First Sunday in Advent

I've debated writing one long post - or splitting it up into "Advent/religious" and daily life...then I remembered by belief that all of life is lived before the face of God....and so you'll get one post about our practically perfect first Sunday in Advent.

There was no R.E. this Sunday and so we got to sleep in a bit - carnal but real. ::snort:: We are BLESSED with a great R.E. program, but it is nice to occassionaly sleep in.

Worship, ah worship. I do love to worship. I have loved the songs the last few weeks at chapel and it's a joy to worship with fellow believers. I assisted in the children's church. God is on the move in my life. I don't really "do other's children". I just don't. I don't like disrespect. I like giving a 3 point sermon with a few real illustrations thrown in....and I've been TOLD by R.E. Coordinators NOT to volunteer for R.E. because my "gifting is adults". I've been secure in this. Earlier this fall, however, our PWOC needed an interim Children's Ministry Coordinator. They didn't NEED adult teachers. I believe it is a HUGE ministry to teach little ones...and so I volunteered...and have come to love it, though I set an end date of December due to the changing season of my ministry. Because I'm having such a good time, I went ahead and told our service children's coordinator to schedule me to help them out once a month. You just never know where God will take you....installation platform at a regional conference on Sunday, wiping snot and goobers from your hair on Tuesday. ::snort:: What WAS I saying? Oh, Sunday a.m. was great....I was with kids and loved the worship and fellowship.

After service we went to an Italian restaurant. The kids are not impressed with Japanese/Italian pizza, but we did know enough not to order squid on it. ::snort:: I also avoided the squid ink spaghetti. Mike was tempted by the spaghetti with white sauce, bacon and pumpkin - but resisted. I was proud and RELIEVED that the kids sat very quietly and meekly and ate....and we weren't louder than any of the others in the restaurant. Public outings are more subdued in Japan than they are in America. I am betting the Sumo tournaments would be the exception to this rule.

We drove to the Swan Park after lunch. Fun times.

Look closely & you'll see Goeckers hanging out the top

Arielle & Nolan race to ring the bell

More swans

Then I had a 2 hour conference call with my Asia Region PWOC team.

And..... :::drum roll:: it was time for our first Jesse Tree reading and our first Advent Scavenger Hunt. Mike and Jared made up 25 clues. Every Sunday in Advent we have a family gift. They had an extra clue and so we let the kids begin last night.

They hunted.....

they found.

I'll post clues daily at the end of the post as I know at least some of my family like to see if Mike is still keeping up. ::snort::

The gift this week is "10 Days in Asia". Arielle and Nolan had played it at the S's and enjoy it. They helped us learn. It's a bit more cerebral than some of us enjoy. I tend to like UNO...but I'll learn. ::snort:: Zander and Nolan were playing this afternoon.

{clue - As you get drier, I get wetter. Thus they ran to the dryer...and finally to the upstairs bathroom where the game was hidden in the nicely folded towels. ::snort::}

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Jesse Tree Devotional & Patterns

I shared that our Jesse Tree/banner is MIA. We have used this book in the past for patterns and devotionals.

Deja sent me a link to RCA which has devotionals and patterns for Jesse Tree ornaments. We've done two of these devotionals now and they seem to be the perfect length for us. Stacia has volunteered to color all the ornaments. I'm seriously simplifying....and biting my nails. I took the thankful leaves off our thankful tree....and now we'll put these handmade ornaments up on the bulletin board, using the same grocery bag tree spine. It's a far cry from our royal blue velvet banner with the felt/embroidered ornaments that Bre and Krista made us....but it's fine for now. LOL

For more Advent Adventures check out my index - it is also linked at the top of the blog and will stay there through Advent.

{Special Advent prayer request: I'll be speaking at MOPS about Christmas next Thursday. Pray that I narrow down and focus on what I really want to say and HOW I really want to present it. Thanks.}

Choosing joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Liberty, Caches & Sunsets

Guess where we went today?

Statue of Liberty Park, Momoishi Park, Ichou Park - all the same place...The S family invited us....and we were happy to go.... The kids enjoyed the long, long roller slide....

Arielle, Jared, Mike and I slipped away to find a couple of caches. We invited everyone else...and planned on taking all our kids....but they were happy to accept the invitation to stay and play. Fall is here - and I'm LOVING IT.

It was COLD at the park today. We will have to take Rodney's lead and buy a thermos - or two for future outings.

We found both cache's. This one took us to a part of the park we didn't know existed...and we thought we'd explored it thoroughly.

We were SO cold by this point. Due to my thyroid issues, I'm still cold, hours later. I am going to have to make some "wheat bags" or "corn bags" in order to survive the fun. ::Snort::

As we walked back to the play area we noted the swans on the lake in front of Lady Liberty.

Zander...breaking barriers

The unseen story is that the boys had taken Zander's toy and he wanted it back. He was rather upset. Jared was able to communicate with them using his Japanese lessons...and they readily gave the toy back. Way to go Jared.

