Japan - Unique Opportunity for the Right Individual

Looking for one special person who loves children, to live at Choosing Joy for a week to a month. Said person will homeschool Mike and De'Etta's children, live in Mike and De'Etta's house, parent Mike and De'Etta's children; but not be able to drive in country. Said person will kiss all boo boos, mend all torn clothes, be responsible for smooth functioning of home for snatches of time during De'Etta's upcoming travel schedule. Employment package includes travel to Japan, lodging for term of service, lots of heavenly jewels and much appreciation. Must be recommended by at least 3 mothers, a panel of religious leaders, a panel of medical specialists and siblings of G family. Interested Applicants see note below.*

What do you think? ::snort:: Yes, I have been begging God for creative ideas to deal with the upcoming schedule conflicts between my ministry as Asia Region PWOCI President and Mike's ministry as a USAF chaplain.

We have dates. Mike will leave Japan the end of Feb. There is discussion on what will happen for the last two weeks of March between his training and arriving on the East Coast. He'll return home, the end of October.

This means, once again, God has clearly directed that I NOT be a PWOCI Trainer. This is the ONE position I've wanted in PWOC. ::snort:: It simply won't work for me to attend training in NM and travel internationally 3 times this summer...as Mike will be gone.

It also means that I've had "logistic complications" for the two trips I "must" make and the 3 or 4 I'd "like" to make this spring. We've been praying. Everyone I THOUGHT of asking to come stay with the kids is either working, in college, homeschooling their own families, or moving to America. ::snort:: I thought it would be a LOT to ask someone who just met us to take this on.....but I have had offers of help.

We currently have someone praying about traveling to Japan for part or all of March. I'll be able to use others who have offered help to provide logistics for those at home with no transportation.

Yes, this post began silly and is intentionally vague. The purpose of the post is to share Michael's upcoming travel information under an innocent title and to remind you that I covet your participation in our lives through prayer.

*No, I'd never REALLY have someone I don't know well stay with my children while I'm out of country. BUT I would appreciate all prayers for our upcoming spring.

JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.

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

Amusing Car Makes

I cannot believe we're still finding new car makes.

The "Joy Pop"

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

The Nissan Limousine

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.

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

Bowling on Base

Jared had youth group tonight.

The rest of us went bowling.

Josiah didn't like this turn.

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

A strike!

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

My wrists don't like bowling. I was able to work on turning the blog into a book. I decided to do this first book on Blurb. I'm working on Sept 05 - Dec 05. It's going to be more work than I thought, because I'm editing posts to fill up as much space as possible. I have created a few layouts because I didn't like the templates for a certain post etc. It's slow going, but I've got 20 pages done. Originally they said the book would be 141 pages....now it says 112. I really NEED to put more than one post on a page rather than leave pages blank. I am also increasing the font to a size I think will be easier to read.....having fun. Now that I have the blog uploaded through last night, and Book Smart from Blurb too...I can work on it while I wait for various things. Cindy, they clearly warn you if you have a photo that is the wrong size for the spot. I'm doing this first spot of time to see what I think before I attempt all of 2006. It's quite apparent that I'm either going to have HUGE books or have to make several for each year.

We dropped by the post office and the book I was supposed to review last week finally arrived. There was another book from another publisher for review too. Both sent media mail...both took well over a month to arrive. I'm a believer. I'll continue to pay for priority. LOL

JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.

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

Designated Mall Day

We set aside time today to make a trip to Aeon (Shimoda) Mall. The boys wanted to buy souvenirs. I hadn't realized that this mall is nine short minutes from our home. This is an important piece of information...

I often hear others say there is NO SHOPPING here in Misawa. This amuses me, as it did our older boys, because the mall here is WAY bigger than the mall we had in San Angelo. I will say that we can't always find our sizes here....but there IS shopping if you like to shop. ::snort::

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

Windy, this photo is for you. See Daiso on the right? THAT is the BIG Y100 store. Have you been to it? If not, give it a shot. I think you'll love it. It's the biggest one I've found so far. It's directly across from the playground in the parking lot.

