Sicko

Conversation at our home:

Zander: Where are you going now?

Mom: The Onsen.

Zander: What's that?

Mom: Japanese Public Bath.

Zander: You mean everyone is naked?

Mom: Yes.

Zander: You're going to get naked with them?

Mom: Laughing, yes.

Zander: Sickos

Yes, I am and at the end of this very, very long and busy day, I'm totally looking forward to it. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Advent Hunt Calendar

Nope, we don't believe it's all about gifts...though you can read my thoughts on gifts at Christmas. ::snort::

We have seen families do Advent Calendars for years and simply couldn't get into it. One, we didn't want 9 calendars to open each day. Two, I didn't really want small toys or candy around all month. Those are tiny doors on the calendars. We WANTED an easy count down to Christ's birth. The "Advent Hunt Calendar" was born.

I bought this at Target last year.

We love hunts and riddles. Mike and an assistant write up clues to put in each tiny box. I buy gifts at the $ store or the Y store....

Each night we have a Scavenger Hunt....(tonight's) AFTER our devotional.

At the end of the hunt they find a small gift...tonight a Rubik's cube type of puzzle.

I thought I should explain as new readers may wonder what in the world we're doing night after night. ::snort::

{For those who are wondering ~ Tonight's Clue: "It's just a mattress without these." It was hidden in my linen closet. If nothing else this will ensure I get the closets cleaned after the kids tear through them nightly. ::snort:: Great fun!}

For more Advent ideas - click here or the link at the top of the column.

ing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

The Wonderful Thing about Boxes....

Isn't that a handsome guy in that uniform?

Yeah, he IS my very own husband bringing a cart load of boxes to the Joy.

Six of the Eight boxes Deja sent have arrived. I bet I can pick up the other two tomorrow!!!! I'm very excited. Thank you so much....and Heather too...for letting us order some extras with the group. I can bake bread this week.

Let's see...what else did we do today? A couple of quick Skypes. School. Nice Skype with Mom and Dad. Piano Lessons. Arielle, Stacia and I went to the Y100 store to buy gifts for this month's Advent Calendar/Hunt. I'll have to post more about that in a bit.

I printed off some free curriculum to go with the BOZ DVD that was loaned to me last week. We'll give that a shot tomorrow in PKOC (OK that's NOT our name - we don't have a name...but if there's PYOC, PWOW, PMOC...P KOC sounds fun for the kids. ::snort::). I figured out which of the many games and crafts I wanted to attempt. I gathered supplies for those activities.

I wrote up Committee reports for the local PWOC board meeting. I'm currently the Titus 2 advisor and the Interim Children's Ministry Coordinator.

That's about it for the day. GOOD GRIEF, I FORGOT TO EAT! ::snort::

OH, Photobucket has MORE ads for Lord type games with scantily clad women on my account...I'm trying this to see if the things that frustrated me about blogger are still around. If not, I'm switching to Picassa if I don't have to have ads. Mike says $20 is a small price to pay. ::snort:: I'm worried Picassa will do the same things blogger does to me...strange spaces, dropped uploads...but I'm giving blogger a shot with this post....so we'll see if there are strange spaces. Looks o.k. now. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

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...