Yukisan - 001

We were told the Japanese word for  "snowman" was "yukisan" (YOU KEY SAN).  Akiksosan has since corrected us numerous times. The correct word for snowman is "yukidaruma" (YOU KEY DA DLU MA).  Try as I might I can never remember yukidaruma without looking it up. ::snort::  Yukisan is sweet....and so we name our snowmen - Yukisan. This year in an effort to keep them straight I will number them throughout the winter/spring. LOL

Three families of neighborhood kids worked together to construct Yuikisan 001. Our children are the constants,  others came and went as they could.  (We find our  Christmas traditions make us much less stressed than the typical family this time of year - we have more time to play in the snow). ::grin::  See our First Japanese Christmas here and if you're a new reader you can read our thoughts about our  "Quirky Christmas Celebrations" too.

Nolan, Arielle, Zander and family A add finishing touches

Our kids and Family B pose with Yukisan

Yukisan 001

God continues to speak sweet thoughts to me about how to live a life that says WELCOME to those around me, especially to strangers, those outside His family.  As the kids moved their play around the block to the "sledding hill" our "Farmer who is really a Veterinarian" creates for them each year, I moved inside.

GREAT MELODRAMA

Sledding Hill will grow as the season continues

 I know the kids thought wimpy, tropically raised mom was COLD...and I WAS.....but an idea was also stirring in my heart. Family A had come inside yesterday for hot chocolate, snacks and games.  We don't know Family B and C well enough today to invite the kids in (one we don't know parents; the other isn't comfortable with their children coming inside)......I looked for a thermos and couldn't find it. I couldn't find hot cups either.  I was going to bake cookies but feared I'd miss the opportunity. I found a Polish Pottery tea pot, made a big pot of hot chocolate, grabbed some plastic cups and joined the kids.  I told them to stick the cups in the snow when they got hot. ::snort:: It worked. I'd best go buy some "supplies" and not risk my one  Polish Pottery pot outside very often.

Hot Chocolate Break

I've deleted lots of  words....and am debating what to say.  I have an insider view of interaction in the neighborhood and I'm seeing that we have a very rough pack of gals bullying tween boys. I noted trouble earlier but thought it was all Zander's perceptions. He IS socially awkward and his perceptions are usually "off" (it's a spectrum thing)....but it's not only Zander. There's another boy obviously targeted. This winter I plan lots of love and relationship building. Maybe some sort of segregated clubs....not sure....maybe Arielle would be willing to head up some sort of "nice young lady" club or mentoring program...since the roughest are younger than she. Certainly not ALL the young ladies in our neighborhood are like this - but several (5) are.  We want to use the opportunity we've been graced with to show a different type of family interaction. We want to live His love for these kids...be His hands and feet....and I want to see results NOW. ::snort:: 

I am deleting the rest of this post. ::snort:: But to be clear, I am NOT saying young women should be second class or doormats,  or give in to male aggression etc ....I am saying it is not good to teach young boys to hit aggressive girls and girls it's o.k. to bully younger boys (as is the case) Honestly - parents raised in a pack mentality, raising young children will end up with this sort of thing. Why would we expect anything different? Why would I expect Christian values from non-Christian families?  I see the power of legacy as I watch the various legacies being lived out in these families.   I'm asking God to show us how we can impact these families and children....how we can be used to show a new norm. We ALL should be showing more grace and kindness - male or female.  It was atypical 20 years ago, when we began parenting, to worry  a girl would beat up your child (either gender) while they were playing.  Enough said - praying about how God will use our family in this setting...as HE placed us here.  I would love insight or suggestions of ideas to reach out...while protecting the hearts of our children as well.

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

Strange Sighting

G'ma strikes again! ::snort:: 

Can you tell what it is? It's a straw!!!! that wraps around your face and makes glasses....Stacia reports it to be a strange feeling to drink from it. ::snort::

And Deja, WOW.....you WARNED me. I put the seasoning into a glass jar for safer keeping as you warned me it was potent.....and I sniffed a bit...began to cough, sneeze, sinus' cleared all afternoon.....must have gotten some on my fingers which led to flushing my eyes. The boys were in the room and now have cleared sinus' too. What a WONDER....we can make turkey sausage AND clear our sinus' all winter. Thank you, my friend! We'll think of you with joy each time we use it.  I'm wondering if HEB ships. LOL

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

How Many Kings?

This has been around for awhile.  I'm not sure how I missed it.....but I'm listening to it now.

Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe after all we’ve projected
A child in a manger

Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliness hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl
Just a child
Is this who we’ve waited for?

Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior
All that we have whether costly or meek
Because we believe
Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he’ll suffer
Do you believe, is this who we’ve waited for?
It’s who we’ve waited for

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me

All for me
All for you
All for me
All for you

Single Song Words by Artist / Band : DOWNHERE

Lyrics Title : How Many Kings
Taken from Album : -
Single Released : 2007
Music Genre : Christian rock

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

Life

Yep - snow....lots of it. The kids spent several hours playing in it, reconnecting with friends in the neighborhood. Eventually, they were ready to come inside.  They invited a sibling group from down the road inside with them. Hot chocolate, snacks and games. 

