30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 1 - Marriage

Goodbye pumpkins, hello snowflakes! Goodbye candy corn, hello candy canes! Goodbye oranges and yellows, hello reds and greens! Time for Christmas decorating, Christmas shopping, Christmas cookies, Christmas movies, Christmas carols, and everything Christmas!

While I might seem overly enthused with the Christmas season already, I cannot let the season of thankfulness slip by without daily recognizing the many many blessings in my life.  Today, November 1, is the first in a new blogging series: 30 Days of Thankfulness.

30 Days of Thankfulness

Day One: Marriage

Tuesday (October 29) was our second wedding anniversary.  The last two years have been both the hardest and the best years of my life!  My husband is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I cannot imagine life without him!
He makes me laugh.
He keeps me accountable.
He makes me feel safe.
He encourages me to dream big.
He believes in me.
He spoils me and helps me!
He cooks!
He cleans!
He loves me! He loves Jesus! He loves my family! I know all of this without a doubt.
He is my best friend and we have so much fun together!

Today, I am thankful for the gift that Titus is and for what the Lord has done in and through our marriage.

Thankful,
Jewel

31!

My husband turns 31 today!

Look how young he was when we met and started dating! (Almost 5 years ago)


This man is such a blessing in my life! I am a lucky lucky woman and I try to remember that every day!

He is a giver.
He is a hard-worker.
He is a leader, a shepherd, and a teacher.
He is a player of Scrabble, ping pong, and Nirtz; a lover of books, movies, traveling, and Asian food.

In his 31st year of life, he's going back to school and he's going to be a daddy!


"God bless you and keep you,
God smile on you and gift you,
God look you full in the face
and make you prosper."
(Numbers 6:24-26, MSG)



"This is the day
which the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it."
(Psalm 118:24, NASB)  

Happy birthday Bong Samlange,
Oun Jewel

Baltimore

Writing this from Baltimore... preparing for hurricane Sandy aka "Frankenstorm." The Washington Post predicts it will be New England's worst October storm in more than one generation. People are stockpiling food and water, buying chainsaws and generators, taping windows, and pushing other customers in the battery aisle. Danielle's school already announced a closing tomorrow. Still... I remain a doubter. Perhaps I am naive, having never before experienced a hurricane or the threat of. We should know in the next 24 hours! In 48 hours, we're scheduled to fly home!

It's been a really good three days already, and hopefully that trend continues despite threatening weather. We flew in Thursday morning and were greeted at the BWI airport by Titus' good friend from Cambodia, Sambat, and his curly-headed, three-year-old daughter, Elsie. We went to a beautiful Indian buffet for lunch and it was... SO GOOD! Wow. Really would like to have one of those in Marion! After lunch we explored Baltimore City by foot. It was a perfect October day! We walked around the harbor, through some shops, up a huge hill to the park and a beautiful of the city, and enjoyed some live music and Italian ice. At 5:00, we got half-price tickets to the National Aquarium, and enjoyed stir-fry and Chinese leftovers at home.

I'm attempting this first post from my iPod, so no idea what you will be seeing. Hope it's decent!

Much love,
Jewel

My Man's 1st Birthday

My man's first birthday in America.  Lots of emotions surrounding the occasion; a big occasion - celebrating 30 years of life. 29 years in Cambodia. [Almost] 1 year in America. ONE YEAR! So much has happened. So much has changed.

Surprise!  I like to think he was, but I think he's good at acting - at acting surprised to please his wife; his wife who worked hours and hours and hours to surprise him, to make it happen in a big way, to make him feel special.

A Scrabble party for my Scrabbler

75 balloons hanging from string, draped wall to wall.

More than 100 pictures displayed his age- 30!

Lots of food and more than 50 guests!

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with Titus and to make the party a success. ♥♥♥

Love, Love, Love,

Jewel

The TOEFL

Please pray for Titus as he is preparing to take the TOEFL test tomorrow. The TOEFL test is a requirement for him, as a speaker of English as a second language, to begin taking classes at Indiana Wesleyan University. It will evaluate his listening, reading, speaking and writing skills in English. The test will begin at 9:00am and the estimated length is 4 long hours. We’re really coveting your prayers for the test – as this is very important for Titus and he is pretty nervous. Please pray for: clarity, confidence, and concentration. We will receive his results two weeks after the test.  The waiting game never ends!

