Thursday, May 24, 2012

Toothless in Tohoku

Have you noticed Stacia lost her two front teeth the morning of Arielle's birthday? They've been very loose and she WORKS to get loose teeth out as quickly as possible - she likes the $1 for each tooth.  I had been waiting for her to say, "Wish you Merry Christmas" without front teeth - but she says it perfectly without the front teeth. LOL 





Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Komakko Land - End of the Day

Stacia has asked to go to  Komakko Land (the horse park) every day the girls were home. It was either a time which would work or raining on the days we set aside to do it.

This morning dawned bright and sunny! Go figure. We put the girls on the plane, Michael went to work and I took the other children and went to Komakko Land.

I love this sign - it always cracks me up.

We found 10 buses of pre-schoolers at Komakko Land. This made for some interesting adventures in the bathrooms. Enough said.

We've had lunch here before, the menus are all in Japanese. We thought we had it figured out. I got the younger boys fries and fried chicken. I ordered curry pan for me - curry stuffed inside of bread (didn't realize they'd deep fry it) - it was good. Stacia got a big bowl of ramen. I thought I was ordering curry for Jared and Arielle. I was...but instead of rice it had big, fat, grey noodles. I think they were were soba or udon or something....they were surprised. I think Arielle would have been fine if Jared hadn't said, "Yum, curried pig intestines." Having spent time in countries where we DID eat such things I had had the same thought when I saw their meal and was glad I hadn't ordered it for myself.

The buses of pre-schoolers left shortly after lunch and we had the place nearly to ourselves - being unsocialized homeschoolers this is the way we like it best. ::snort:: 






Just before the horse got a bit too interested in Jared's tummy.


 On the way home we stopped at the beach. I must go to the beach on airplane days.  This is from the ocean side - looking toward the swim beach. We had hoped we could start swimming there - they officially open in July each year (except last) but they are still working on rebuilding.  Zander gave Arielle a Boogie Board and is looking forward to borrowing it from her. LOL 

 I needed more beach time but all but Stacia and Zander wanted to go home. I dropped them at home, Stacia saw a neighborhood friend and wanted to stay home. ZANDER came with me to the beach.  He's a crazy beach lover. 

Akikosan called when we were at the beach. She needed to take care of her grandfather (an amazing 102 years old!) so her father could take her mother to the hospital. We cancelled Akikosan lessons tonight...but enjoyed the family being together and cocooning. We watched a movie - which I slept through and can't remember. 

PS - spell check tells me "unsocialized" is not a word. Oh well. I've sure heard it a lot! LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Passing the Baton

Before we moved to Japan, as the two older boys were moving out, the older four kids took Arielle and Jared out. We heard glimmerings of what happened. They talked to them about leadership and their new place in the family structure and gave Jared a baton. 


We had planned for all four of the older kids to be here these past few weeks but it didn't work out. The girls had one more thing they wanted to do this morning.  We met as a family......they spoke about leadership to Arielle and Nolan.  Bre had words for Arielle as the soon to be "oldest at home". 










Krista shared some excellent thoughts with Nolan about being the second at home, supporting a leader...it was awesome.





















Jared then spoke about his three years as the oldest. He honestly shared some missteps along the way and made us all cry.  He also had words of thanks for Michael and I which were incredibly sweet as we've not always agreed on the path ahead these past few years. The day has been doubly hard for me as it has brought home how quickly it will be time to put Jared on the plane as well....but it was good. A GOOD HARD.  


They wouldn't be Gherkins if they didn't ham it up - just a bit. 

Michael put it all into a military context for the kids. Supporting and Supported commanders. He's the Commander-in-Chief. He offered me VP but I decided I wanted the title of "Homeland Security" instead. ::snort:: 

We all gathered up and prayed for our newest family leaders, and for Jared about to leave home for new adventures. We also prayed for the girls and they prayed for us. I wish we'd had more family circles for prayer while all were home.

I missed Josiah and Jamin as we gathered, but rejoiced in their new jobs...and we prayed for them. I was thrilled the rest of the family was part of this ceremony this time...and I think it meant more to Jared than the illusive graduation ceremony I was sure we needed. ::grin::  

Then it was time for the airport....and I am so SICK of airport photos that I swore I'd not take any.....


It was a great two weeks! 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Aggravation

When Bre is home we have late game nights.  Last night I didn't have the heart to tell them to go to bed and left them up playing.....


Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...