Princess Blonde Hair

This little girl stopped me this a.m. as we got ready for church and told me, "I have Princess Blonde Hair". ::snort:: We've encountered this syndrome before haven't we Bre? About 8 years ago? ::grin:: Note that she is wearing one of my gram's pins to church. She was in 7th heaven...and it made me smile all day. Her great Grams would have loved her.

Last night at dinner she altered her standard prayer and said, "God, I just love you so much. Thank for for ALL THESE brothers and thank you for ALL THESE sisters!" Made us all smile.

Lastly, some will remember that the idea of being a Princess has been germinating in my mind for a couple of years. I looked for a program or Bible study to do with the girls and didn't find it. We have read a few books, we've done a lap book on Princeses, we've discussed the role and the rights and the responsibilities.....and this a.m. the phrase "Warrior Princess" dropped into my spirit. I think that God is giving me a heads' up on some speaking/Bible study I'll be doing eventually.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Welcome to Our Home

I mentioned last week that our house never has that "homey feeling" until our out of town family and friends have visited. We hit on the idea of sharing a room a day. When it was all done we've taken 10 video clips....so I'll post one now.

{Unfortunately, I took them on the "high" setting and they wouldn't load. We've had redo them and I think we lost some of the funniest clips. For instance, I'd run up and down our stairs about 20 times before we finished the clip the first time...you miss my wheezing...and the kids' witty remarks. ::snort::}

Keep in mind this is an American Style home. It does have some unique features and we'll try to point those out as we go through the tour.

Be aware the house is "family clean" but not "holiday clean" or "company clean". I'd also like you to be aware that you may hear comments about Arielle not wanting to be in the video and then see her in a few spots. She didn't mind opening a few doors but didn't want to be the main star. I didn't exploit her. ::snort:: Jared, Arielle and I actually had a bit of fun taking these clips.

Feel free to make the comments and suggestions you would if you were taking a real life tour.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Saturday

Mike spent the day at the office.

We cleaned house.

I caught Heather on Skype and we talked....

We made video clips for a grand home tour...which I'm trying to load. ::snort::

I began working on a menu plan for the week. We stuck with the meal plan last week.

I made beef stroganoff.

The kids played Monopoly. I continued to try to load videos.

I made a couple of ministry calls...and continued to try to load videos.

Mike's home.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Misawa Skype

If you are local and have Skype....please find me. It will be much cheaper to talk via our computers or even for me to skype your land line than to pay for the land line and cell phones. ::snort::

I think we're switching from unlimited land/mobile in the states to unlimited world...so we can call any land phone in Japan as well as China...and anywhere else friends may end up. LOL

You know...for those times when friends are avoiding us on their computers....we can call their phone too. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

TGIF!

10 kids, 4 adults, Penquins, and a big screen....it could only mean one thing! Friday Pizza and a Movie....TGIF!

This new schedule is full...but doable for a bit of time. Monday - piano lessons (at home), Tuesday - PWOC, Wednesday - Japanese Tutor, Thursday - Bible Study (at home)....Friday...well today it meant all the errands that don't get done when our focus is school.

We talked with Bre, Krista and Jamin on Skype. Arielle is feeling so much better again and I think it DID help to talk with Bre this a.m.

I finally had my fasting labs done. Shew....he was checking for lots of things. I'll have a clean bill of health when this is over. The one test that surprised me was a blood test to see what my sugars have been for the past 3 months. After 15 hours of fasting, and realizing that sugar could be gone as of 30 Nov, I explained to Mike that my blood sugar was SO LOW I probably needed Baskin Robbins to get it normal. ::snort:: No, we didn't. Went to Subway for lunch.

Twyla, I remembered your tip. I used the courtesy phone at the clinic to make two dental appointments and my followup with the doc. I figure I saved about $10 not having to pay the fees for calling from home with the hold time. ::snort::

Bought a Christmas Tree. We left ours stateside. The thought was we'd buy something here before we realized that there really may not be live trees to buy on every corner. The BX had a few left and we snactched one. It's important to the kids.

Went to get the kids' flights booked. Supposedly we had the papers we need....but we need ONE more piece of paper that will include gathering THREE more pieces of paper....came home and skyped the kids again to get the one from their colleges.