Serving Him,

Jewel & Titus

LA Life 1

Earrrrly last Thursday morning, Titus and I caught a jet plane to Denver, then onto Los Angeles, for the reunion with and wedding of my bff Loren Gail Dearth to Mr. Harrie Trotman.

Too much happened to squeeze into one post, so here are the beginnings:

I just cannot even believe how much of the world Titus and I have already seen together - the flats of Indiana, the sunny Florida beaches, the streets of New York, and the hot spots in California!  I feel so blessed to be making so many wonderful memories with such a wonderful husband.

Only minutes after arriving in Los Angeles, we were off to Santa Monica Beach with the bride-to-be and two friends.  We had a pb&j picnic on blankets in the sand and played aggressive beach volleyball.  The sand was soft and pure, the sun was high and bright, and the blankets were spread out for relaxing.  It felt like... vacation!!

Afterwards, we walked along the pier and took in all the sights.  I was most impressed to see an artist crafting and selling caricature sculptures from clay - not your typical chalk caricatures.  We also watched a man "clean" a large fish and then "clean" his teeth with one of the fish's bones.  I would have loved to have had more time to people watch, but our traveling bodies were tired, so our time there was short.

Our time at Santa Monica ended with our toes in the water, and our bums in the sand...

It was a beautiful day!!

Love, Love, Love,
Jewel

A Gold Medal Husband and a Worthy Wife

After breakfast, devotions, and getting completely ready for work this morning, I crawled back into bed with my husband for a few more minutes of togetherness before leaving for work.  Oh how I love him while he sleeps - hair a mess, face so wrinkled.  Maybe because in his unconsciousness, I can truly see him for who he is - quiet, yet strong; still, but moving; humble, yet so empowered.  I laid my head on his chest - always so warm - and thought, "blessed."

I am so blessed.  My husband is a gift of true grace.  His patience is long.  His sacrifices are many.  His arms are always reaching and his heart is always open.  His love so much bigger than all my failures and shortcomings.  Our first nine months of marriage have not been without hurt feelings and difficult circumstances, but even when my heart feels OTHERWISE, I know I know I KNOW without any doubt that my husband loves me unconditionally and is unselfishly and sacrificially trying to be the best husband and to make me happy. He makes mistakes and wrong assumptions (and I do too! (PROBABLY MORE!)) but he loves me. He really loves me. I hope he can say the same about me.

With my head on his warm, naked chest, my next thought was, "I am the bride of Christ."  Such a beautiful metaphor.

On Mount Sinai, God declared that His covenant was a marriage contract, "The time is coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,' declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 31:31)

This covenant was a marriage contract which was sealed with the sprinkling of blood. As we have partaken of His blood and His body, we enter into this new marriage covenant with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our first and foremost responsibility during this betrothal period - our waiting for His return and our eternal union with Him - is to be faithful to Him. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11:2,
"For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." Faithfulness is expressed in a life worthy of the Bridegroom. We are to be presented as a chaste or pure virgin.


May I be found worthy in both unions...

Love, Love, Love,
Jewel

1st Family Camp

Last week, my sweet husband and I spent the week in a small, humble, room on the 100+ -year-old campgrounds that belongs to our district of the Wesleyan Church.  More than 100-yeasr-old!  In 100 years on our campgrounds, think of

♥The number of persons called into ministry!!
♥The number of lives committed and re-committed to Christ!!
♥The number of children who heard the message of salvation for the first time!!
♥The number of sins forgiven!!
♥The number of burdens laid on the altar!!
♥The number of relationships healed and restore!!
♥The number of persons healed!!

God has always been faithful to work in mighty big, mighty powerful, and mighty surprising ways on Fairmount Campgrounds!

Since Family Camp 2011, I have been anxiously awaiting experiencing Family Camp with my husband. Family Camp has been a part of my life for around twenty years, and is an experience that my husband has heard much about. He had no idea what to expect, but he very much enjoyed experiencing the Christian Community like he never had before.

