Snow! Real, Packble SNOW!

Well, Missouri finally gave us some good snow :) Here are some pictures for you!

Lily loved the snow and was happy just walking around.

Abby just wanted to build Olaf and have a snowball fight.

We dragged the girls in a tube behind the Ranger. Abby loved it, and Lily hated it, of course.

And we finally built a snowman!

or two....

Remember to pray even for the small things! God loves when we come to Him like children and ask for things. He knows our needs before we even pray, but He allows us to ask, so that we can learn to rely and trust in Him. Our faith is made stronger, and we realize that God cares for us. 

Speaking of praying, this came out recently, and I wanted to share it with everyone, so you could continue to pray about it: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/new-step-towards-adoptions

God is working on adoptions in Cambodia, and we are excited to see what He has planned.

It was such a blessing playing in the snow with my daughters! I am so thankful that we were able to come to the States, and that we were able to stay longer, so the girls could experience good, packable snow! Thank you to everyone who contributed to this winter furlough!

BecauseHeLives,

Micah. 

Updated Departure Date

It is now February 25th. When Kelsi and I left Cambodia, we were under the impression that this would be our return date, but we have been blessed with extra time. Abby and Lily received visas upon arrival that go through to May 17th. At the time, it didn't matter, because we were needing to return in time for our directors to take their furlough, but things have changed and we are able to stay until April 25th. I will be returning to my position as School Administrator on May 4th--giving me a week to recover from jet-lag. We are super excited to spend more time with family and friends, and continue visiting new churches and sharing what God is doing in Cambodia.

What have we been doing in the states, you might ask? Mostly spending as much time with family as possible. Wendell has been setting up churches weekly for us to share. We have seen a rise in our monthly support and we even had enough to go ahead and purchase our plane tickets. I am no longer surprised by God's provision--He always provides. We at this point are continuing to raise support, with a goal in mind, but we also know that God will provide exactly what we need monthly, if we continue to seek His kingdom first and continue to place our trust in Him. It is exciting to share about what He is doing, and seeing people willing to be a part of it.

Since coming in November, we have been sharing at each church to please pray for adoptions to open up in Cambodia, and we have already seen that it is working. Rumors and whispers are what I call them, until I hear it directly from my contact at the Ministry of Social Affairs, but there has been talk that Cambodia will be finalizing all in-country adoption cases by the end of the year. We have even been told that they have shut down the foster care in preparation for this. I was already planning on going into the Ministry when we returned and fighting for adoptions, so it looks like God has already begun the work. We really don't know where all of this will lead, but we are excited to hear this news.  As usual we are not making plans. When we return to Cambodia, we are assuming it is for the long haul, unless God says otherwise. Keep praying for adoptions!

Because adoptions may be opening up, Kelsi and I discussed how we might help pay for it all--we don't know what it will cost at this point. Since we are teachers, and we are not doing anything during the week, it just made sense to substitute teach. We have already been busy with this, and it feels great to be able to contribute to the work God is doing in Cambodia, and it is easy to work with a good attitude, when you realize that the money you are making will be going toward adoptions one day--maybe soon.

I do have to complain about something... I try not to complain often, but the girls and myself are very disappointed... in Missouri weather. We were promised a long hard winter, and we have seen hardly any snow... all we have to show for this winter is dry cracking skin and two inches of snow. In the words of Abigail, "I wanna build a snowman!" Step up your game, Missouri!

Well, I think that is all for now. As I mentioned already, we have our return tickets purchased, and we are grateful to the many people who contributed towards that expense. We are blessed continually by your prayers and words of encouragement. Thank you to everyone who has committed to praying for us, and thank you to those who also financially support us! May God bless you as much as you have blessed us!

BecauseHeLives,
The Bergens.

