Oven Roasted Tomatoes (ehow.com)

I found this simple recipe at ehow.com. I "don't like" tomatoes. However, today (day 4 of  sugar fast) I began to CRAVE roasted tomatoes. I didn't even know HOW to roast tomatoes.  The hardest part was not eating them before they roasted. They were yummy and served with a squash  we discovered over here. Yep, Mike and I went totally vegetarian again and loved it. LOL 

Preheat oven to 375*. 


Things You'll Need: 
Baking Sheet
Cooking Spray
Small bowl
3 Cups of tomatoes (a mixture is fine)
2 T fruity olive oil (WHAT is fruity olive oil - I just used extra virgin)
Dried herbs such as tarragon, basil, marjoram, oregano to taste (I used an Italian blend)
1 tsp rapadura (or sugar or honey)
2 cloves (or more of fresh) garlic, minced
Sea salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Wash and dry tomatoes. Core and slice large tomatoes into chunks, halve miniature tomatoes.

Place the tomatoes in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Add herbs, garlic and sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Use your hands to combine. Raw and nearly irresistible.

Spray a cooking sheet. Oven-roast tomatoes by placing them in a hot oven for 25 - 30 min or until shriveled and lightly charred (ours weren't charred, I didn't want MUSH).

I wish I'd had some left for my lunch salad tomorrow.

For more yummy eats click the recipe page at the top of the blog.

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

Belly or.....?

This is our 21st year of homeschooling! It's a lifestyle we love. I've taught (or watched as they taught themselves) seven children to read.  I have a few tried and true tricks. For instance, I've taken parts of the various phonics programs we've used to create our own program. Kids often confuse lower case b and d. 

With EIGHT children I've told them "B says Buh - and has a  Big Belly"....and they've bought it. When they've confused "b" and "d".....I've simply reminded them that b has a belly.  

"Which one has the B elly - remember it says buh".

 No one has EVER questioned this.

Mini me is learning her alphabet. She got stuck. I said, "Which one has a buh buh belly?" 

She responded by pointing to "b," "This one has a buh buh belly." Just as I was about to congratulate her she continued, "But, Mom, this one (pointing to the "d" has a buh buh butt."  

I was stunned! I later told our 25 yo daughter, Bre, and she told me she'd always wondered about that when I shared the trick. What in the world? 

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

God has a Sense of Humor

I have made the commitment to get my work-outs in full tilt again. Our travels in November and December threw me off. Four birthdays and an anniversary in February created a bit of chaos in our eating lifestyle.

I spent the past week truthfully evaluating and deciding what things needed attention first. I decided to go back to Chantel Hobb's challenge to work out 5 consecutive days each week (I had been doing 6 but 5 is a good start) and to give up a weakness for a month. For me that will be "added sugar".....as in anything that isn't fruit....so honey, rapadura etc. This means chocolate. I am praying about my trips....because I can't get Chocolate Molten Lava in Northern Japan and may be in a spot where I can order it this month....so maybe ONCE in the month would be o.k.?

ANYWAY - I wanted to start going to the gym, but it seems so daunting to drive 20 min to the gym..... Sunday night I spent a bit of time telling God I really DO want to be disciplined but that the machines work BEST for me at the gym.....

Would you believe Jared's soccer coach has called surprise practices at 6 a.m. every day this week?????? ::snort:: When you live 20 min from the high school and the practice is an hour long at 6 a.m......what ELSE are you going to do for an hour at 6 a.m.?

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

My Husband Should Treat Me Like Dirt?

We tell our girls to treat their brothers with respect, not to nag etc. We explain that we want them to KNOW what a godly woman looks like and  to expect women to  treat them accordingly. 


We tell our boys to act like gentlemen...to treat their sisters with gentleness and kindness...so that they KNOW how  a godly young man should treat them.  I have been known to say, "I don't want your sister to think it is o.k. for men to treat her like dirt."

My mini me came down the stairs this evening, and said, "Mom, when your told me this a.m. to come down and help clean up, it made me feel like my husband should treat me like dirt."

Don't tell me that girl can't reason. ::snort:: We talked about the fact that godly wives take care of their responsibilities.


