Landscaping

We've been amazed at the landscaping in Japan. I've mentioned there is very little grass around here. The landscape, however, is not bleak. Most homes are surrounded by quite a bit of pavement...but every bit of space is used. There are rows and shelves of potted flowers everywhere, groomed trees and vegetable gardens.

Often, I cringe as I drive on a twisty, narrow street and a mamasan is sitting in the road, while clipping her flowers. We've also been surprised not to see a lot of riding lawn mowers on base. Instead, there are armies of men, armed with weed eaters....cheerfully grooming the base. It's a beautiful base.

The kids enjoyed this site this week. There were 3 or 4 men up in this tree. The kids were sure they were clipping with scissors...but they do have tiny clippers which look like wire cutters.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Progress on "Our" Home

We have a front step and door....notice the reserved sign. I SO wanted to mark our name on it...


Kids in front of the house...note the framed in area for a driveway, and the framed in forms for concrete to run all along the front of the house.

Not sure WHAT this means...it's to the side of the house. We're REALLY hoping they aren't going to concrete the side of the house too....I'd love a garden in this spot...but hey....whatever....


The deck off the dining room is done and we have this nice little decorative fence too.


This is our backyard from the edge of the patio. I'm not exactly sure where the boundary will be...and I don't know what these large things in the ground are for...Mike will probably know. They are in the yards of all the homes.


They've cut the field from the road to just behind our home. It was all as tall as the grass on the right. I'm not sure if someone is going to put another dozen homes in or if a farmer was clearing the field for the fall.


I would have a great view from the kitchen sink if it weren't for this frosted finish. ::snort:: A friend told me that they do that as most houses only have a view of the next house...


Peeking in the sliding door....We have WALLS!. This shows dining room, bar and kitchen...little square of light is the laundry room...The door leads to the hall and 1/2 bath.


Living room - the stairs are now framed in. The short little closet doors lead to storage.


Some sort of fan is new.

Silly - as it isn't our home...but we're excited to watch the progress. It gives us a sense that we belong in Japan and aren't just passing through. LOL We DO have to keep telling ourselves we're RENTING and not BUYING as we see the choices of landscaping. ::snort::

But if they pave the whole yard...we'll simply learn to garden as the Misawans do....

Pretty, isn't it?

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Windy and Clan

A few photos of the progress of your home.

The sole purpose of this photo is to orient you as to where you are and where we will be. We're still hoping that the home across the street becomes vacant. This is your garage in the foreground...to the right is the vacant lot (hoping it stays vacant at least a year)...foreground right is the house we'd like to have gotten for you....and the house in the background right...with the gray strip is our home...really, we'll be within a strong baseball pitch of each other. ::snort::

Ah....your front door - the white square piece of paper says, "reserved"...garage to the right...looking down the side you see the brick area is off your dining room. I wanted to take my ever-present sharpie and mark our names on the paper...I didn't. ::snort::

This is the side of your house from the street....brick area is the patio off the dining room...


This is taken from the edge of the vacant lot...and the home with the scaffolding still around it is yours....the first window is the garage area.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Stacia's Accident was Private....

There's a bill board in San Angelo that says something like, "Bob's accident was private, very private."

I've been reminded of that the last two days. Stacia's accident was private, very private. Poor thing. I was about to take her to the ER today. I "felt" we could wait...that she simply had some trauma that needed to subside....but I worried. Mike brought Miss A home today after chapel. I had asked him to ask her to call, so we could chat about Stacia. Miss A is very calming, has a delightful English accent, is our Wing Chaplain's wife and has lots of experience with accidents. She is also very good with children and Stacia told her just what had happened. I had guessed as she suddenly was hopping around, screaming and clutching her crotch...but details weren't forthcoming.

Seems she was climbing up the slide (which I knew and saw from below), "swung" at the top and missed and it hit "under there" (which I didn't see). Miss A gave me some tips for easing her discomfort, told me to keep pumping non-acidic fluids and to wait and see how Stacia is doing tomorrow before taking her in. She comforted me that Stacia will not be traumatized for life is some doc gets to examine her and that it won't hurt a thing to wait....that in fact...just like anything you hit hard...it hurts but may not need a doctor. We shall see. Stacia wanted to go out this afternoon to see our house and come to the Weasel's Den....so she perked up, used the bathroom and here we are.

Mike goes to work at Midnight tonight - exercise. Yep, were back to an operational base that does real exercises. ::snort:: I'm a bit worried about how the week will go with him trying to sleep during the day in a TLF. LOL We are slated to begin school. I can tell Jared is worried that we don't have all his school stuff here. It helps him to know that Algebra and Biology are on the way.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Random Thought

Tai Yaki and Tako Yaki are NOT the same thing. ::snort::

Tai Yaki is a wonderful little pastry filled with custard or bean paste.