Some of my favorite moments included:
♥Lying in bed, beside my husband, listening to an hour-long crazy, loud storm. A muddy campground isn’t necessarily the ideal, but we needed the rain and how powerful the storm was! I loved it!
♥Swimming at Kokomo Beach with my fun-loving husband and eleven crazy children that I love! When I arrived, my husband had 8-10 children lined up on the side of the pool and they were all jumping in one at-a-time in “wave” fashion. It was quite the show! We jumped, splashed, raced, dunked, and did lots of other crazy things in the pool. Riding in a 15-passenger van with my husband, two friends, and 11 children was no less than very entertaining.
♥Cuddling little bodies in the nursery. For at least the fifth year, I was hired again by the nursery directors to run the two- and three-year-olds class in the evenings. Some evenings were harder than others (getting decent volunteers was like pulling teeth!) and some were more fun than others, but every night I enjoyed cuddling Tea, Isaiah, Micah, Hannah, Garrett, and others.
♥Singing praises to Jesus under a tent in the rain. On Tuesday morning, another loud storm rolled across our campgrounds. Just as we started our worship time – 30 bodies gathered under a tent, behind the barn – the rain fell hard. It soon became too much of a “distraction” and a danger to the instruments and sound equipment, so we were ushered inside the children’s barn for the remainder of service.
♥Walking hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm with my husband around the campgrounds during the “cool” part of the day. The beauty of being on vacation was no agenda! We walked leisurely, stopping at various campsites and cabins, and moving at our own pace – slow!
♥Laughs around the campfires. Many of my friends are still getting to know my husband; those he is comfortable with have seen a side that he so often protects – the very funny side! Some of my best Family Camp memories have been late nights around the campfire. Although there were fewer fires, and fewer late nights this year, memories were made!
♥Chats with Christian brothers and sisters. No book, sermon, study, nor devotional can replace transparent, heart-felt, digging into deep subject matter conversations with sincere brothers and sisters in Christ.

On Sunday evening, the last Family Camp service of 2012, the speaker requested that all children's workers come to the tabernacle and bring our children on the stage following his direction. Because I had been in pre-K nursery, I hadn't heard the Message, but his point seem to be to implore parents and church leaders to stand up for the children, to protect their rights, and to increase their own faith that they may be an example and a rock for the children. It was a powerful moment; one that I was glad I could participate in.

The previous morning, I was able to help serve Communion at the family service. Looking back, I am so glad that I was asked to help, as it was a very powerful and formative experience.  How humbling it was as I repeated to each person

"This is His body and His blood,

which were given for you..."
realizing: He lovingly died for each one - each one of His children, for each of their souls.  Humbling, yet empowering, as I offered the Bread and the Juice; symbols of The Sacrifice, of amazing grace, of His broken body, which saved my broken spirit.

Love, Love, Love,
Jewel

Staycation 2

Last Thursday, I took my second saved vacation day and my sweet husband and I took another one-day "staycation" to enjoy the blessing of a few extra hours together during the work week.

We slept until the wonderful hour of 9:00, grabbed our bathing suits, towels, and sunglasses; stopped for gas, coffee, and donuts; and headed west to Kokomo Beach.





Kokomo Beach might be one of NE Central Indiana's best-kept secrets. For only $5/each, we enjoyed hours of relaxing "togetherness" on the lazy river, in the leisure pool, and twice down the slides (then the lines became too cRaZY.)  We had lunch at a picnic table in the shade, and a few hours later, found ourselves at Markland Mall.

At Target, I found the perfect short sleeve, yellow, cardigan sweater to wear with a dress [that I can't wear without the perfect short sleeve, yellow, cardigan sweater (or some other form of covering up my shoulders!)] My husband found 2 pairs of good-looking cargo shorts on clearance for only $5/each. (I even convinced him to buy a pair that isn't plaid. Plaid doesn't go with everything you know.)  We perused a few more stores and enjoyed the best soft pretzel that I have maybe ever had (and the guaranteed first that he has ever had!)