Time in the States (Thus Far) - Resting in God

We have been in the states now for over a month. The time is going by really slowly, which we really appreciate. Leading up to our departure, we felt like we would never get here, but now the slow passing time is a blessing. We have been visiting with family and friends and have enjoyed more pajama days than I am willing to admit. All in all, the girls love it here. I do not think that they expected it to be as cold as it is, but they think America is awesome! This is probably due to the fact that they love sleep-overs and this month has basically been a non-stop sleep-over at different people's houses.

I have been thinking about blogging for the last week, but could not really think of anything "blog worthy" (as if anything on here is). I am going to write about a lesson that God is teaching me (Micah) right now.

I like to be busy. Like most people, I like to have a purpose. It is not so much about what other people think of me, but that I like to have things to do--it is just the way God made me, I guess. If you ask Kelsi, I am always wanting to work on projects. I have learned the lesson that I need to put Kelsi and the girls first in my priorities, but I still like my projects and work. Since being in America, I have not been doing too much. We are speaking at churches and trying to raise our monthly support (please be praying for that), but during the week, we are mostly just spending time at the Loyd house, and spending time playing with the girls. I noticed that I have been feeling kinda strange and some what distant in my relationship with God. The enemy took that as an opportunity to creep in and whisper the all-too familiar lie in my ear: "You don't really have a relationship with God. You are just acting like a Christian to make yourself feel better, ect..." That may just be me, but knowing that the enemy has very few tricks, I am thinking he probably tries it on you sometimes too. But it did make me think about my relationship with God (which we are instructed to do countless times in the Word--not from doubting but a healthy evaluation). When I start thinking about things, and when the devil is verbally attacking me, Kelsi usually takes notice, so she asked me what was up. After explaining what I was thinking, she spoke some great wisdom into the situation (single guys, keep your eyes open for a wise godly woman--I got mine). She told me that maybe God was trying to teach me to rest in Him. I know the importance of Sabbaths and the humility that comes with taking a break, but resting in God is not my strongest point. We go through seasons in our lives when we are laboring in the field (really until we get to heaven), but there are times when God calls us to breath for a moment--not because we are too tired to carry on--but because He wants us to enjoy Him. I really enjoy being obedient to God's calling... teaching and projects are who He made me to be. I like doing things and especially check-lists :) But without those things, is God enough to satisfy? Can I get in God's presence and just be content to be quiet? The season I am in now is a season of resting in God, and I am finding it difficult to just be quiet and still. I am grateful that God can speak wisdom into my heart through my lovely wife, and I am practicing resting--trying to clear my to-do lists and just sit with God in the quiet. I am satisfied with Christ, and I am so blessed to have this time to take a step back and remember why I follow Him--because He is the only spring of life that truly satisfies.

Thank you to all our supporters for your prayer and financial sponsorship. We are blessed by your faithful obedience, and this time in the states could not have happened without you!

BecauseHeLives,
The Bergens.

Abby's Eye

Most of you know that Abigail fell when she was young and damaged her right eye. This happened when she was a little over a year old. The last time Ron came to visit (Abby and Lily's biological mother), Abby came home from visiting with her with a new story about her eye. We had been previously told that she fell on a stick, but now Abby says that she ran into a hammer that was hanging on her grandpa's belt. This story seems likely to me, because she is always running around without watching where she is going. Which ever story is true, she is blind in that eye, and that is a fact.

We have taken Abby to an eye specialist in Cambodia, and after two seconds of looking into it with a light, he told us that she would never be able to see out of it, and that the stitches should be left alone unless they caused her problems. Obviously, Kelsi and I did not want this to be true. We wanted there to be some surgery that could be done, so that she could see out of that eye again. We let it go, but when we found out that we were going to get to come to the States, we decided to go ahead with a second opinion.

We went to see Dr. Susie sometime last week, and did not take pictures, because it slipped my mind. It was funny, because during the pre-check up, one of the assistants was going through the motions and came to a test with some glasses, and she said, "Have you ever been to a 3D movie?" I replied, "Yes, but she doesn't like them, because the glasses don't work for her." The assistant looked perplexed, so I added, "You have to have both eyes working to see 3D..." She looked kind of embarrassed and said, "Well, I guess we won't do that test..." Yeah... probably not.

