May we always be agents of love and forgiveness and resurrection in our villages and cities and countries.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace

Where there is hatred, let me sow love

Where there is injury, pardon

Where there is doubt, faith

Where there is despair, hope

O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console

to be understood, as to understand

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned

And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen

It’s September 1 + here we are off to Cambodia again. Only this time we’re three years wizened and this time there are three of us. It’s a bittersweet re-entrance to Asia this time. We’ll miss things about Canada for sure – and this time we really know what they are. {Family {grandparents especially!}, sweatshirt weather, mountains, peanut butter m & m’s, + friends}.

But we long for Cambodia just the same. The sense of adventure + hilarity around every corner. Some of the most profound experiences of community + the Body we have ever had the privilege of having. Ultimate frisbee year round. Work we are passionate about.

It’s a strange thing feeling so at home in what seems like two diametrically opposite places.

Hot + cold. Wet + Dry. Rich + Poor. Vast + Dense.

But it is true. We’ve sunk back into Canada so easily. Seamlessly. Driving our car. Roaming Walmart. Reconnecting with family + friends like there hasn’t been 2.5 years between us. Dropping $16 on a meal because that’s just what it costs in Canada.

But we’ll sink back into Cambodia too – with Aya along for the ride.  Into our home church community. Into the unbearably sweaty heat. Into work. Into noodles off the street + clothes from the market. Into driving our motorbike around town.

Au Revoir Canada! We’ll be back soon.

{from weheartit.com}

This has been on my mind since the day I found out I was pregnant. I realized that I never did tick the “pregnancy” box on my health insurance plan through work. And of course you can’t buy fire insurance after your house has burnt down.

Why did I not even contemplate ticking an extra box? Cause in Canada, we never have to worry about the blasted things. We never worry about insurance plans and basic health coverage. I’ve never once thought about the fine print or whether or not I can afford medical care. Because, thanks to Tommy Douglas, Canada has a quality {universal} health care system.

We thought about heading home to Canada for the birth. But living in Canada for six months (to qualify for health care) didn’t feel like a reasonable option with both of us committed to jobs in Cambodia. We opted to go to Thailand instead where health services are far superior to the Cambodian alternative and where our nearest Canadian embassy is located. It meant 6 weeks away from Cambodia (instead of 6 months), and it meant safe medical services in the event of an emergency.

And so we began our foray into the private health care system.

The care was fantastic. High quality. Good doctors. First-rate services. Our first prenatal check up at the hospital in Bangkok was the equivalent of walking into a five star hotel complete with a pianist drawing Mozart + Beethoven from the glossy white and black keys of the grand piano in the lobby.

But it was also a wake up call to how good we have it in Canada. While the experience was a safe and healthy one, we always felt as though money was fueling decisions the doctors were making. Extra ultrasounds here and there. Extra procedures. Upselling drugs and services. Baby Aya was moments from being born when the doctor asked me if I wanted forceps or a vacuum to help the baby out. One big contraction and push later, and Aya fell into the world without any help from medications or devices + tools. It’s not that any of the things are bad. It just makes you wonder in the private system, if medical practitioners are doing things in the best interest of the patient’s health, or if there is some ulterior, financial motive.  And when you’re in the middle of labour, you’re certainly in no position to advocate for yourself! You have to trust health care providers.

On the flip side, my uncle has had a completely different health care experience. One I juxtapose with Bangkok and remind myself of how incredible universal health care really is.

A few weeks ago, my dad took his brother to the emergency room because vasculitis was attacking his kidneys. It has taken weeks of specialized treatment and care at the University Hospital in Edmonton to control the disease. Countless sessions of dialysis. Medications. Doctor’s rounds. Even a plasma transfusion which is still in the research stage. Thousands and thousands of dollars have gone into saving my uncle’s life. Thousands of dollars that we could never have afforded as a family. Unlike many of our neighbours south of the border, we never had to dig deep into our pockets or dig ourselves into debt with a bank – to pay for it.

And I don’t think people should have to. Universal health is a bit like an insurance policy for a nation. We all contribute to it every month through taxes. And we hope, against hope, that the only things we’ll ever need it for, is to get a prescription for antibiotics for an irritating cold.

But when the going gets tough. When an accident requires a trip to ER, or playing sports results in a broken leg, or your uncle’s life is threatened by a disease that attacks his blood vessels, that’s when you want universal health care. Cause it takes care of you. Your fellow citizens of the country you call home end up supporting you (and you pay into it yourself) through taxes.

I never realized how important it was until I didn’t have it. Living in Cambodia surrounded by very poor people who can’t access health care cause they can’t afford it, having to pay out of pocket for my baby to be born, and seeing the complete opposite for my uncle under the Canadian health system have cemented it in my mind. Universal health is so important. It is a way to ensure justice – just access to life-saving health care for all people.  I won’t take it for granted again.

photo from http://weheartit.com

I need some new goals. Ambitions that keep me going and dreaming and focused and active. But goals that are still reasonable with a baby in the picture.

It’s amazing what having a baby can take out of you! They are rewarding and beautiful. And seeing them grow and change isn’t even explainable. It’s a miracle that I am so grateful to be able to experience.

But. I still need some goals. Because I want my little girl to experience incredible things. And to ensure that, I need create an environment where that is possible. If I don’t…life will pass us by. And years from now I’ll wish that I’d been more strategic + determined. More focused. And that I’d dreamed bigger and pushed harder.

Here are a few {Cyberspace to hold me accountable!}

1. Fit {comfortably} into my pre-pregnancy pants again {without fear of seam splitting}.
2. Hike Nepal + Tibet
3. Visit China
4. Explore Burma
5. Train for + Participate in the Angkor Wat bike race {As per #1}
6. Do a long trek in Greece.
7. Learn how to + make sweet rice wine

Lord Jesus Christ, we come before you this morning, in awe of your risen majesty. When all seemed bleak, when we had almost given up hope, you conquered sin and death. This morning, as we revel in disbelief, and glory in your resurrection, we pray saying

Lord, take our hearts and make them brave…

I love that. Lord, take our hearts and make them brave. Brave enough to die to ourselves. To sacrifice. To live in confidence. To live as a Kingdom people.

Lord Make Us Brave.