This honestly might be my favorite photo that I've taken for the Family Road Trip. Something about catching Minea making Sreyna laugh is both humorous and heartwarming.
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The kids were going to be worked hard today, as they had to do two full performances. The Sunday service for Muir Lake Community Alliance Church was to be one of our Family Road Trip stops. The early start time did not faze the kids: in fact, it seemed to make them more hyper!
There were several funny moments in the lobby between dances. The kids have really connected with Blaine, Shelly and I, as they have now settled into a family dynamic with us. I'm the pesky brother who teases and gets teased, Shelly is the friendly mother who they enjoy talking to, and Blaine is the stern but warm father who they approach with problems. They have recently begun to entice Blaine and Shelly to kiss, which causes them all to giggle and playfully recoil (photo below).
I especially enjoy the dynamic between Minea and Shelly. While he is still very mischievous, he has become rather affectionate towards her. He frequently hugs her from behind or stands beside her to listen in on what she is doing, despite not knowing English. The kids have also warmed to Sarah, as they routinely try to teach her new Khmer words or phrases. At times they insist that her and I are a couple regardless of our corrections (I may have already mentioned this on a previous blog post).
After the performance was finished, the church had a large hot dog BBQ meal for us. A member of the Apostles Motorcycle Society, which is a Christian motorcycle club based out of Alberta, was outside preparing the hot dogs while we performed inside the church. At one point Leah went outside to see what he was doing, which drew a smile from the man. The hot dogs were great and several of the kids played with the church children. While we did not have the marketplace set up for the post-performance, we did still get several new sponsorships and donations. A good morning, indeed!
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We departed from Muir Lake to Edmonton, where we would perform for a second time for the day. We watched The Never Ending Story II, which I think may have been a little too weird for the kids. It certainly was too weird for me (there's a giant rock-baby that looks like something from my nightmares). I digress. We made good time on the trip and arrived at Southgate Alliance Church with plenty of time to spare.
The church is unique in that it shares its building with two other churches: the Pentecostal Impact Church of Edmonton (who were doing a service when we arrived) and the Edmonton Arabic Alliance Church. As someone who finds Arab culture and history fascinating, I was greatly intrigued by the latter. They had their church service the night before, but Shelly was able to find me an Arabic Bible. Not everyone may share my sentiments, but I find the Arabic script beautiful.
The basement for the church was rather large with many different rooms, which actually resulted in a few of us getting slightly lost. The kids enjoyed all of the room to run around and play. The folks at Huin Lake gave us all of the leftover hot dogs, which Trakuan chopped up and used for a unique stir-fry rice dish. It was rather good.
Before the performance, we shared a happy reunion with Karman and Twyla, who drove up to help with and watch the performance. The kids were quite happy to see them again. The turnout was relatively small, but as stated in previous blog posts, it is not the size of the audience but the size of their heart that matters. The kids would happily perform for the faithful few who showed up.
The performance will be forever remembered for one reason: a major blooper during the 'Stick Dance' which I caught on video.
Chanthy was not hurt or embarrassed, and found the situation rather funny. What my phone's mic fails to pick up in the recording is the giggling of the kids, which a few of us could hear. The adults were glad to see that a major mistake would be met with laughter instead of tears. Thavin would later tease Sarah, telling her that it was her picture-taking which distracted Chanthy. The kids have asked me to show them the footage several times, each time causing just as much laughter as the first.
Thankfully there were no other missteps during the performance. The kids got over their giggles for the last dance ('Candle dance'), and Sokthon closed the night with a little reference to the mistake before asking for sponsorships and donations. The people gave well, putting us even further past our 90 sponsor goal, which now sits at 108 sponsors! This has been an amazing Road Trip so far, and it just keeps getting better. The kids would be in for a real treat for the next day, as we would take them to the Galaxy Land theme park at West Edmonton Mall. That will be covered in the next blog entry, as well as the performance at Rocky Mountain Alliance Church.
God bless & Jesus saves.
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