Once we got in to see Dr. Susie, I was excited to ask the question... but before we got there, we found out that Abby is nearsighted. She will be getting glasses eventually, but not quite yet. The doctor told us that she would love to slap some glasses on her to protect her good eye, but she is still a little young for glasses. What a shock! Abby is going to wear glasses for the rest of her life!? I guess I couldn't give her my great sight, since she is technically not biologically mine... oh well.

We finally got to ask about Abby's blind eye, and Dr. Susie took a look inside. The doctor in Cambodia missed that Abby does still have part of her iris left, so she could be eligible for a cornea transplant. I was really excited, but then the bad news came. Even though she could technically get the transplant, her brain has already developed for three years with one eye, and there is a slim chance that it would adjust to having two eyes. Dr. Susie said that it would be hard to find a surgeon who would take the chance on it. She is still young enough to maybe pursue it, but we would need to be stateside with insurance before we tried anything with it.

It is looking like Abby is just going to have one eye. She is already quite adjusted to it, and most of the time, I forget that she is blind in that eye. We are super grateful to Dr. Susie for the check up. She was great with Abby and answered all of our questions with grace and kindness. And on top of it all, she gave us the visit for free. Such a blessing to our family! When/If we get back for good, she will definitely be our eye doctor.

Well that is your update on Abby's eye. Hopefully it answered some questions you might have about her vision and what we could do about it. We get asked all the time, "Will she ever be able to see out of that eye?" Like most things, God could work a miracle and give her vision... or He could show His glory in her through her testimony of a life with one good eye. Just as in the story with the man born blind, Jesus explained that it was not about sin that he was born blind, but so that the glory of God might be shown in him. I believe the same thing for Abby. We all have a choice to live for the glory of God, and I believe that her heavenly Father has a plan for her life that will give her an opportunity to show His glory in an amazing way. That is my prayer for her at least.

BecauseHeLives,
The Bergens.

Airplane!

So I am finally getting around to writing about our flight. We have been in the states about a week now: praise God!!!

Our flight did not go exactly as we planned. Phnom Penh to Korea was great. Abigail freaked out when we took off for the first time--a good freak out. She loved flying. Lily didn't even pay attention to it. The flight was in the middle of the night, so the girls basically slept the whole flight. The only thing not so great about it was that I forgot to take some Dramamine before the descent, so I ended up being super sick. We had a seven hour layover in Korea, so I had plenty of time to recover. It is a great airport to have a layover in with children, because there is tons of room, and there are play-places. We were able to put some dance videos on for the girls on my computer, and we basically just waited at our gate. I ended up walking across the airport for some Subway, which was great! We made our flight and took off for our long flight.
One good thing about traveling with small children is that you get put to the front of the line on everything!

The long flight was all right. Kelsi and I sat in the middle and the girls were on either side of us. They again slept most of the flight, and when they were not sleeping, they were watching movies! To the person who thought of putting movies on the backs of seats in planes, I love you. The girls were amazing! Such troopers. When we landed in LAX, we knew that we had only about an hour and a half to make our connection--because our flight was delayed slightly. We were not super confident that we would make this flight, because we had to go through immigration and re-check our bags, and LAX is a terrible airport. We told our flight attendant that we were going to be on a short connection, and so when we landed, they put us on the fast track to go through everything.

We went through immigration, and went to the front of the line on multiple security things, but in the end, having to re-check our bags killed us. By the time we made it to the place to check our bags, they told us that we should just take them to the gate. When we got to the gate, they said that since we did not have our boarding passes, and it was only fifteen minutes to take off, they could not do anything for us. So instead of getting on that plane at 10:15 AM, we were to wait for the next flight at 6:30 PM.

LAX is not a good airport to have a long layover in, and by this point, we had already been traveling for about twenty hours. As we waited for our flight, it got pushed back to seven, and then eight, and then eight thirty. By the time we got on the plane, it was nine. All I can say is you might want to avoid LAX and Delta is not my favorite airline, but that is based on one experience.