Tako Yaki is octopus dumplings.

I've still not found Cia Pao but I have been told two names of what I may be describing....I'll keep trying.

I may have the words above a bit wrong...but I KNOW that they sound close and are NOT close in taste. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Family / Nate & Heather

TEST....this is a test for Nate and Heather. I've set you to receive the blog every time it publishes. Does this get through the filters? You should get an email from Choosing Joy/Blogger with text and photos (well not in THIS post). Oh shoot....I'll find a photo so we can see if it works.
Hopefully, China will eventually let you access Blogger and Facebook...but in the meantime will it let you receive emails from blogger? If not, I can also try to subscribe you to receive the blog as an email via feedburner...but I know you were having troubles with feed.

If you receive this in your in box....and it works...email me back at dschoosingjoy@gmail.com and let me know it worked.

For all family - as soon as we have our own place with fiber optics Internet, we'll have Skype and be able to call and talk at will....for free or .02 a minute. We just don't have that option right now....unless you want the whole computer room to hear the conversation....slowly. LOL

Also - for the rest of family....I set the blog to publish to FB so those FB fanatics can read it there...or let me know and I'll add you to receive them in your email from blogger too. I can add 10 addresses. I have none added at this point. Aunt Gin used to enjoy this. All my trivia without having to log on. LOL You can also sign up via the link in the side bar if you don't live in China. LOL

Now, which photo of the hundreds since we've arrived in Japan would Nate and Heather most enjoy? Hmmm...

G-rated Sumo Wrestlers (thanks again Mike)


Sign I find delightfully funny


Or - proof that we made it to Japan


Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Zippy Week

Wow! This week has zoomed past. I can't believe it's Friday already.

We hung out yesterday. I baked cookies...and discovered the oven in the TLF is about 100* hot...confirmed what I suspected.

Jared went to the gym and played basketball with some new friends.

I did laundry and picked up, while these kids.....

We took care of some house issues arising from the home inspection in TX. There are only 2 things that need to be taken care of...both a bit perplexing as they WERE working when we lived in the home...but not a big deal. We are going to reset a toilet, and make sure the auto reverse on the garage door works. ::snort:: OH....and they said the dishwasher didn't work but it is BRAND NEW and we checked it before we left and it cycled....we suspect the inspector hit the wrong buttons. LOL Taking care of simple business in our current location is a bit of work. We had to go to the library to print off the inspectors report, attempt calls....get up at 3 a.m. to call at the right time, and thankfully they are simply going to arrange the work and we'll settle at closing....because it would be much more complicated to arrange work and send a check. LOL

I had a PWOC related meeting. I think beneficial. Which reminds me....I've been offered the opportunity to consider speaking at a retreat in April. Please pray with me to know if this is the time that God is going to allow me to begin to do more of this again. I'm trying not to let the exciting, new to me location color my prayers on the matter. ::snort:: Many of you know that I went way overboard in ministry outside of my home and God gently, yet firmly, called me home 4 years ago and instructed me to set boundaries and to minister from within those boundaries. Which I've joyfully done. I'm praying now to know if doors opening are a sign that it's o.k. to extend the boundaries a bit. AND...since I'm on the topic I've also clearly sensed that I need to be very careful not to get over-comitted here. There are so MANY wonderful things to do on base and in the chapel community....but I need to be retain my focus of growing intimacy with Him...I need to ensure I am not over-committed when I/we see the path that He has prepared for us in this season. Jared and I are both "Jumpers" and God is calling us both to be "Contemplators". ::snort::

We had a dinner invite at 5:30. Twyla had loaned us a car until we bought a second one. Isn't that sweet? The kids enjoyed playing with her boys. She'd made great smelling play dough for Stacia. Mike was at a meeting that ran really late...so basically, he missed dinner. He did arrive, ate some food but we were about ready to call it a night. Twyla said she likes the Onsens. I see this in my future now that I have a couple of ladies who know the ropes and are willing to go with me. LOL

BTW I still miss the kids who "didn't want to come to Japan," as Zander explains it. Stacia said two things yesterday that BRIEFLY moved me to tears....

1. She showed me a photo of she and Bre and said, "This is my sister Bre. I'll never get to see her again." I set her straight...but I must admit that even to ME Japan seems far removed from Oregon.

2. At bedtime she told me, "Jamin's too old now to dance at my ball." ::sigh:: I guess this means that Jamin has joined the ranks of Josiah, Krista and Bre as "old". ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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