Rich and Ronda Dolan

For those of you who might not know, Chinese New Year started on February 11th.   Many people were burning in these little metal burners all up and down the street.  These are 2 ladies that we say 'hello' to often when we walk down the street, so I asked her some of what they do. They burn gold colored paper and other pretty paper.  I am not sure how much of what is done in Cambodia is for the New Year angel and how much is for the ancestor worship that they do.   This is inside of their little house.  I asked them if they leave the food out all day.  They told me that they put the food out in the morning as an offering.  Then, when she is done burning all the 'gold' offerings, then they can eat the food except the fruit which is put up ont he wall on the spirit house. (I assume that it is like Khmer New Year and when they burning is done, that signifies that the ancestors are done eating.) Many of the stores had offerings of mainly fruit, br...

 I know that I just blogged but we got a great gift today! I assumed that since the mail wasn't running from Cambodia to the US, that we also weren't receiving mail.  I was wrong! One of my uncles accidentally transposed a couple of the numbers on our PO box and a friend ended up getting my Christmas card from them.  That's how I found out that the mail was coming in, just not going out.  (Well, you can send something for about $37 per letter sized envelope.) I walked up to the post office this morning to see if we had mail, since I haven't been checking it, and WE HAVE CHRISTMAS CARDS!!!  It was so exciting!  Thanks so much to Jim Hobson, Rick Hobson, Heidi Hollingsworth, Nathan and Wendy Lee, Ryan and Heather Askew, David and Erin Lee, Jimmy and Emily Lawhorn, and Charles and Judy Emerson (thanks too Judy for your update on your kids/grands)!!  We know that it takes extra effort to send things to us and we really appreciate your thoughtfulness. Reall...

A couple weeks ago, Rich and I decided to go to the Pizza Company and get a pizza.  I thought you might like to see some of the options that we have. Durian pizza.  Let me just tell you, durian stinks!  It smells like gasoline.  When you drive down the street, you can tell when it is durian season and where the sellers are.  (My parents would disagree - they like it - but I'm telling the truth!) I can't even imagine trying to eat durian with cheese and crust. This is another option. You can have little cheeseburgers in your crust.  Not that we are going to rush out and try this, but it would come way before the durian pizza! Another thing I thought I would show you is our carrots.  We talk about the excellent tropical fruit, but we also have really good carrots. In this picture, I'm trying to give you an idea of the size of them.  That apple is a regular large sized apple.   As for the school, tomorrow, Rich is giving the final in the cl...