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

What I love about shopping in Japan is that I never lose the guys. I just look above the shelves. ::snort:: Americans do tend to stand out.

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

Oh my word. Yes, we bought it. The string under your chin can be pulled to make the wings flap. Our beloved pig hat is falling apart.

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

No, not football. Soccer!

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

No, we didn't eat here. We just took a photo. The new "Big American TEXAS Burger." I must say that they seem to love TX around here. When asked where I'm from, I say, "Oregon." I get blank stares. Then I say, "Texas," and get lots of fun reactions.

A funny thing happened at the mall. Stacia refused to use the squatty potties. I have learned that the handicapped bathrooms have western toilets. This one had an automatic door. How nice. Except the thing opened THREE TIMES while we were in there....I finally decided if I can handle an onsen, this wasn't that big of a deal. ::blush:: I'll make her use the other ones next time.

I have no clue what is going on here. I asked several.

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

The numbers make me think it's a contest...there were long lines of children waiting to go on stage and have their photo taken. No one could tell me why. I wondered if it were a Japanese Santa Clause. ::snort:: Amazing lines.

These books bags are carried by young children to and from school. Young children. Check out the price....more than $248...

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

...or this one for $500.

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

I guess it's tennis shoes in America and book bags in Japan? ::grin::

At the end of the mall they have a lot of NOISY, bright, games....for all ages. I'm wondering if some of them were pachinko machines. I'll have to check into it.

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

Remember how close I discovered the mall to be? Erika, a friend from Bible study(the one who reminds me of my daughters), told me that she finds the best variety and prices at the farmer's market in the mall. When we first arrived Renee had taken us here. I took advantage of my chance today...oh the joy of FRESH produce in the house. I'll have to drive out there weekly. It can't take more time than running a produce co-op did.

From 2010-01-11 mall, bowling

I also bought stuff for my upcoming giveaway ::tease:: ::tease::. I need to work out a few more details before I officially announce the giveaways.

JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.

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

Game Night

We finished Sunday night off with a mini-family game night.

The four older boys began a game of Monopoly that seemed to be endless. ::snort:: When the survivors were down to Josiah and Jared the rest of us began another game.

From 2010-01-10 games

This game worked well with all ages. We used words from Apple to Apple Jr. We showed the word to the audience. One person gave clues for the other to guess. We didn't keep score. We simply enjoyed the show.

From 2010-01-10 games

From 2010-01-10 games

Stacia stole the show in the round above. Nolan, as you may be able to see, is trying to get her to say snowman. He kept working at it.

"You make these when it's cold."

"CINNAMON ROLLS!!!" ::snort::

Who has the heart to tell her she is wrong when she is so thrilled to obviously have finally guessed the right word.

I'm not sure those two older boys ever DID finish their game.

JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.

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

Feedburner Disruption

If your Feedburner feed is disrupted, it's because I had to remove that feed redirect so that I could slurp the blog into blurb. I have put the redirect link back in. (If this makes NO sense to you, it isn't affecting you.)

JOSIAH & JAMIN ARE HOME!
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.

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

Japanese Education

From 2010-01-08 Sannai-Maruyama Ruins

Aren't the cute? It was COLD, and they were all out for a walk.

I had thought pre-school was mandatory in Japan, but it isn't. Many do send their children to school at 3 -5; but they pay for this themselves.

School is mandatory starting at about six years old - they must attend for only nine years. At the end of this time, before finishing high school, each student must past a massive test. Families spend many dollars tutoring their children for this test. The pressure is immense. If a child passes the test, they are allowed to attend high school (grades 10 - 12).

High School is not free. The family must pay for their student to attend both public and private high schools. I've been told in Tokyo the private schools provide the better education. Up here, the public schools have a reputation for providing the better education. The fee is on a sliding scale with lower income families paying less to send their child to high school. 97% of students pass the test and move on to high school.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.

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