2 1/2 hours from Tokyo

She's making it.... She'll land in Tokyo, take the shuttle 1 1/2 hours across to Haneda, check herself in to sleep and we'll see her tomorrow right before chapel. I wonder if she'll be able to sleep?

Bre will is home!
Krista will be home in 1 day
Jamin and Josiah will be home in 3 days
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Alaska in Sight...

Krista should be waving at Alaska as she flies over. Five and a half hours until she arrives in Tokyo.

Bre said this was the prettiest part of the flight. Note to boys...try to get a seat where you can take photos....emergency exits have more leg room....

Bre will be home today!
Krista will be home in 1 days
Jamin and Josiah will be home in 3 days
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Krista's in the Air...

She's made it from Eugene to Seattle. She's now 1 hour and 17 min from Seattle...934 miles from Eugene.....4,950 miles to Misawa.

We can't see track the little airplane....but that's o.k. We're happy to know she's on the way.

Bre will be home today!
Krista will be home in 1 day
Jamin and Josiah will be home in 5 days
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Happy Birthday, Jesus

Here are some shots from our day. Not much time for lots of words.....

We played games

From 2009-12-25 Happy Birthday Jesus

We talked with lots of family - though not all - maybe tomorrow

From 2009-12-25 Happy Birthday Jesus

Finding baking ingredients off base proved to be an adventure. I'm assuming most Japanese don't bake at home a lot. I was told over and over that tanjobi keki (birthday cake) is usually purchased from the bakery. Stacia was excited to help frost our birthday cake.


Mike & Zander make a stable.


A bit more training seems to be called for! ::snort::

From 2009-12-25 Happy Birthday Jesus

Pin the Star on the Stable...




Or the wall...

Or the brother...


They Tied....though Stacia had outside help after the brother incident. ::snort::

From 2009-12-25 Happy Birthday Jesus

We had birthday cake, we sang.

By the way, birthday candles are found in hardware stores in Misawa...not grocery stores. LOL


We played Pictionary using words from the Christmas Story or our Jesse Tree devotionals.
Wise Men

Angel

Caesar ::snort:: - think...Pizza...Little...

We played charades using our devotions and Luke 2.

We talked about gifts we give Jesus. I should probably write a separate post on that...or maybe not. It was precious. We prayed.

It was a wonderful day...though there were some "down" moments. I missed the kids that aren't here. This is the first Christmas, other than deployments, we've not all made it home. I woke up with a lot of back and hip pain... I need to find time for an onsen soon. Transitions from one set of traditions to another always brings a bit of clunkiness...but all in all...it was a wonderful day of Celebrating Christ.

We pray your days are just as wonderful. . . whichever side of the dateline you happen to live on.
Bre is home!
Krista will be home in 2 days
Jamin and Josiah will be home in 4 days
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Christmas Thoughts

What would a birthday party be if you didn't invite the birthday boy to the party?

This simple question, posed weeks ago by Melinda, started us thinking of intentional ways we could invite Jesus to His birthday party - Christmas. Many of our traditions have remained, some have left, new traditions are arriving this year.... through it all we've asked ourselves over and over this season, "How are we inviting Jesus to the party?" and "Does this help us Celebrate JESUS?" To be continued....

Merry Christmas to you and yours....may you have a blessed day as you celebrate the coming of Christ into our universe, our homes, our lives, and His future coming for His bride, His church... May you be aware again of how very much life has changed because of His coming, this event we celebrate today and throughout the year.

The coming of Jesus in the past to our universe, the coming of Jesus daily into our lives, the coming of Jesus in the future to take His bride home, what a Messiah we have. He truly is our past, our present and our future hope.

Happy Birthday, Jesus. May you feel welcomed and honored today, and every day, in our family.

Bre is home!
Krista will be home in 2 days
Jamin and Josiah will be home in 4 days
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Christmas Eve

Stacia was surprised that the kids were asked to sing one of their songs from the program last night. She started up, came back, cried that she wasn't up, but didn't want to go up....so I went up with her and sat on the floor while they sang. Someone snapped this photo. Her "favorite Ricky" is in the photo with her.

Ch. B had planned a great family Christmas Eve service. We had readings, singing, a message, candles and glow sticks for children as we sang, Silent Night. Mike reminded the children to wait until they were outside to play with the glowsticks...and it really was quite nie and reverent.

The base was shut down as we tried to exit. We headed to Hachinohe as we got off base. We hadn't a clue that the train station is outside and COLD.

Here she is.

From 2009-12-24 Christmas Eve - BRE

From 2009-12-24 Christmas Eve - BRE

Bre is home!
Krista will be home in 2 days
Jamin and Josiah will be home in 4 days
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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

Bre's HOME

What an adventure. Bre was determined to get here by Christmas.

We took her on the scenic route home....but we pulled into our driveway at 11:58 p.m. ::snort::

Now - to get kids settled.

Bre is home!
Krista will be home in 2 days
Jamin and Josiah will be home in 3 days
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

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