Hirosaki Christian University Students

These gals were FANTASTIC! As you can tell from the title  - they were from Hirosaki Christian University. They played several numbers for us at chapel.....I could have sat and listened to them all day. I would love to find out more about this university and maybe I will. I'd love to visit their campus, maybe attend a chapel service...wonder if they'd have a spot for a retire Air Force chaplain. ::grin:: 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Misawa's First Spouse's Dining In

Active duty members often attend "dining ins". Spouses aren't included; though they can attend dining outs. Probably easiest to include this definition from wikipedia which seems to be fairly accurate, "Dining in is a formal military ceremony for members of a company or other unit, which includes a dinner, drinking, and other events to foster camaraderie andesprit de corps."


This year Misawa celebrated the first ever Spouse's Dining In.  It began with all the various "groups" (military division) choosing a storybook. Our tables were to be decorated according to the storybook theme and our costumes for the night were to be characters from the book.  Each group brought ingredients for the grog bowl....alcoholic, non-alcoholic and water. 


The Wing Staff Agencies (of which the chapel is part along with Public Affairs, JAG etc) chose "Alice in Wonderland" as our theme. I wasn't able to participate much in the organizing but Susie and Jen did a great job. Muna and Tiffany and their crew did an amazing job with the decorations. We all met early on Saturday, got to pick our table based on lottery, and then had an hour to decorate!  Then we went home, got ready, and met back in the evening. 


The decorations were great.....Percy Jackson, Willie Wonka, South Pacific, Princess and the Pea, Beauty and the Beast, Hansel and Gretel, God this is me Margaret and more. 


My favorite tables were How to Train a Dragon (and their customs were fantastic too!).....

And Willie Wonka in the Chocolate Factory

The generals chose the winning table. I'm not sure how they chose...but was pleasantly surprised when Team Alice went home with the prize basket of goodies! Here are some shots of our tables.  One was the Queen of Hearts and her court; the other was Alice's tea party. Check out the flowers on the back of the chairs. Everything was made by hand and the attention to detail was simply amazing. 

Note the cakes are made from paper as we weren't to use food

Queen's Table chairs were covered with playing cards

Note all the little trays of food were made from clay! 

Stephanie makes a great Alice!

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum - I love these gals! 

Alice and the Hatter

Chesire cat - member of queen's court

Do remember members of the Queen of Heart's court had to have a abnormally large body part....note the ears above. Michael and I spent a date night searching high and low for "enhanced body parts" - imagine pantomiming THAT in a foreign country...and finally....settled for some batting and dive caps.... It was amazing how many gave me a squeeze. 

Chaplain Spouses all - me as a lady of the court, Jen as the Queen of Hearts and Coralia as the sweet bunny! 

Our group 

Here are a few more random shots of the night.....

Nice to have Terri here in Misawa 

Bimbo of the court? Reminds me of a photo of Gpa Earl

Choosing Joy!

©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Happy Anniversary to Us

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

GROCERIES!

Groceries! The kids love to see piles of boxes.... I find it funny so many of those boxes are barely filled. 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

EXPLODING the code!

As I've mentioned before, part of Zander's uniquely quirky personality is that he takes life VERY literally.

This leads to some fun conversations from time to time....consider this table school scenario.

"Zander can you READ these to me?" He does.

"Do you want to reconsider your answers?" He doesn't.  I'm wondering if we have comprehension issues.

So we go sentence by sentence to see what may be going on.

Will Tom smile if he is sad?

"You marked, yes. Does a person smile when he's sad?"

"I do to hide my sadness."

OK - I can count that correct.

Can Jane drive home?


"You left this blank. You need to check yes or no."

"I don't KNOW if she can drive home. How old is she? Does she have a driver's license? Has she learned to drive?

OK - I can see that.

Can a cat slide into home plate?


"I'm not sure why you would let a cat have the plates from our home."

OK

Will you get a snake as a snack?


I plan to buy an anaconda after I leave home, because you will never let me have one....and five minutes later I interrupted...."BUT WILL YOU EAT THE SNAKE?"

"I might - if it's not a good pet."

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Blueberry Streusel Muffins (Heavenly Homemakers)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard  white wheat)
1/3 cup rapadura  (you can use brown sugar or honey if you prefer)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh, frozen or freeze dried (gently toss berries with flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of your muffin)

Mix dry ingredients together well.  Add egg, butter and milk, stirring until all ingredients are mixed.  Gently stir in blueberries.  Scoop batter into 12 paper lined muffin tins.  Sprinkle with Streusel Topping and bake in a 400° for 20 minutes.

Streusel Topping:

3 T. rapadura or brown sugar
1 T. butter, softened
2 T. chopped nuts (optional)

These are quite good. They aren't very sweet at all (which I like, but you could add more sweetener if you want a typically sweet muffin.)

Why do I re-post recipes I find on the web? Because I've learned sites that SWEAR they'll never quit publishing often do. I suppose it's my way of pinning my favorites...without actually joining the pinterest craze quite yet. LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Yuuki's Antics - Video

 I heard an UNGODLY barking and howling...came out and saw Yuuki on the back of the chair in our reading nook....and JUMPING to her kennel - to the left of the nook...lunging at the window...doggy slobber everywhere...turns out there was a CAT in the neighbor's garbage.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...