The Play Room

Welcome to Day Two of our home tour. Today we show you the land of "Spare Oom" or the playroom/garage.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Sunday

I LOVE our new chapel....it's such a blessing to have a spot that is HOME weeklong and doesn't have to be packed up at the end of each Sunday.

I wrote and am working on revising something for PWOCI. Funny thing is that I was UNDER the wordcount...went to trim more and added 30 words. Mike's red pen is now attacking.

Mike and I are teaching a class on grace and truth for the next month. I think it's going to be a good spot to focus for a bit of time.

The sermon resonated with me today - not that it doesn't often - but today it confirmed a direction I've been contemplating. Enough said.

It's storming today. We stopped by the beach. The look is changing and we love it. BIG waves today, and the water is reaching far up the shore...and the beach is littered not with shells today but with jelly fish.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

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...