Monoply

Apples to Apples

 I continued unpacking bags (about 1/2 of Michael's and mine are done).  I joked early in the a.m. that I was donning haz mat and chem gear to clean out our fridge. I found ingredients for turkey/rice/veggie soup, which I put on to simmer while I continued on the fridge.  It turned into an ALL DAY chore...but it was NICE to have it done when Michael brought home  milk and produce.  No before photos as it was too terribly frightening. BreAnne I DID find two bottles of Mountain Dew in there from your visit last summer. ::snort::  

Michael was home late and so the kids and I ate dinner and then played a few rousing rounds of "Hello Kitty Bingo," while waiting for him. ::snort::

Unfortunately, the clean fridge was calling to me and I was up at 1:30 a.m. It's 3:00 a.m. now and I hear kids stirring...maybe jet lag in reverse is visiting.....

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

SNOW

We have been discussing what Christmas looks like. This, because I commented to the kids as we drove through the snow, "It's beginning to look like Christmas."  They noted it was WHITE - but gone were the store lights, decorated homes and such....and they are right. LOL  Now we're asking ourselves which says Christmas more to us - decorations of the US or the Snow of Japan?  I think the children were a bit "bummed" at the lack of Christmas finery in our home....but really....there just isn't TIME to decorate AND travel. LOL 

Just a few shots of  our morning......

Enforcing my will to stay home today....

View from the side of our home

View from our patio

Guess those daisies are ready to move

UNDER our patio roof....

from the back yard 

I do find myself wondering how folks in the temporary housing a bit south of us are doing this season. 


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

Gherkins in Transit - Part 2

It's always disconcerting to completely lose a day - but there you have it. It happens each time we fly back to Japan from the states. LOL

Uncle Sam in Christmas Clothes? 

We DID get on the Space A flight back to Misawa. I'm not sure WHY these flights are always louder than any others...parents seem to figure we're all family and will understand...which we do...but really *I* am tired too and don't want to watch your children run up and down the aisles while *you* nap! Ah well - the price is right and you do meet some nice folks on Space A. LOL

If only I could master this talent - I did slip him some purple meds as he was about to puke and I thought maybe it would help - it knocked him out! 

The kids and I traveled 26.5 hours from the time the wheels went up in San Angelo until we arrived at our door in Misawa. What a shock to see all the snow. It was a bit of a zinger to discover our van had been moved - or at least it wasn't where we expected...but logic said it had to be somewhere close...and it was a couple of parking lots over. ::snort::

Somewhere between WA and JPN

We napped. Then we headed out to pick up Michael and Jared. They were due in at 6:45 p.m.  The roads were icy, the snow was blowing...and I was wondering where TX went. ::snort::  We saw a terrible accident in front of us. The whole front of the car was simply sheared off and it was spouting gas....and cars were still trying to squeeze by. I executed a 10 point turn and headed "around the block." I had forgotten that going "around the block" in Misawa is not always as simple as one would think. ::snort::  We DID find our way back to the airport road and though we were late...the plane was later still.  They did a couple of approaches and landed about 40 minutes late....

We slept well....Today the agenda calls for slowly easing into life....self-care. I'm remembering Victoria telling me "Self-care is not selfish," and had determined to take it slow this week....I HAVE been gone for 6 weeks if you take conference into account. LOL  Somehow self-care is morphing into decluttering and cleaning the fridge.....The kids are enjoying wii and will head out to the snow soon.

You know, as much as possible,  I think we'll just spend the time between now and the New Year savoring being together in one home in Misawa. ::snort::

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

Gherkins in Transit

It had to happen. It's o.k. Hard but good! Time for us all to get back to our "normal" lives. I woke up with Day 4 of a migraine. Michael took the kids bowling, to see our old home, for lunch and I slept....then we all went to Chick Fil A to catch the boys....and everyone had shakes (except me - still didn't feel like eating).

We made it to the airport. They were incredibly helpful and fun. The TSA men had a lot of fun with Zander....state your full name "Alexander  the GREAT Gherkin."  He had tried to hide a water bottle and that made for some extra teasing...he handled it well.

In San Angelo they treated us like royalty...."Gherkin (not our actual name) family of 5 please report to the desk"....and they boarded us first. They even moved seats around and got us all in one row on the flight from DFW to SEA TAC.....funny thing happened THERE....I was dealing with security when the ticket agent ran up with new boarding passes and seats for us.  I boarded the plane in Dallas. A young airman came for the same seat...checked the passes and we didn't have one for ZANDER....we had one for this airman.  They worked it out - I offered to let them bring Zander on the next flight. ::snort::

The older three kept busy with books and Monopoly....

Stacia's first nap....

 We'd not even gotten over Lake Nasworthy and she was saying, "Is that Dallas, are we there yet? I think that's Dallas." I was glad when she fell asleep on this flight from DFW to SEA TAC.

Sleep had more appeal than games

 We've marked oursleves present. We visited the USO and dropped our big bags. We grabbed sandwhich and cookies from the USO. There is not even one seat left there...and I really don't like the movie selections....so we made a home near the baggage claims. I'll update the blog, synch ipads, ipods and laptop....try to stay awake for 4 more hours to see if we can make the 0800 flight to Misawa.

Bre and Krista are safely home. Michael and Jared will fly commercially to Misawa tomorrow. If all works as planned the younger set and I should arrive about 8 hours before them....We hope to have an 10 hour layover here....but it may become 58 hours. LOL


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