Tops in Blue

I had asked about going to see Tops in Blues, but Michael said the tickets had gone fast. I was pleasantly surprised when I got an email from him late in the afternoon saying he had tickets and we were going. 

Tops in Blue, is an all-active duty US Air Force special unit made up of talented amateur performers selected for their entertainment abilities. They tour around the world - in overseas locations a lot for morale, and stateside probably for "recruiting"? I don't know. But they're fun to see. 

Our vice commander told the Japanese in the audience that we were thrilled to share a part of American culture with them.  The show incorporates a wide variety of music and is always a treat to view. I think I had as much fun watching the reaction of some of the Japanese audience as I did watching the show. I did wonder what they thought of some of the more boisterous American responses. 

The theme this year is "We Believe" - and while show was EXCELLENT, I do wonder about the message, and since culture was mentioned in the opening comments my mind naturally considered what the choice of this theme says about the world view of our culture.  It seems you can believe in music, love, love songs, finding a new mate, children....as long as you believe first and foremost in YOURSELF.  

Near the end they had one song that very clearly was talking about JESUS - the redeemer whose blood on Calvary bought our freedom......which raised some more questions in my mind.

Are we saying Jesus is one more thing you can choose to believe in? As valid as any other option? Just "another option"? And......with such a push for "religious freedom and equity" in the USAF, why a song about Jesus and not Allah or Buddha or Rah.... Could it be somewhere deep in our culture we still know when talking about freedom and belief....Jesus is our foundation?  

For the finale the group comes out in their uniforms and sing "God Bless the USA" - which nearly always moves me to tears. I remember clearly our church in San Antonio the week after 9-11. He asked all the active duty military to stand, they played this song, and prayed for all....and by the next week many were deployed. 

It was a  great family outing.....Stacia and Zander LOVED the lights, the flashes, the loud noises....the older ones, Mike and I had a good talk about world view on the way home....and I bet we'll have more. LOL 

Care to listen to a bit of the show?  Frankly they sounded better last night...

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

Winter Fun

Today is MLK day. The base is pretty much closed down.  Jared and Arielle went skiing with the PYOC (Protestant Youth of the Chapel).  We decided  this would be a great opportunity to take the little ones out cross country skiing. I've only attempted it once.....but I was game.  I did much better this time.....

May I say it's BEAUTIFUL to go skiing on snow covered sand dunes, in the midst of pine forests and in big fields of unbroken snow...... We skied for a couple of hours. I didn't ski during this time - I ran beside Stacia and Zander. We had lunch in the van. Mike watched Stacia who decided not to ski and I skied with the boys. What a hoot! At one point the wind was so strong I fell over....and realized I didn't know quite how to get back up.....I kept trying various things until the boys caught up to me with some helpful tips.....Mike and Stacia were in the tower and enjoyed the hilarity. For a bit of time I simply turned flat on my back, stuck my skis into the snow, laughed until I cried, and enjoyed the incredible view. I love Japan.

We tried to rent skis from the base's Outdoor Rec. NO Children's skis....and the smallest boot was ladies 7.5. I wear 6 - so it was a bit uncomfortable out there.... We borrowed two sets of children's skis for Zander and Stacia from Mary, a friend.  Turns out that Zanders boys size 5 fit me perfectly and he would have preferred my women's 7.5. All that to say that I need to go online and try to find some used skis...we live in the snow covered boonies...the farm roads would be great for cross country skiing...the kids loved it. The beach is also wonderful for skiing. LOL

It took a good 30 min to get everyone situated on skis. 

Michael gave some quick instructions....

Oops....falling is still fun early in the day.

 More instructions 

 I NEVER would have guessed I'd ski on the beach...what fun. 

 Oops - spectacular falls from Zander.

 A girl must have her priorities. 

 Running along side for the first bit of skiing meant I could take lots of photos. 

 Zander took off his skis. Michael decided to teach Nolan how to do some bunny hills. 

 Zander really wanted to give it a try too. We talked. I told him  he WOULD fall, but he'd have fun. I'd let him  put his skis back on if he promised no more melt downs when he fell. He's High - He's Low....that's our boy. I think he was simply overwhelmed each time he fell and couldn't quite remember how to get up.....panic....no matter how many times we told him what to do...and he had lots of practice getting back up. ::grin:: We made sure the day ended on a high note. 

When we were tired, wet and getting cold....we loaded up and drove down to check out another beach. It was incredibly windy there and COLD....but we snapped this photo  for Mom and Dad G - we match Crescent City.

 Always fun to see the van out alone on adventures.....We are enjoying the 4WD.

For the life of us we can't figure out what happened to Mike's Snow wear. He went looking yesterday and this a.m. for suitable warm clothing on the economy. Through trial and error we discovered Nolan can wear a Japanese man's Large...and Michael is L5. 

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

Fun Sign

Construction sign at the beach today....I'm guessing it says "Pier is being built - stay out" or something.  The Pier most certainly is NOT built at this point. 

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

Winter Beach Trip

Fridays are always late movie nights - which tend to make Saturdays late mornings for my family. I wake up naturally at 5:30 a.m. this time of year.  I enjoy the gift of silence. 


I got up and spent time with my man James (as in the epistle of James).  I hit the elliptical. That thing makes enough noise to rouse the family. 


Some of us opted to stay home - some of us went to Kaikoen/Momoishi beach....we are so very blessed to live amongst such beauty. We found quite a bit of sea glass too.  I have an idea for making a different kind of necklace and bracelet. We'll see.  I'm not the most crafty gal on the continent.

