Monday, November 09, 2009

Shopping Adventures

It's always an adventure to go shopping off base. What a delight for each day to feel like a field trip and an adventure.

After piano lessons we dropped Jared off on base for Cross Training (Youth). Arielle was ill and home....with the cell phone and Windy's number programmed in.

On the way home the younger ones and I stopped to get lightbulbs. We wanted Japanese lightbulbs as the rumor is they'll last a bit longer off base than American bulbs.

We found lightbulbs....we also found....

More Christmas Decorations

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But again - not one single Nativity or Baby Jesus. It saddens me that the world has exported Christmas without the meaning of the Holiday.

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Zander's face was priceless....he was so excited to see a cheap DVD bin (like Walmart) but then realized all the letters were in Japanese. We DID buy a Japanese book....and I thought that was great until Stacia said, "Mommy, will you read this to me?"

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Some things are easy to figure out...like the new rice bowls I bought and the lightbulbs...but what ARE those things in the orange package. I had to know. They aren't chocolate! ::snort:: They taste sort of like a root of some sort....I hope they are meant to be eaten and aren't some sort of fertilizer. ::snort::

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Stacia charmed a Grandma. Zander bowed. The lady said, Konichiwa and was simply charmed when the kids responded. She rubbed Stacia's hair. We were picking out rice bowls, which she approved of...but then she picked up the Hello Kitty rice bowl and handed it to Stacia. Stacia was thrilled, the Grandma was thrilled...I would have thought it was a bit more endearing if she'd handed some yen my way for the bowl. ::snort:: Seriously, it was a GREAT idea and one I would not have thought of. The rice bowls I picked are pottery. This way Stacia won't break hers. Grandma did me a favor. Back at home Stacia got out the rice steamer and insisted I make rice...and ate two bowls.....I also bought chopsticks....yep....just a couple of months here and it simply TASTES BETTER in a bowl with chopsticks....sort of like tea TASTES BETTER in a fine china cup.

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Who but the Japanese would invent such a charming fly swatter. We can smash them AND clean them up....

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What else did we do today....I answered some PWOC emails, I created some documents for our local PWOC Children's Ministry, I prepared the story and such for tomorrow.... maybe I'll go to the Onsen tomorrow night. OH, the little boys were playing Zoo Tycoon and came running out to say, "Jamin is on the computer!" Jamin AND Josiah were on Skype...the volume worked and Jared had a great talk with them. Tonight the computer froze on me.

Mike got called in on a duty call - second time in one night....so I'll check email and call it a night. Y'all have a good day on that side of the world.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Prayers Please

Arielle felt sick yesterday. Her stomach hurt ... no fever, no nausea, nothing ....

We stayed home. She slept all day. Drank water.

She got up today and ate. She did school. She had her piano lesson and seemed fine. Then she got dizzy, stomach hurting again, nauseated. She spent the afternoon in bed. I'm not letting her go help with children tomorrow and she doesn't have drama.

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Please pray for Arielle to feel 100% better and for Miss Christine (piano teacher above) and Olivia not to get ill. I'm also trying to encourage my immune system to fight...fight...fight...I would have called the Dr. today, but couldn't find the number.

Thanks for the prayers.

Choosing Joy!
© 2009 D.R.G.

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

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Staying Accountable...

OK I'm going to share we plan for dinner and if I don't share somewhere that day that we cooked that meal - keep me accountable. Honestly, though, I'm not sure anything would be more shameful than last week's menu which I already posted. ::snort::

Tues - Organic Cookie Dough/Cookies - MILK
Wed - Ice Cream Shakes - MILK
Thurs - Freshly ground whole wheat Waffles
Fri - Pizza Hut

A Plan:
Sat - Shake and Bake chicken, Ranch Potatoes and good trimmings
Sun - eat out; food court
Mon - BBQ chicken breasts (and I made extra BBQ so it's on hand for quick meals)
Tues - Spaghetti
Wed - Popcorn Chicken
Thurs - Roast or Meatloaf or Alfredo Meatballs
Fri - Pizza - possibly homemade, probably not
Sat - Easy Stroganoff

It's not back where we were in TX when I made homemade cereals, breads, sausage, ice cream, pizza sauce etc....but it beats last week. Several nameless children have mentioned they prefer the previous menu. ::snort::

Before you ask - the chicken breasts are in the crockpot - high for 8 - 12 hours. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Science Anyone

In case the video doesn't work for some of you ..... I'll include photos too. Mom, Adult kids...do you like the videos or do they simply slow down your connection and make it more frustating than fun to see the kids?

Here's how science went for us today.

Jared is doing Apologia Biology (an ancient edition I'm sure). You may remember that last week he took all the kids and they visited our farmer's pond.

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They've had things "growing" in the boys room. Let me rephrase ... things that are SUPPOSED to be growing for a week.

We were blissfully reading Early Thunder when Jared announced he was ready to do his science experiement.

Everyone got to help collect the specimen. Everyone got to peek in the scope. Everyone got to check the text for proper names of squiggly things. Jared gets to write it up and Jared gets credit. WHO do you think did science? One? All ? One text working for Preschool - Sophomore.



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Stacia informs us in all seriousness that she sees a PRINCESS in there. ::snort::
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It works for us.

Yes, we are doing elementary science for the littles too.

Choosing Joy!
© 2009 D.R.G.

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

Beth - Tell Don....

I know he hates Google tool bar....so we took it off all our computers....but in all the new installing going on around here THIS computer has it again...and there's a nifty new feature "translate" on the TOOLBAR....so when blogger popped up in Japanese I told it to translate and it's all now in ENGLISH.....is google really, really bad? ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
© 2009 D.R.G.

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

Saturday, November 07, 2009

KIM, Ryu, Linquists....

OK - does that make any sense at the top right? It sounds right and poetic in English, I translate it...and then put the Japanese in the box and translate back to English and it sounds clunky.

It is supposed to say something like, "My goal is to love God intimately and to love others deeply. This comes from my search for the True and Living god. If you'd like to discuss this further, please email me (address below). Translated at ...."

Am I at all close? Snortの

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Do I Look a Mess

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I walked into my room. Stacia was in the bathroom, preening in front of the mirror. She said, "Do I look a mess?" Struck me funny.

I assured her that she did. Her baby-fine hair was falling down and she had chocolate all around her mouth. I told her to wait while I grabbed the camera...she cleaned her mouth. ::snort::

What a blessing to have a 4 year old in middle age. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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