All in all, we landed in Kansas City! It was a long journey, but the girls were so excited when they saw their memas and papa standing at the gate. They were so excited about being in America that Abby ran straight to go outside... I don't think that she realized how cold cold could be. When it snowed on Sunday, she picked it up with her bare hand and then said, "That is sooooo cold!" When we played in the snow for the first time, she didn't last one hour. At forty minutes into playing she said, "Daddy, I think we need to go inside... my hands are freezing!!!"

We are blessed to have this time in the states, and we are slowly getting over jet lag--it is much harder when you have a baby! Abby and Lily woke up at two in the morning the second night and said, "We don't want to sleep anymore..." And Melody has been waking up at four in the morning ready to play, after on and off sleeping. I can't complain though, because most babies sleep like that anyway, but Mel usually sleeps through the night! Oh well, in the words of Abby, "We're in America!!!" :)

We would love to see you guys, so please get in touch with us, so we can plan a time to meet up with you! Our email is micah.kelsi@gmail.com

BecauseHeLives,
The Bergens.

Abby Goes to the Dentist

Abby was complaining about her tooth, so we looked in her mouth and found that she had a tooth growing in behind her baby tooth (commonly called a "Shark Tooth") Her baby tooth was wiggly but was not ready to come out. We decided to take her to the dentist to have it extracted, so that her other tooth would fall into place correctly. Here is a photo tour of our experience :)

Abby was not excited. A couple nights before, I tried to pull the tooth out (how hard could it be?). When I was unable to get it out, I told her that she would have to go to the dentist, and she cried, "No! I don't want to go. You pull it out... I don't want to go to the dentist, cause it will hurt." I could not convince her that it would hurt less at the dentist than if I tried to pull it out... 

 The whole procedure only took about five minutes. The dentist rubbed her gums with the numbing gel, and Abby screamed at that. When the dentist got out the pliers, Abby reacted as if it was a chainsaw. When the pliers went into her mouth she was not happy, but before she even had time to react, the tooth was out. The dentist asked me afterwards if I could help her to not be scared the next time... Hello, I bribed her with ice cream afterwards and held her hand and spoke to her in a calming voice the whole time. And leading up to it, I said over and over again that it would not hurt... what more could I do... seriously... any suggestions would be great... comment below.

It took me three tries to get her to finally hold this smile--showcasing her new gap :) The dentist told Abby not to stick her tongue in the whole or play with it for a while... who is she kidding, how can you resist? Abby kept telling me, "Daddy, I'm sticking my tongue in the hole :)"

 As promised, afterwards we went to the new mall, and ate ice-cream. Abby picked the chocolate chocolate chocolate... I'm not sure if that is really what it was called, but it was a big bowl of chocolate things, and Abby ate it all by herself, because Lily is as stubborn as Kelsi, and when she found out she had to share, she would not eat a single bite of it... other than the cherry on top, which she did not have to share.

Hope you enjoyed it!
Thank you to everyone who prays for us and supports us. It is because of you that we were able to take Abby to the dentist and ice cream! You are a huge blessing to our family!
BecauseHeLives,
Micah.

How Much Money Is This - Tickets!

So here is how this game works:

Take a guess at how much money is in the two bags. Abby and Lily have been saving for their trip home for over two years now, but it still amounts to less than $100. The square that is the correct answer is still open, so keep guessing. To guess, simply follow the instruction here and fill in the number which you believe is the amount in the bags. Then email us at micah.kelsi@gmail.com and let us know that you gave and guessed. The winner will receive a gift from Cambodia delivered by us when we come in two weeks!!!!

Here is the chart, again:

Here is the video!

Thank you so much to everyone who has already given towards this :) We are very excited to see everyone, and Abby and Lily pray each night and thank God for working all this out so that they can go see snow :)

BecauseHeLives,

Micah. 