Arielle and Zander play in what used to be a channel of fresh water heading to the ocean

Its now a clam bed

Having grown up around TROPICAL oceans, it still makes me smile to go to the ocean in snow gear. 

Zander and Arielle share my joy at winter ocean viewing....

It would appear chasing seagulls is a winter activity too. 

 Mike asked me if we'd had many jelly fish this summer and I realized anew how much he missed of our year in Japan. When we arrived the beaches were COVERED with GIANT jelly fish - seriously - I saw a magazine article about "refrigerator sized jelly fish in Northern Japan" - I am NOT exaggerating. LOL This summer we only saw a few. Mike did find a nice shell...and when we got home Staica told him, "Mom does not allow shells only sea glass and floats." ::snort:: She tries to bring buckets of clam shells home each time we go to the beach. She's been feeling crummy yesterday and today.

Zander found this fascinating coming on the end of our year of studying Ocean Life. 

We're thinking cross-country skis and snow shoes on Monday. The older ones have a ski trip with the youth. 

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

Friday.....

We filled this day off for Michael with doctor's visits, BX and commissary run, an awards luncheon, games, school and play - and another duty call. This has been a busy two weeks for duty calls. 

 The kids are building a new fort. I'm going to continue to try to get good photos. Everything is white and its hard to see how nicely the fort is coming along. 

We ended the night with our traditional pizza and movies. 


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

Conquering Fear

I have had an ice related accident in every northern tier location where we have lived. Several in fact.  We arrived here and heard, "Do NOT get in an accident. If you do you will own the field, vending machine etc"....and "any accident is 50% your fault as it wouldn't have happened if you weren't in Japan." We live out in the country.....the roads are narrow (some are the width of one lane at home but are two lanes here) and twisty. There are no shoulders to speak off. There ARE little concrete "ditches" just the width of a tire along the side of many lanes. Veer into these and you are likely to blow a tire (which I've done twice come to think of it).  When we moved here I listened to my dh try valiantly to get us on base because he was worried about my winter driving..... I didn't realize this was a fear until that point. Then I realized I should be afraid....


They don't plow most the roads in Northern Japan. They don't sand the roads. We aren't allowed chains or studs either. We have no "special Japanese" tires....they simply drive slow and don't do anything about winter roads up here.  Ruts develop. I don't have 4 wd.  I managed to stay home most of last winter. This year, I committed to teaching on Monday night and Tuesday a.m. before I remembered the WINTERS. It's VERY hot and humid here in the summer - hard to remember snow during July and August. ::snort:: 


A dear friend, Anna, reminded me of the training we received at driving class upon arrival in Misawa: "We don't plow for many reasons. 1) too expensive 2) we never plowed so why start?" That was shared right around the time he shared, "Roads very narrow with deep ditches. If going to have an accident, just close eyes." And well after he said, "If train coming and bar comes down and you are trapped, just bump it with car, it will open." :-P


Monday I was TERRIFIED when I had to drive to base for a meeting. I arrived at the front gate with tears running down my face and lost it when I saw friends at the chapel.  Mike drove me in to teach on Monday night. He also brought us in on Tuesday. We spent the day in and came home at the end of the work day. This cannot keep up. 


Today was MOPS. I drove Arielle, Stacia and I in. Tanya (another friend) had told me to drive slow...so I did. Drove the speed limit 30 - 40 kph (about 20 mph) or lower all the way from Oirase to Misawa AB. Per the instructor's advice, I prepared to close my eyes if I began to slide. I prayed and we left. We got stuck trying to get out of our driveway...finally sped out and we were on our way.  


Note he is SHOVELING THE SIDEWALK and putting the snow into the street. ::snort:: 

I was heartened to see the gentlemen throwing sand under our tires at one tricky intersection. I've never seen this before and wondered if they were angels....I guess this is "sanding the road" in Misawa. 

I did not cry. I did not have any near-loss-of-conscious-adrenalin- rushes. Christie (another friend and MOPS steering member) told me a great route to come home. She also told me not to even attempt my normal route - known as "Suicide Alley" to my family - until the roads thaw. It would seem you can't see the little ditches on the side of the road as they are all covered in snow. 


I'm still going to drive very slow....but I was proud to have driven us in.....and will do so again in the upcoming week as needed.  FWIW, I think the reason so many Americans get into accidents OFF BASE is that the roads are shoveled, salted etc on base. If you live on base and drive off it would be very easy to forget about the winter roads off base. LOL  I'm always relieved to go through the gate and hit clear pavement. 


Anna made these darling little guys for her preschool moppettes. This is Stacia's last year at MOPS. 

If I hadn't conquered my fear I wouldn't have seen these OR learned that Jesus was born in Hachinohe (that's where the babies come from) in 1958! Bet you didn't know - did you? 


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

Stuffed French Toast Casserole

12 Eggs
2 C milk
1 C maple syrup
1/2-3/4 tsp cinnamon
8-10 slices bread, cubed
2 - 8 oz pkg cream cheese

Mix 12 eggs and 1 1/2 C milk. Stir in bread cubes. Pour in bottom of greased 9x13 pan. Cream cream cheese; gradually add 1/2 cup milk and 1 c syrup cinnamon. Pour over egg/bread mixture. Use knife to swirl cream cheese mixture through egg mixture. Refrigerate overnight. Bake 350* for 45 min.  Can pour syrup over top (I didn't and it was fine).

Had this at MOPS today and it was yummy. It would make a nice winter's breakfast.  I've seen it with various other spices and more or less eggs/milk etc....but I think this is a great start. 


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