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

Sweet Night for Wives of the Deployed

Last weekend Carol Summar Simpson was a guest on Misawa. I have served with Carol on PWOC Central Region Board and knew that she has a big heart for women and an engaging way of presenting her  message. Carol tours military bases as a Christian Comedian. I knew she'd done Valentine's Day events for deployed spouses and it was a dream to host her if I was ever where the budget and the group vision lined up.  At our summer Misawa PWOC board planning meeting I shared my heart and our ladies RAN with it. Our chapel agreed to up our budget enough to allow us to pull off this event. 

Misawa's PWOC board invited Carol to be our guest speaker at a night planned for wives of our deployed spouses. We chose February on purpose as this is another holiday that goes in the "missed holiday file" for deployed spouses. We chose to have dessert and drinks and make it a "Sweet Night for Wives of the Deployed". Our POC, Twyla, is herself a deployed spouse. It was my joy to serve as her assistant during this event. During the planning  7 of our 9 board members were deployed spouses themselves. Twyla's heart of mercy and vision for deployed spouses made this event SHINE. 

We envisioned a night of pampering for our spouses and HUMOR. What a blessing! It's good for the weary to laugh. We had 79 people in the building. Only 18 turned out to be deployed spouses....but they were blessed. Everyone was treated to a variety of decadent and elegant homemade desserts. Each woman had a pretty setting, flowers and a chocolate rose.

Carol shared the adventure of her trip from CA to Misawa with us. She had us laughing as we remembered our first impressions of Japan. She had some of us crying with her lessons learned from deployments..."I DO snore", "No matter how deep I burrow into the covers no one else will let the dog out", and more. She encouraged us to maintain faith on behalf of others through the story of the four friends who brought their friend to Jesus, doing whatever it took to get him to Jesus. 

 The deployed wives were gifted with a handmade pillowcase - Twyla rocks! These were made from Japanese fabric. 

An event like this is a huge undertaking. The entire PWOC board participated. Many other women baked desserts, ministered to children, set up tables, cleaned up facilities, decorated.....it was a great time to be part of the body. 

Our prayer is that each deployed spouse left feeling pampered, loved, supported and encouraged. She also knows what the local chapel has to offer and that we care about her deeply. 

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

Amusing Bumper Sticker

There is a bit of kanji on here that I can't read....but I'm fairly certain this is meant to encourage you to carefully pass the car.  Logical understanding didn't stop us from enjoying a  good chuckle at the thought of literally passing the baby through traffic.


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

Quick Weekly Recap

Thursday - Arielle saw the orthodontist and picked blue bands this time. ::snort:: Scheduled an ortho eval for Nolan.  We also enjoyed a session with Akikosan. I'm not sure we're learning much, but we sure enjoy our times together. LOL 


Friday - Local retreat team meeting. We have a great bunch of ladies all committed to serving women in Misawa at the upcoming spring retreat.  Lots of encouraging ideas floating around. I'm excited to watch this all come together.  You know what the photo below means now, right?

That's right - the onsen fluzy struck again.  I invited the entire retreat team to go to the onsen after our meeting. Only one took me up on it this time, but another friend joined us.  I had waited far too long between trips.

Jared tried out for soccer.

Mike and I went out to celebrate our anniversary (which was the 14th).

I spent a lot of time this week working on retreat details. I'll be traveling quite a bit in March. Our retreat is in April. I also spent quite a bit of time arranging flights and such. Wow - this yen rate is killing us. It was 98/1 last year at this time and is 78/1 last time I took yen out. OUCH.

I also spent a fair bit of time talking myself back into my healthy lifestyle. LOL

Saturday - I went to the gym while Jared went to soccer practice at 6 a.m. I have MISSED going to the gym. I'm just not as good at home...but I'll keep trying.

Jared needs an inside pair of soccer shoes and  a pair of soccer cleats. We went to Sports Authority - the biggest shoe they make here is men's 10. That's not going to work....need 3 1/2 sizes bigger. I did get a lot of great produce and fresh salmon.

Continued to work on PWOC Regional stuff.

Going to bed - only slept 2 hours last night. Really need to crack this sleep thing....more exercise? I've heard women of a certain age have irregular sleep patterns.....

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