Road Construction In Cambodia

In Cambodia, they do things a little differently than in the States. I have noticed that with construction projects, Cambodia seems to be much quicker, even though they have fewer resources available. This week, somebody in the Cambodian government decided that our road finally needed to be paved... well, in Cambodia, they don't pave things. Instead, they put up blockers and lay down a layer of concrete. I took a video of the guys working today. In the video, you will see a boy that could not be older than twelve helping to push the cart. Don't be too quick to judge this, because today is a Cambodian holiday, so he might just be tagging along to help; however, there is no age limitation on who can work in which fields--that I know of, at least. I hope you enjoy this look into our life here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia! We are very excited to be getting a new road :)

We are also glad that we already renegotiated our lease for next year (preemptively, because we wanted to have some security when we get back, and also because we need to know how much extra per month we will need) Our landlord is only increasing our rent to $250/month--it was $230. We are blessed that God has given us favor in her eyes. Hopefully, if we need to, we can keep renting this house for a long time.

Here is the video:

BecauseHeLives,

The Bergens.

100th Post - Our Visa Adventure

This will be our 100th post on Mission Cambodia... And it is fitting that this post is the 100th, because it is the conclusion to a very large chapter in our lives and the beginning of a new one: Abby and Lily Go to America. The next chapters go something like this: Micah and Kelsi Pursue Full and Finalized Adoptions... but we will get there when we get back in February (spoilers).

This post is about the adventure that Abby, Lily, and I went on today.

It all started at 5:00 AM this morning. I woke up to the sound of my alarm, and it was quite alarming. I did not expect to sleep at all, but I hit my pillow like a lump and was in dream land before I knew the difference between it and reality. I guess I just had a peace that everything was going to be fine. The girls were up at five thirty and in a daze. We were in a Tuk Tuk by six. Our appointment was at seven, but it is a half hour drive to the Embassy and we did not want to be late... we were not. We stood in line outside the Embassy for a half an hour. After we got into the Embassy, we waited some more. After about thirty minutes (which, if you know anything about the U.S. Embassy, is a very short time), we were called to the window. I handed in our paperwork, and the employee looked at it for a moment and said, "These pictures are unacceptable. Please take this sheet with you, get new ones, and return before nine. Then you can continue the interview process." We ran to the closest photo shop (there are literally a bajillion in Cambodia), and had Abby and Lily pose for a new photos that were the correct size and positioning. After that, we rushed back to the Embassy. By this time, it was about eight thirty, and the girls were getting restless. We waited and waited and waited, until at last at ten thirty, we were called to the window for our interview. He asked for the forms again, and asked if I was the legal guardian of the girls, which I proudly answered, "Yes, we have foster care through the Ministry of Social Affairs," and it felt so good to say it. He asked about our relationship with the girls mother, and whether she knew we were taking them on this trip, to which I replied, "Yes, she actually helped us get the passports :)" He asked about our intentions to adopt, and I told him that we would love to adopt, if it ever became an option. Then he walked away for a while to make some copies and look over our forms. When he came back he asked about our plans in America. I told him, and he asked to see some kind of documentation of our roots in Cambodia, so I gave him our work contracts and a letter of recommendation from our director. And after waiting all morning, this thirty minute interview ended with him saying, "Well, everything looks great. I just need to make some copies and you will be all set." When he came back, he handed me a slip of blue paper and said, "You can pick up your visas on Thursday." And our adventure of the last five months ends with Abby, Lily, and I dancing outside the U.S. Embassy and screaming, "We're going to America!!!"

Celebratory Ice Cream :)

Obviously, some of you may be wondering about our plane tickets. It seems as though we have not been too worried about them at all, and there is a reason. Kelsi's parents offered to pay the difference after we tried to raise the money. A couple days ago, when I made the visa appointment, we went ahead and began to book our flights through a ministry that allows you to do early booking without cash in hand immediately. Today, along with visas, we also got our e-tickets for our trip home. We will be departing on November 12th, earlier than even Kelsi hoped for initially.