We dropped Arielle and Jared at the chapel to decorate. We ran to the BX. We stopped by the postoffice to pick up a package. It turns out it was a notebook for me....now I can begin work on my new PWOC position. We drove home to see this view....

What a beautiful country we've been placed into. We are blessed.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Christmas Decorating 2009

Well....formerly....EVERY room of our home was decorated for Christmas. There were Nativity sets in each room. The lights were amazing....and I even had music last year. ::snort:: We purposely left 99% of our Christmas decorations in storage in the states. We knew we wouldn't have storage here....but WOW what a difference it made when we started to decorate.

It usually takes us 3 days to get the decorating done. One day on the interior, one day on the exterior, and one day for the tree. It took 3 hours to do ALL. ::snort::

The JESUS STOCKING, the Jesse Tree Banner, the Advent Wreath, all of Nolan's Photo ornaments, all wreaths and bows, Christmas movies, most Christmas books... are missing. I know they were packed to come...but aren't here. I'm praying we find a box - though we've looked everywhere....or that the packers sent the box to storage.

We bought a small pre-lit tree - that sped things up!


The kids enjoy the books that DID make it


The tree is decorated SOLELY in children's photo ornaments...
Stacia took this photo






This is the FIRST time we've had a child who was old enough to remember that the youngest child gets to top the tree. There is usually a new one before they remember.


This is ALL the outside decorations we have - 5 strands of light, an outside nativity...


and a sign...Thanks, Deja.


Jared and Mike were happy to have less decorations....Thanks, Rodney and Windy for the use of your ladder.






We couldn't find the Fisher Price Nativity for the longest time. We were RELIEVED to find it....Stacia slept with the angel.


....and took this photo of her TIVITY to show Grandma.

Lots less fripperies....but more time to relax this weekend. That's been good and just what we needed. I really am going to have to look for a few things...like something for the door and maybe make an Advent Wreath....but even with these few decorations one of our neighbors made a comment expressing shock that we'd put up Christmas lights...so it's best we didn't have the whole arsenol....we no longer live on Christmas Lane...and I miss it. ::snort::

For a list of various Advent ideas and activities that we do around here....visit All Things Advent.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Interesting Tree Topper

Yesterday was the first Thanksgiving we've celebrated without the "boys" at home. It is probably inevitable that I'd be noticing a lot of firsts....

For instance.....THIS is the first time....

I've seen HIM on top of a Christmas tree. ::snort:: No, it is NOT our tree.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

First Geocache in Japan

YES!

With all our decorating finished, we decided on another first for our family in Japan. We went Geocaching. Gracie (Arielle's friend) is sick. Mollie (Gracie's sister and also Arielle's friend) came with us. It was her first time geocaching. Hand-held gps units and a book on geocaching was a family Christmas gift in 2005 - one of the best gifts we've ever done. LOL

Mollie took the lead

Even *I* didn't need to read the sign to know it would be silly to venture this way. ::snort::

OUR FIRST FIND IN JAPAN!!!

Jared tries out his reading skills - this is a bass pond which we will visit in the future

Jared found some lures LOL

As we drove off I saw a white goose, no a SWAN. I rushed to get a photo....obviously I RUSHED. ::snort:: I didn't realize that the swan were nearly tame and will eat "moss balls" from your hand. There were three Japanese nationals on the lake shore with some of those HUGE camera lenses....they got quite a laugh out of my little point and click.

I tried out a few elementary Japanese phrases and they were glad to chat with me. The lady asked if I was from the "asylum" - base. ::snort:: She was happy to hear I lived in the city. She told me to come back with a nice camera and that the Swans STAY HERE for the winter. I sense it will be a winter project to catch some nice shots. I haven't a clue why they come here in the winter when it is cold....

We attempted one more find. I've written before about the Train Park. It was here that Stacia decided to make my photo at an inopportune moment. ::snort::

It's the perfect place for a cache...and we couldn't find it. Part of geocaching is not letting on to outsiders what you are doing. This is always a challenge with a large family.....in some of the spots you find yourself...we discovered being a large, American family, in Japan, trying not to call attention to yourself, as you geocache, adds a new dimension to the fun. We'll probably look for out of the way caches in the future. I think we managed to give the impression that Americans are simply crazy about trains. LOL



It was too dark to really eyeball this one....we tried. We didn't find it. We'll try again.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

First Slumber Party in Japan

For years our kids would all watch movies late into the night on Friday night. They would drag out blankets and sleep in the living room. As the older ones left home, this tradition seemed to wane. Then the boys were working late Friday night and early Saturday morning and were content to sleep in their own beds.

After our practically perfect Thanksgiving (totally different than usual but so RELAXING), and after the tree was up and decorated....we pulled out The Muppet's Christmas Carol. This is a tradition that I love.



The littles asked if they could watch more movies. We brought down their futons and they were nice and cozy for the first slumber party in Japan.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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