Oh the way back home, our small corner of the world got it's first rain in more than three weeks; and it wasn't just a rain, it was a downpour - a "the windshield wipers won't move fast enough" kind of downpour.  It was both equally tense and relaxing to drive in the rain. :)

Despite the sunburn that is still bothering me six days later, the horrible embarrassment of locking my keys in the car at Culver's, and the discomfort of wearing wet clothes (due to locking my keys in the car in the downpour;) without my husband's input, I will declare it "the best day that we have spent together since our honeymoon."

Love, Love, Love,
Jewel

Our First "Just Us" Vacation

Vacation! Vacation! A happy time of year! Vacation! Vacation! With the one I hold so dear!

On Friday, my sweet husband and I enjoyed a wonderful few hours of "vacation" together in the Big City.  It was just one day, but it was so wonderful to just be together and to be away!  10-15 miles down the interstate, I realized that I had forgotten my camera at home [on the charger!] and I was so angry at myself!  10-15 miles later, I had convinced myself that we would have more fun without the distraction of a camera and needing to take pictures.  (I'm not sure the credibility of that statement, but at least I wasn't angry at myself!)

Our first stop: The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, where we explored the SpaceQuest Planetarium, CSI Flight Adventures, Treasures of the Earth, Dinosphere, and more.  We saved $10 using a coupon, so we each enjoyed a huge $4 ice cream cone!  I was initially hesitant to go to a Children's Musuem "just us;" we skipped a lot - legos and dress-up clothes, etc. - but we had fun! I learned a lot and had fun experiencing something new with my husband!

After the Children's Museum, we went down the road to White River State Park, and walked along the canal in downtown Indianapolis.  I couldn't convince my shade-loving husband to venture very far before he insisted on resting on the soft, green grass under a tree.  Sitting in the grass, we enjoyed a unique garden of colorful blooms, fragrant flowering shrubs, a variety of textured foliage and the sounds of water flowing down the canal.  It was the perfect spot and time for a blanket, picnic basket, and camera!

When we had just enough of the heat, we saw To The Arctic in 3D in the IMAX theater at the Indiana State Museum.  The 45-minute movie was well worth the $9.50 paid to watch polar bears in 3D on a 6-story screen! To The Arctic took us on "a never before seen journey into the lives of a mother polar bear and her two seven-month old cubs as they navigate the changing Arctic wilderness they call home."

For dinner, we took the recommendation of many people and tried Jasmine Thai at 4825 East 96th Street in Indianapolis. I was pleased and would eat there again, but I had higher expectations!

I have two more vacation days that I need to use [or lose!] before June 30th.  I'm not sure yet when I will take them and what we will do, but I am very much looking forward to them!  After June 30th, I will be saving my vacation days for a trip to Cambodia!  I'm already dreaming about it!!

Love, Love, Love,
Jewel

Intentional Memories

I have decided to be very intentional about making memories with my husband this summer.  Starting now!   Unfortunately, I am still in the office 8:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday, but there is still some room for FUN!

I'm really excited about this list!  This is Titus' first Summer in America and his first opportunity to do so many of these things (ie. Family Camp, Indiana State Fair, the I-69 Speedway, and even canoeing, camping, yard sales, and baseball games!)  I feel so so so blessed to experience these thing with such a wonderful man, and to see him experience them for the first time!!

If you have any cheap and “any day” ideas, please share them with me!!
 

Strengthening our before-baby-bond this summer:

Walk to Sophie's for frozen yogurt

Start a garden

Bike the entire Cardinal Greenway 1x/month

Go canoeing

Ride our bikes to church on Sunday morning

Make homemade ice cream

Keep a Scrabble leader board

Go to a zoo/aquarium

Watch a movie on our own lawn

Picnic at the park

Swim

Watch fireworks (Scheduled: July 4)

Get away for a weekend

Camping

Fairmount Family Camp (Scheduled: July 22-29)

Campfires

Yard sales

The Indiana State Fair (Scheduled: August 3-19)

Have our own photoshoot

Go on double dates 2x/month

Slumber party for two

Hike

Go to a baseball game

Borrow movies from the library

Go to the beach - (Scheduled: August 17-19 in LA!)

