Some of Our Favorite Beaches

Michael had his first day off in 3 weeks, the gas restriction has been eased, I felt we needed some "family care" time (as we've fairly well focused on tragedy and many friends are gone)....I wrestled with feeling "wrong" in taking time to go have fun...but we knew we needed to do so.

We packed a picnic lunch and headed out for some of our favorite beaches. We did NOT make it to Shipwreck Beach, but plan that as our next family outing. It was a great time to talk and reconnect as a family. The recent disasters, however, are never far away, even in RR times.  Some photos:

MOMOISHI BEACH -  a mile to mile and a half from us. We posted photos here and here last week.

SWIM BEACH - the road is GONE...it's simply GONE....may not be a local swim beach this summer...maybe they'll get it cleaned up but with so much pressing work to do be done, it may not happen this summer.  These are the boats directly outside the "fence" for the swim beach....

OVERLOOK PARK  - This is a little park, with Shinto Shrine, lighthouse statue and WESTERN TOILETS right off hwy 338.  I'm sure there are easier ways...but we climb down the big hill to the ocean here...Typically a nice walk along seawall etc.

The first thing we noticed is that the trees were all flattened where the big wave had come through

PARTS of boats are everywhere...

Roads suddenly end

 The boys found a cache of hundreds of sand dollars up in the rocks of the sea wall

We left the beach and climbed into the pine forest.....

This was a long ways from the ocean, over sea walls and into the forest....

MISS VEEDOL BEACH (not the swim beach) - Wrote about that here. There wasn't a ton of damage here, but the absence of Miss Veedol is huge.

  

Miss Veedol is simply missing

SAND DOLLAR BEACH is on up Hwy 338. We didn't see as much damage, but parking areas are gone - that sort of thing.

Once again, I'm reminded of Psalm 46.  God is our Refuge so  do not fear. God is our Warrior so trust in Him. God is our King so bend a knee.  Printed below from NETbible.

Psalm 46 ¹ 

46:1 For the music director; by the Korahites; according to the alamoth style; ²  a song.

God is our strong refuge; ³ 

he is truly our helper in times of trouble. ⁴ 

46:2 For this reason we do not fear ⁵  when the earth shakes, ⁶ 

and the mountains tumble into the depths of the sea, ⁷ 

46:3 when its waves ⁸  crash ⁹  and foam,

and the mountains shake ¹⁰  before the surging sea. ¹¹  (Selah)

46:4 The river’s channels bring joy to the city of God, ¹² 

the special, holy dwelling place of ¹³  the sovereign One. ¹⁴ 

46:5 God lives within it, ¹⁵  it cannot be moved. ¹⁶ 

God rescues it ¹⁷  at the break of dawn. ¹⁸ 

46:6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms are overthrown. ¹⁹ 

God ²⁰  gives a shout, ²¹  the earth dissolves. ²² 

46:7 The LORD who commands armies is on our side! ²³ 

The God of Jacob ²⁴  is our protector! ²⁵  (Selah)

46:8 Come! Witness the exploits ²⁶  of the LORD,

who brings devastation to the earth! ²⁷ 

46:9 He brings an end to wars throughout the earth; ²⁸ 

he shatters ²⁹  the bow and breaks ³⁰  the spear;

he burns ³¹  the shields with fire. ³² 

46:10 He says, ³³  “Stop your striving and recognize ³⁴  that I am God!

I will be exalted ³⁵  over ³⁶  the nations! I will be exalted over ³⁷  the earth!”

46:11 The LORD who commands armies is on our side! ³⁸ 

The God of Jacob ³⁹  is our protector! ⁴⁰  (Selah)

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

Miss Veedol is Gone

I've written before about Miss Veedol. She was the first successful trans-pacific flight in 1931. She flew from Misawa, Japan to Wenatchee, WA.  Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon had to drop their landing gear over the Pacific and belly landed in Wenatchee, WA. 


Misawa is famous for this plane/flight. There are parks with replicas, beaches named after it, plazas named after it, streets named after it..... Here is a photo of us at "Miss Veedol" the summer we arrived  ~ 2009. 

This  is the spot where we went cross country skiing earlier in the year.  Here we are today in the same spot....

She's gone....but not really...we saw evidence of her all over the area....

Fairly small in the scheme of things, but sad nonetheless. And so....even when we designate a day for "family care," the tsunami is not far from our thoughts. I'll share more photos later. We drove up the 338 a ways checking on some of our favorite beaches. 

Choosing Joy!
©2011
0 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Japanese Lessons

Honestly, we're always so tired by the time Thursday night comes....but I'm always glad after we've spent time with Akikosan.  We continued working on Emergency type words...things that it may be good to know like "tsunami kikenn" or "tsunami shiji" or "genn patsu bakuhatsu".....


