Let the Travels Begin

Lists have been made and checked and rechecked. I bought a train ticket for the ride home from Tokyo in a week. I've checked tickets. I can't check in for the International flight online. I've packed a suitcase - 40 lbs lbs - and a carry on - 21 lbs.  I think I'll be able to schlep it across Tokyo on the trains. LOL

I think I'm as ready as I'm going to be. Please pray for a renewing and refreshing week at Vision Week. There will be a couple of board meetings, speakers, prayer and worship time, a time to focus on the vision for PWOCI for the upcoming year of ministry.

Pray for the kids and Nate here at home. They have a great plan. We went over lesson plans, groceries are bought, bread is baked, numbers have been given......I wish I could have talked to Mike before I left, but time changes are what they are.

Game On....
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Sensational Saturday

I've made a conscious effort to get the kids out of the house and out of the neighborhood. They'll be housebound for the next week or two. Nate isn't allowed to drive in Japan.

From 2010-02-27

The snow is melting.....and now there is LOTS OF MUD! We still enjoyed a nice walk around the perimeter of Swan Park.

From 2010-02-27

From 2010-02-27

From 2010-02-27

We stopped at the Produce Market on the way home. This is cool. They have greenhouse upon greenhouse of strawberries, bananas, mangoes and pineapples. So WARM.

From 2010-02-27

From 2010-02-27

The strawberries are sold by weight. You pick the berry you want and snip it with scissors. Our container, about a quart, were Y700 ( a bit over $7), but oh are they good and not ONE bad berry in our container.

From 2010-02-27

Our last stop of the day was the OCEAN.

From 2010-02-27

In the evening Nate and the kids stayed home and devoured a roast, played games.....and I joined some friends at Yakiniku house. A fun day from start to finish.

Ah, chapel just called to make sure I know we're under a tsunami warning and I should stay away from the ocean today.  There are times having AFN might be a good idea. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Beware -

From 2010-02-25

While this isn't incredibly amusing to the world at large, it IS amusing to us. From the side you can't tell that you are in the presence of a student driver.....except that I noted someone up there is a bit more timid than I about that center line. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Stubborn Twig by Lauren Kessler

I listened to Stubborn Twigs: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family, on the player while I rode the exercise bike. LOL 

I found this book to be irritating, challenging, illuminating and fascinating. The first couple of chapters bored me, but I quickly became hooked. I hadn't a CLUE that Hood River, OR used to have a major Japanese Immigrant community. Having family roots in OR this was interesting to me. Living in Japan NOW - this book really interested me.   Stubborn Twig follows the Yasui family as they leave Kobe to work on the railroad near Tacoma, WA. The original plan was to save up $ and come back to Japan. The older brother did just that. The younger two brothers move to Hood River, buy property, become major land holders and fruit producers...and eventually face internment during WW2.

This book is well worth the read/listen if you are interested in this time in history. I believe it helped me understand the Japanese culture and the Japanese experience in America better.  I think it would be a good book for high school students who are studying the WW2 era to read. This is not an America-bashing book, but it IS an honest portrayal of this family's experience in America.

In an amusing aside, our homework this week is to note items that are "yasui" or "takai," (inexpensive/expensive).  I was writing my sentence....and kept thinking yasui - that can't be right that's the name of the family in Stubborn Twigs...then I remembered.....ah HA they changed their name so they could advertise their business.....

This is part of my 2010 reading list.
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Fun, fun, fun

Looks fine in Picasa and flips when loaded....

Jared and Arielle went skiing with some friends. Thanks again, Joel and Mary. It was their first time and they had varying success.

Nate, the youngers ones and I headed to Statue of liberty park.

Throwing rocks into an iced over pond...while Nate takes photos....they made holes and water spurted out of the ice all over the pond. Very fun.

I got a call from the chapel saying that Mike had been trying to Skype me and would call back in 20 minutes. We raced home.  I began to consider the itouch so that I could have Skype.

We went to base and got Nate a pass. We checked out the BX - the Apple Rep is SURE that I need not only wi-fi but a WIDE BAND connection to skype on the itouch. This means it would work at home....but not on base...and um...if I'm home I don't NEED Skype on a tiny screen. I have computers. ::snort:: I'm still researching.

We went to the nursing home to sing Happy Birthday to six women. This is always fun.

Youngers and Twyla's boys (she says they can be on the blog)

Stacia passes out a birthday gift. The doll display has to do with a doll festival - which I'll miss but I'll try to blog about later.  The four ladies to the right are all over 90 years old. Emily had her 5 month old baby along, and she was a HIT!

We came home. The older kids got home. Joel went home to work on a paper. Mary and the kids stayed to eat pizza and watch Saun the Sheep with us. LOL  Nate and I Skyped with Mom and Dad after I took Mary and the kids home.

A full day - and I have much to do to get ready to travel tomorrow and Sunday.

Choosing Joy!

©2010 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~

Living all of life before the face of God...

Nate's here

Stacia wastes no time in getting Uncle Nate to dance with her

Nate's plane was an hour late.  Shortly after he arrived the ladies arrived for our luncheon. I then ran to the base for some local interviews. Arielle and I went to rent skis for her. I drove home and found this....

Animal Instincts - like Apples to Apples with Animals

Earlier today...well....I had a SENIOR MOMENT. I was rushing out the door to make it to the base by 3:15 p.m. Jared waved at us. We waved back and kept going. I arrived at the chapel and realized that JARED NEEDED TO COME WITH US TO RENT SKIS. Oops.....so we drove home and collected everyone and headed back to the base to rent Jared skis.

I think I'm scatterbrained.
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Busy Day

• School
• Cleaning
• Shopping
• Waxing and Trimming
• Grocery Shopping
• Mailed 4 packages
• Preparing for Nate to arrive tomorrow
• Preparing for Play and Pray - Bible Study group - tomorrow
• Preparing for local LST Interviews
• Sweet time with Nolan who wanted to run errands with me
• Spent more time loading things on to this new machine

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...