Thursday, June 20, 2013

Stacia meets Aki


BOP it on the Airplane????  ::snort:: 

The week's keep flying by. Other than plane days we filled the days with a very tiny bit of math and reading, playing with our friends all the way around (Michael had the whole base exercise thing going on)...and a few home repairs. 

Nolan spent the day with five friends. I enjoyed 3.5 hours meeting with a young leader - excited to see God build new vision on a foundation of past vision. I snuck in lunch with a friend as she ferried a car full of boys from homes to bowling ally to sports field. 

I managed to get a few items checked off the to do list...to include getting Stacia in for a fitting of her flower girl dress.  This was an adventure. We never could find a person at Wellingtons so we headed for Aki Mode Salon - a hole in the wall by any account.

We walked into a store and saw no-one. We kept walking towards the sounds we heard and found a tiny, elderly lady drinking tea and watching Japanese television.  She was no taller than Staica. Hoping she was the dressmaker, I shuffled Stacia behind a curtain to try on her dress.

"Pretty, pretty, pretty." She liked the dress....and evidently Stacia's hair as well.

Words failed and so I tried to scrunch the material together to show what we needed - though it was apparent we should have got at least one size smaller - but the length is perfect! ::snort::  Aki (big embroidered name on her jacket) slapped my hands away! "Chotomate! Dame, Dame!"

Alright!

With a tape measure slung around her shoulders and tons of stick pins in her hands and mouth she set about nipping and tucking.  She insisted today was 26 June (it's not - I checked) and the dress would be ready in one week - 3 July. I paid her cash and hope what I got in return is a receipt. I'm 99.9% sure it is. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Letters in the Sand


Michael has worked twelve straight days - the last three days being 14+ hour work days (only chaplain for an exercise).  Tomorrow is his CTO and he is not going to get it off - so he took today off. YES.

We debated on the best way to spend the day. We settled on driving up to Tanesashi Beach. This area along HWY 1 reminds us of the OR and Northern CA Coastline - in other words it reminds us of home. It also reminds me of Twyla and her boys as they were the ones who first took us to this area.....we'll  always remember discovering how HOT white sand can be in 100* heat without flip flops. ::snort::

Yuuki loves the beach! 

I like Michael's reflection in my glasses

 It was a PERFECT day for the beach. Often it's cold at the beach in Northern Japan...or scorching hot. Only one of us went for a dip....it's still a bit early....but you know...accident's happen as Stacia explains....

We noted a BRAND NEW BATHROOM on the beach...the old one had been severely damaged in the tsunami. We were just below the grassy seaside area (locals will know what I'm talking about).

What's an aging woman to do? I need sunglasses - I needed reading glasses for a moment.

It began to drizzle motivating a break for lunch...we headed up the hill to check out the options. It turns out our favorite ice cream stand (introduced to us by the lovely C family) also run a restaurant. We all opted for Ramen.....

 In a moment of terrible insight we realized I've not purchased any Ramen bowls. I've been tasked with finding at least six for our fast ship....because the Gherkins say Ramen goes with Beach.... We loved eating, warming up, watching the waves and joking about going to "Mo sans" in Oregon.

Michael had Ramen with seaweed, crab legs, oysters, shrimp and all sorts of other sea vegetation.....he gets the "green award" but all that seafood would have landed me in bed for a few days at the best. LOL


Yes, they DID get ice cream. Arielle got the apple and I claimed the one bite rule. We instituted the one bite rule when I went nutritarian and we were traveling. If there is something I really, really want - I can claim one bite. I claimed a bite of the Apple ice cream after Arielle raved about it - YUMMO - chunks of apple in the tart/sweet ice cream. Worth the drive to Tanesashi even if you hate pristine beaches, grassy fields and seagulls.

We haven't driven south of Tanesashi -until today. We found a great deserted beach. It was BEAUTIFUL....lots of seagulls....Yuuki's a bird dog...Yuuki loves to run on the beach...there was no one on the beach....we let her run!

Who would have guessed she'd be more interested in sniffing the sand than chasing the birds? ::snort::


 Gherkins like chasing seagulls

This next part is a bit "out there" - but if you've read the blog long you won't be overly surprised. As I walk the beach, I talk with God. I realize this may well be our last time at this beach. We are praying about our future. We wonder if God is going to open doors for us to return to Japan.  My heart so wanted to return to the Philippines...I was SURE I'd return when I left there over 30 years ago - and I haven't. I prayed, "God, I wish you could just give us a clear sign that we are coming back." It's hard to know if we should be saying "forever goodbyes" to Japan or "see you later" goodbyes. I walked a bit further and found a foam "G" planted in the sand of Japan.  We've never found foam English letters on the beach and we've spent a lot of time on a lot of beaches in the past four years.   It would be like walking along the beach in OR and finding a foam Hiragana character that matches your last name.

I shared the story of my "G" with the Gherkins. Could be a coincidence....I HAD just asked for a "clear sign" - I mean it could be clearer if our NAME was written on it I suppose...Greatly cheered up we laughed about what it could mean...Gherkins planted in Japan? Gherkins are all washed up?


Yes, I DID keep the G (can you see it below?)! I don't know if it means a thing at all...other than a heavenly hug. This would make a really strange missionary call story,  don't you think? Paul had the Macedonian call....we have a Foam G in the sand????

 Maybe I'll pray a bit more specifically...like a mission board contacting us about the possibility of moving to Japan. Or Pizza Hut offering one of us a job in two years (Yes, you DO get SOFA status if you work at Pizza Hut on base). ::snort::

We saved the coordinates to this beach and named it "Yuuki's Beach" so we can find it again.

We thought Akikosan was coming over tonight, but she can't make it this week. We enjoyed another parable in family circle (master and the slave - wow) and a read a chapter in a biography on Jacob Deshazer - WOW.

The last 30 minutes have been spent with Acey Deucey, Go Fish and blogging......

and sleeping.....

Check out those last two photos! We really enjoy our new minimalist lifestyle. It is LIBERATING to be a Spartan. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...