We made some  orizuru (cranes). Akikosan told us when someone is sick or there is a disaster they make sennba zuru (1,000 cranes) which have their "negai to inori" (wish and prayers) for "heiwa to kibou" (peace and hope) and they send them to  afflicted ones. Come to think of it, it's not much different than the prayer quilts that some tie, praying with each knot.....she had us make cranes....and we learned...

Japan would be in trouble if her hope depended on US making 1,000 cranes (of course they believe the hope is in the wishes and prayers - so if we prayed with each crane....may be a good prayer prompt?)

Our homework is to write down the names of each of these animals before we eat them.....I had a bit of trouble telling the hippos from the squirrels (the squirrels have bangs LOL). 

 

I purchased some starter pots and seeds. I've been waging an internal debate over our gardening plans this year. We did some container planting last year and it really worked well. I had planned to double or triple the amount of containers this year. Then rumors began to fly....and continue to fly...will I be here to harvest the pots? Should we take a chance on wasting money? I think getting outside and planting something, having something to tend for and look forward too would be a good thing....the girls have been asking to plant some flowers.....Should we spend our summer in concern that we may be evacuated? Frankly, this cool down process at the reactor is going to take a LONG time - though American's like things to move quickly. The Japanese are saying the best case scenario is that it will take 2 - 3 YEARS to cool down....and maybe 20 - 30 years.....I don't think we're in immediate danger, unless it becomes a political hot potato to keep military families over here...to plant or not to plant??????

Akikosan helped me decipher the maps and time schedules on the seed packets. We agreed if our family is forced to evacuate (the only way we plan to leave at this point) her parents/family will take all our containers of produce....Now we have a REALLY good reason to go ahead and plant.....big...because we can give it away to our Japanese friends if we get evacuated and it won't be a bit dishonorable for them to accept it as they'll be helping us out. 

For the first time ever I'm really starting to wish we could be done with the military and moving on into civilian ministry. I wish we could give our undivided attention to learning Japanese, building relationships, offering aide.  I wish we had the freedom to simply move or stay where we felt God would have us move or stay...ah well...for now I'll plant some seedlings and pray we are here for a good long time.  I'll be content where God has placed us and remind myself that if God wants us somewhere, we'll get there. 

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

Fun Sights in Tokyo

Susane, Erika and I took advantage of our long wait in Tokyo to explore the area one GORGEOUS spring day. We found it hard to believe 5 inches of snow had fallen in Misawa the night before. We WANTED to be home, but had been told nothing more would happen that day - so we walked and walked.

This sign made all of us smile - Never heard of a French Restaurant named.....

These photos made me remember Darshia and all my other Curves friends. 

And who wouldn't want to get their hair done at shop named....

I just thought this building was interesting. 

Choosing Joy!

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

We Did It....

Michael and Jared rode bikes home today. They enjoyed the exercise and I enjoyed not having to wait around base until it was time for them to come home! Today was a full day....PWOC Bible studies, a vote for the new local board, and then a retreat team meeting after the study. All good - Semper Gumby!


I spent several hours trying to get a PERSON to talk too about my airline tickets for next week. We've decided I will not be flying to TX for PWOCI Train the Trainers. The situation in Japan is still far to fluid for me to take the chance of being out of the country when I need to be HERE....and I don't want to take the chance of not being able to get back home again once out of the country. Honestly, I'd thought the reactors would be under control or not...and I'd either be evacuated or have 100% confidence that there was no impending evacuation. We just can't tell.  So....I keep trying to reach a person from the online office where I booked my tickets....I have a bad feeling about this. 


Rather late in the day we gave the pressure cooker a try. I wanted Michael home for my first attempt. He had a great time playing nuclear scientist and letting pressure release etc as it cooled down. 

We made a roast...let it warm while I made garlic mashed potatoes in FIVE minutes. I think I'm going to like this little pot. Shoot, I can do squash in 10 min - that's faster than the microwave and no extra radiation. I like it. 

Someone snapped this photo at some point this evening......not much to report...we continue to discuss local news and world news...we continue to wonder what our spring and summer will look like...and we continue that Someone far bigger than us has a plan. 

I have a plan tomorrow to support our local economy....guess what it may be? 

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

Neighbor Sighting

Zander ran in with this and said, "The Japanese lady gave this me and told me thank you for staying!" Wow - now THAT is the sort of pick me up a person needs after dealing with airlines all day trying to get money back....yep...I may never fly again. I'll stay right here in my civil, polite part of the world. ::snort:: 

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

Science Gone Wacky

Science....science.....the kids did this thing with an egg inside a plastic egg. It was to show how fragile your brain is and how your brain is protected. They were to take two eggs and put them in the plastic eggs. One with no cushion and one cushioned with honey. 


The first one had no cushion. They dropped it as instructed and were told it would splatter. It didn't. It was fine. 


Feeling rather cocky, they then added the honey to the second egg.  They were told it wouldn't break due to the honey.....

You guessed it!

I think we'll stick to trying to find the seismograph and Geiger counter instead.....real life science that's what we need. ::snort:: 

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