I was looking back over the blog posts that have been written in the past and I noticed that a the majority of them have been written about the “highlights” of our life…visitors, vacation,  holidays, and things like that. When I saw the general trend, I thought to myself that it would be really easy to write an update on the “everyday” life of our family so here goes…

First off is Dad. Most of his time is taken up heading up the well drilling part of the ministry over here. Before we give somebody a well we go out and assess the need. We have a list of questions to determine the need, and the price. Yes, we charge a little for the wells we put in. It is usually not much but it helps give the people a sense of ownership over it. Dad is in charge of having enough wells assessed for each month so the well drilling team has enough to do for the month. He also determines the order of importance for the different villages. He  makes almost daily trips to the market to get fresh fruit and vegetables…One of the things he enjoys is making sure people know that they are loved by teasing…Must be a Helmuth thing because I think all of us children enjoy teasing too:)…

Next is Mom. She certainly doesn’t have a hard time keeping busy. I’m sure that any mother could say the same thing, but with 11 of us (with Jody) to cook, and clean for it doesn’t seem like she ever has off. She also does a lot of sewing. One thing that she enjoys doing if she does have spare time is sitting down with a recipe book and finding new recipes to try.

After Mom is Lori. She is enjoying her time as a personal worker at Beaver Lake camp. If you want more on her everyday life you can ask her…We still miss her around here:(

Ryan is the oldest of us boys. He keeps busy drilling wells…He does a lot on the manual labor side of the job. He really enjoys his job and is very excited  about the new well truck that is still in the process of getting a new bed put on it to make so that it can easily be used for drilling. The four wheel drive will definitely be nice.  In his spare time he enjoys keeping his moto in good condition, learning new songs on his guitar, and fishing Khmer style.

Next is ME!!! I teach one English class in the morning. In the afternoons, I often do odd jobs around the school or house. At the beginning of every month, I do the accounting for the last month. My hobbies are photography and reading.

Austin finished high school around Christmas. Since then he has really enjoyed helping Ryan and the Khmer guys with the well drilling. He enjoys fiddling with small engines, and playing guitar. He is also the family jokester in our family.

Dallas is on his first year of high school. While school keeps him busy most of the day he finds plenty of time to go bird hunting with his blowgun, and also really enjoys reading.

 

Heather is in seventh grade. After school she helps mom out around the house, and even sewed a dress! She really enjoys reading, sewing, and baking.

Carissa is in fourth grade. She really likes going out to the village where they teach school and playing with her friends.

Forrest is in Kindergarten. He loves playing any game that anybody will play with him especially indoor basketball.

Alaina is 3. She likes playing with her little dolls and tagging behind Forrest. If you ask me she gets cuter everyday.

I guess that takes care of everybody WAIT there’s Jody too! Jody is my first cousin, and she came over as an ESL teacher. Teaching keeps her very busy, but in her spare time she likes to read, spend time with people, and sharpieing.  She definitely fits  into our family very well.

Until next time Luke for the Helmuths