Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Living Surrendered

A few quick thoughts. I've been dealing with a lot of "things" this week, from the trivial to the profound. I've struggled to LIVE SURRENDERED....not just pray it in the a.m.

Yesterday, God brought me back to this Psalm..."Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me." Psalm 131:2

I was fanning the frustration, focusing on the confusion and God calls me to compose and quiet my soul....and so now I'm trying to LIVE SURRENDERED and deliberately choosing to compose, still, smooth, quiet, silence my soul. He is God. He's on the throne...in the trivial and the profound.

Compose - level, smooth, set (H7737)
Quieted - be silent, still, struck dumb (H1826)

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

I had the Noodle Dream....

(Have you ever seen Kung Fu Panda?)

I dreamed I walked into MOSC (officer's spouse club), dressed approrpiately in my little black dress, and found B*E*T*S*Y!!!! We hugged, we laughed, we skipped around the room, we did CARTWHEELS, we preformed an amazing display of Kung Fu....and THEN we set down and ate some amazing bowls of ramen?

What did the dream mean? I haven't a clue. I'm missing Betsy, whose wit and sense of fun continue to bless me though we've both left TX? We're watching too many videos? I need some fun? God's about to heal Betsy's knees and she'll be doing cartwheels? I don't know.....BUT it reminded me that I'd STILL not found a ramen house....all the places we go to seem to serve rice and meat, sushi, yakasoba...but no RAMEN. I had promised Jared we'd try at least one Japanese restaurant....this spurred me to pick one we'd heard of.

Cheese Roll...I'd heard the food was scrumptious...I'd heard that a cockroach was spotted there in the recent past. I decided after growing up overseas and living in the South for many years....I'd take my chances with the cockroach. ::snort::

We set out for an adventure. Nolan wanted to join us. Zander did NOT want to go to a Japanese restaurant, but he isn't always 100% obedient to Arielle, so he came. I drove around and around the Cheese Roll looking for parking. I finally found a lot, but wasn't sure if it was for public parking.

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A nice, middle-age gentleman was walking along....."Sumimaisen, parking dijobo desu ka?" I was so proud of myself for stringing a phrase together. I pantomined driving and parking to go with my one english word.

He replied, "Yes. This is fine. Most workdays it is parking for the bank, but today is a holiday to respect aged ones so you are fine to park there. "

The man spoke better English than we've heard since we arrived....but oh well...he smiled big at my baby Japanese. We have noted that some will say they don't speak English and when we try to communicate in our Japanese they suddenly speak English. I guess they realize they speak a lot better English than we speak Japanese. ::snort:: We are having a blast.


Isn't this great decor?
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Look at these cheese rolls....
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I'd only heard about the cheese rolls at this restaurant and had no clue it was a RAMEN HOUSE - a NOODLE HOUSE....and what a bowl of ramen it was. WOW.

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Some of us have more luck than others of us with hashi. I finally had him move over next to me and fed him....and the little ladies in the store loved it. LOL
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Others of us have no trouble adapting to culture in the least.
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I laughed out loud when I saw it was a ramen house. I think my noodle dream led me to this adventure...and I took Betsy with me. ::snort::

I happily slurped ramen...and discovered the Japanese ladies really DO like it best if you slurp, ramen noodles are HOT when first served and thus slurping can be painful, and slurping ramen can be a messy affair.

Mel, we told them oishi...and they beamed. Best of all...they have obento...take out lunches.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Sara is home with Jesus

Sara, the young lady I requested prayer for yesterday, has gone home to be with Jesus. I hesitated to post anything until Brad had, so that close friends did not find out via an impersonal blog or email...however several of you have emailed to ask if there are updates. You can read Brad's words here.

Please continue to pray for Brad, their young daughter Chole, all her friends and family.....

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...