Mini golf

Find a creative way to learn Khmer

Watch a race at the I-69 Speedway

Volunteer - regularly and together!

Memorize Bible verses together

Eat at new restaurants (heck out these local favorite places to eat)

Keep a picture journal of all of the above 

Note: All these pictures are from showmegrantcounty.com - helping me discover new adventures in my own area! 

Love love love, 
Jewel

Not at Home, but with Family

Titus and I rode a train to NY to spend Easter with Jessie, and to see our Cambodian-American friends: Phalkun, Janell, and Naomi.  After hurriedly cleaning the church after Wednesday services, we got on the train (my first time on a train, and Titus' first time inside a train - he's ridden on the top in Cambodia) around 1:00am Thursday and our friends picked us up at the station around 10:30am.  I slept fairly well and was surprised at the extensive amount of room at my feet (unlike an airplane!)

Phalkun and Janell took us back to the Asian market, where we bought a variety of Asian foods [including chicken feet - more on that soon] that we can't find at Wal-Mart in Marion.  We went to a few more stores and finally to Jitters, where we had iced coffee that tastes almost like it does in Cambodia (very strong coffee sweetened with condensed milk.)  At Phalkun and Janell's, we played Scrabble before preparing a variety of Cambodian foods, and enjoying it with Jessie and other friends who have also been to Cambodia.

Phalkun teaching my husband to use a bow&arrow

I slept in until almost 10:30 on Friday morning, and we passed most of the day and night playing games: Scrabble, Ticket to Ride, Nirtz, Swap, Monopoly Deal, and Skipbo. All three of us took turns winning and a good time was had by all. Jessie made pizza for lunch, and we went back to Jitters for more iced coffee and two games of Scrabble. For dinner, we met three of Jessie’s roommates at a quaint family diner; much laughter occurred there. After dinner, we rented two movies and returned home for an insane six-person game of Nirtz.

Saturday morning we watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Neither my husband or sister had a positive reaction to this movie, but I thought it was amazing. Seriously Oscar-worthy. It was a riveting and gripping story of what nine-year-old autistic Oskar does to handle his grief and understand why his dad was taken away from him [on 9/11.] It is about love and triumph and had me feeling all sorts of emotions.  Seriously wowwee. So so so good.  I recommend it!!!

After the movie we went to a mall in Buffalo [much much much larger than what we have in Marion] with Jessie and three of her friends.  I was on a mission to find a bridesmaids dress for my bff Loren's wedding in August, but I was unsuccessful.  I looked at probably 300 dresses in 20 stores and found only 5 or 6 dresses that I thought might work... but won't.  Sad!  I did however find 4 shirts for less than $6 each (Papaya might be my new favorite store,) and a swimsuit at Old Navy that I am in love with... and waiting for it to go on sale.

Jessie, Titus and I celebrated Christ's resurrection on Sunday at Phalkun and Janell's church and had lamb for lunch with her parents at their house.  After lunch we played games, sat around a campfire, had pizza for dinner, and played more and more games.  It is so wonderful that Phalkun and Janell live only a few minutes from Jessie [such a small world!] and we are able to visit them when we come to see her.  After Jessie graduates in May, I am not sure when Titus and I will be able to return to New York, so we really enjoyed all the time we could with the Nov family.

Love love love, 
Jewel

Four Months of Marriage

Happy 4 month anniversary to my husband - my best friend - Romdenh Chamnol!

4 months of bliss. 4 months of cHalLEnGes. 4 months of learning, and growing, and LOVING.  Marriage is both the hardest and happiest experience of my life thus far.

I can't wait to see what the Lord has planned for us in the months and years ahead.  *Grateful that I can experience it with my husband.*


"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.." [Matthew 19:4-6]

"There are three things that amaze me -- no, four things I do not understand: how an eagle glides through the sky, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman." [Proverbs 30:19,20]

"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior." [Ephesians 5:22,23]

"The LORD God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.'" [Genesis 2:18]

"And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy." [Hosea 2:19]

Love love love,
Mrs. Romdenh Chamnol