We decided to go with one way tickets (don't get excited, we are coming back to Cambodia), so that we can raise funds for our trip back while we are in the states. Please consider donating towards this. There are instructions on our post here:
http://missioncambodia-bergen.blogspot.com/2014/09/plane-tickets-and-game.html

Kelsi's family has been way generous to us (I hope they don't mind me saying it), and we would love to take more of this burden off their shoulders. They are such a blessing to us, and we could in no way repay them, and I don't think that they would ever ask us to.

So, I guess I will be seeing all of you sometime between the months of November and February, with all my girls by my side. Speaking of my girls, they are awesome. Abby and Lily handled a five hour wait at the Embassy like pros--no melt downs, obedient as all get out, and with great attitudes the whole time. They are great :) You guys will love meeting them! Pray for our flight!

BecauseHeLives,
Micah.

Foster Care, Passports, and Visas Oh My!

I am in complete astonishment. Can I just tell you about our amazing God!? Months ago, Kelsi said that she was praying and just felt like God told her that we would get to go home for Christmas this year, and I said, "Awesome. We got a lot to do, but if it is God's will, we will get it done." As I said this, I was thinking, "I hope she doesn't get her hopes up too much..." We have had so many things that we got excited about and then didn't happen, and I just didn't want Kelsi to get burned again. Really, I was questioning whether Kelsi actually heard from God or not, because I didn't have that sense... But I also know that my wife is an amazing, godly, wise women, and so I trusted her. At this time, we had no foster care, and we had not even started to work on it. I began to pray this simple prayer over and over again: "God, I believe, please help my unbelief."  Kelsi went to America for a month, and I got busy on the paperwork... two months later, we got foster care, but it was getting close to those dates Kelsi had said. We immediately applied for travel permissions and passports, and within the month, got both. With passports in hand, we had just to apply for visas. I had mentioned that October 20th was our appointment date, and it was killing me that I had to wait until then, because it is so hard to get prepared to go with that little bit of uncertainty. I prayed like crazy, "God, I know that it doesn't really matter, but can we please go in for our interview sooner than that?" I sent an email to the Embassy with questions about various paper work things and included a query about possibly moving our appointment up, even though we didn't really have a good reason. I got a response that said if I had technical difficulties, I could call the helpline for help... I decided to let it rest, because I didn't really have a reason to move the appointment to an earlier date, other than just wanting to get it done as soon as possible! I prayed again, "God, I can wait. I know that you will work it out in Your timing. I'm not worried about it, please help me to be patient." About an hour later, I check my email again, and there is a new email from the Embassy stating that there are openings for appointments tomorrow... I just shook my head and muttered under my breath, "Nice one, God." I am so blessed to be here... by here, I mean in the midst of God's will. Since Kels and I have been in Cambodia, it has been hard, but I just continue to say... Our God is faithful! He is trustworthy! Even in the pain and difficulties, He shows Himself good! Why do we doubt, brothers and sisters, when He constantly proves Himself to be a great and good God?

Please pray for us for tomorrow. Our interview is scheduled for 7:00 AM, but most of the time it takes all day of waiting for your turn, so I don't know exactly when we will have our interview--by "we" and "our" I am referring to Abby, Lily, and I. If you would like to be on your knees at the right time, we are twelve hours ahead, so on Monday night at 7:00 PM, just pray for us. Pray for favor and wisdom, and that the girls are able to wait patiently for the interview, since we are not aloud to bring anything in other than paperwork for the interview. Even pray that we do not have to wait for very long for our interview. And most of all, remember to thank God for His goodness, thus far.

I was telling Abby the other night, during our prayer time, that she needed to pray for passports, and she said, "But we already have passports," and I said, "So we need to thank God for them." Don't be too distracted by new needs or the enjoyment of the blessing to remember and praise God for what He has already done! All glory to God!

BecauseHeLives,
Micah.