Three of our kids will fly on the Patriot Express. This is good in that they will all fly from SEA. It only comes over once a week so they'll most likely all be on the same flight....except since it only flies once a week it costs us 2 - 5 days of visiting for each one of them. Ah well. AND Bre will fly alone....to Tokyo. I told her not to worry....she'll have a grand adventure.

Went to the commissary. I was chasing a rumor that they had Ghiradeli hot chocolate (no flavors or dyes). Alas, we were told not yet....but I did find several new holiday treats. ::snort::

That's about it....just a day of tying up loose ends. We are so happy that Arielle is feeling better. I picked up the flyer on H1N1 at the clinic today. Really, there was nothing to do on there that we don't do for seasonal flu....

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Natural Food Help?

After placing my first overseas co-op order and realizing how MUCH shipping is going to cost...I found a spot that charges more for their products than co-op BUT will ship any size order for a flate rate of $4.99. Yes, even to APO and FPO's. I'm not sure if they ship priority....but I'm ordering the liquid stuff from them. ::snort:: Vita Cost....check them out. Thanks for the tip, Connie. I love that I can SEE the items and their ingredient list in one spot.

The problem with giving everything your own names in a family is that NOW I can't find the things the kids loved to surprise them with a box of cereal....so anyone care to guess what the Penquin cereal would be? What about the one that looked like puff squares? And - Deja, what is that cereal that Doug and I loved? It's SWEET....more of a snack than a breakfast..... OH - and GRAHAM crackers so we can have s'mores on the beach without paying for it for a week..... I can't wait....I have sunflower seeds (unsalted and hulled), pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and teriyaki without HFCS coming.......STEVIA...I have vanilla stevia coming for my tea..and steamers....doing a snoopy dance here in Northern Japan. We are so blessed to have that APO address.....

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

"That Homey Feeling" and other thoughts

I replied to comment somewhere on here yesterday that I was surprised it did NOT feel like home when I returned from Hawaii. Which caused some old 70's song about some sort of feeling...."you've lost that..." to play through my mind incessantly. ANYWAY..... I've been pondering.

It never feels like HOME to me until friends and family from OTHER places visit and SEE our home.... I think I'm going to do a virtual bloggy home tour next week and invite y'all into our new home, because it's going to be quite a bit of time before any of you take us up on the offer to visit. ::snort::

However, today, I hit on another thing that makes a house feel more like MY HOME. I had three wonderful women join me for lunch and the start of a new Bible Study in our home. I'm calling it PWOC South. ::snort:: We're doing the study the "main group" is doing, but for one reason or another the time doesn't work for all who are coming here. I don't think I've EVER hosted a Bible Study in my home....I went straight to teaching in Women's Ministries in my 20's. This was lovely. Intimate. I believe God has put a good mix together.

Erika's presence ministered to me greatly. She's a 25 yo young lady who was homeschooled K - 12. She reminds me of my daughters. She says I'm a lot like her mom. She thinks I'll really like her mom too. She's the oldest of 7 children...and the youngest in their family is 4. Our family is sort of a mirror family of hers. She and her dh work with our youth. The other women blessed me as well. Windy, how incredible to have a friend in the neighborhood who can walk over...and now we can study together too. Twyla, you are simply a jewel.... I'm looking forward to the next nine weeks with these ladies (and any others who may join us next week). In the process of opening our home to those who ARE here, it helped ease the loneliness for those who CAN'T be here. (Josiah and Jamin, never fear, I'll keep the butterfly net handy. ::snort::) For those who are aware of my mixed reviews on previous Beth Moore studies...well...I'm EXCITED for this study. I could have done without calling it the "Book of Estrogen," or quite so many "girlfriend" comments... but the stories she shared will have me laughing for days to come. Frankly, I think I'm becoming more girly and touchy feely as I age. HORRORS! ::snort::

OH - TEA!!! This is the first time that I was able to pull out all the tea things and have tea with the ladies since we moved. Dinner's in the oven...meatloaf, leftover kaiser rolls, rice, salad, carrot sticks and tortellinis. See....the week is nearly over and I cooked REAL food all week. I can do this even in Japan. ::snort::

Psst...I've also heard the Beth Moore Daniel study is really good.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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