What Could this Mean?

This road was recently repaved.....and then they painted this in the middle of the intersection. What do you think it means? In the states, I'd think it was a round-about...but there really isn't room for that and folks are still stopping at the traffic light. 

Please don't make me feel like a fool when you answer. 

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

Of Disney Princesses and Love: Belle vs Snow White - By Breanne

As you may or may not know, I have quite the fetish with princesses. If you have ever been stuck in a long van ride with me, you have listened to my collection of princess music. If you have been so lucky as to work with me, you have heard me sing princess songs while washing dishes or dancing in the lobby (rest assured we were absolutely dead and there was nothing else for me to be doing; ). You may have heard my theories of how their tales relate to real life and spiritual life. You may think I’m off my rocker. But bear with me and this may or may not make sense to you. Either way, I have been thinking and I wanted to get my thoughts down as it helps me process.

As you probably know, my favorite princess has always been Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.” I felt drawn to her story even before Disney came out with the movie. I remember my mom taking me to see the movie in theaters. It was glorious! When it came out on vhs, my parents actually bought it as a treat for me and my siblings. I’m pretty sure I had watched it at least four times through within the first day of us owning it. A few years later, my parents bought me the soundtrack on cassette. I listened to that thing over and over (this was junior high by now; ). In high school, I had a reading assignment that was a rendition of the story that I absolutely ate up. All that to say, I have always loved Belle. I felt like I could relate to her. For one thing, she is a brunette princess in a blonde princess world. She was a girl who wanted more than the ordinary life. She had big dreams and visions. I’ve always feared mediocrity and longed for adventure. “I want so much more than this provincial life” just rang with something within my spirit. Belle also loved her family more than anything else. She loved her father self-sacrificially. Another admirable trait was that she could see people for who they really were. She could see straight through Gaston’s seemingly perfect exterior. Belle could also see past the Beast’s rough edges and into who he really was. I wanted to be like Belle. Love my family, love self-sacrificially, dream big, and see people for who they really are. I still do.

However, I have been thinking that perhaps the Belle approach is not the best approach for one’s love life. Seriously, waiting around for the Beast to turn into Prince Charming doesn’t usually work in real life. It does sometimes. However, more often than not, it is not the best course of action. As much as I love the Disney Princess movies, I must admit that some of their stories really shouldn’t be applied to real life and especially not to your love life. Aladdin built his relationship with Jasmine on a lie and yet we expect him to now be trustworthy. Prince Erik (Little Mermaid) was pretty great, but Ariel had to disobey her father and consult with a witch to get to him. Modeling your love life after either of these would not be the wisest in real life. These are just a couple of examples. I’m sure many of you could fire more at me and would be happy to do so in the hopes that you could detour my princess fetish. However, I’m still a diehard princess fan.

After some reflection (while washing dishes at work; ), I have decided that I still want to be like Belle. However, in my love life, I think I want to be more like Snow White. She knew her Prince Charming when she met him and she waited for him. “There’s nobody like him, anywhere at all.” While she waited, she served the seven dwarfs. Even though she was a princess waiting for her prince, she served these 7 miners. She faithfully waited ever hopeful that “someday my prince will come, someday we’ll meet again and away to his castle we’ll go to be happy forever I know.” Of course, she did get duped by a poisonous apple with deceptive promises of all her dreams coming true (man! Could I make some theological applications, but I shall refrain; ). So I should keep my eyes open for poisonous apples. Other than that, this should work. After all, it works in the fairy tales and they always live happily ever after….
 Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Spring "Break"?

• Josiah is the newest personal banker in Texas! Way to go God and Josiah! 
• TnT Mark 10:17 - 31 Do I crave, love or value anything more than Jesus? If so, I'm no different from the young ruler in this story. Jesus wants me to follow Him with an undivided heart. 
• C'mon e-100 folks 2 days in proverbs is not enough! ::snort:: Loving the sweeping Bible survey I'm doing with some amazing gals on Tuesday mornings. 
• We are MOTIVATED to get school done. The older four will be coming over mid-May and we want to be done.  Convalescent leave has been good for school - all outside appointments cancelled and the need to stay close by. ::grin::
• We aren't taking a spring break just yet....and the kids are really motivated to get done and get out to enjoy this lovely spring weather....check out the shrinking snow fortress. 

• After the walk yesterday, Michael has been down most of today....slow progress is good. 
• Nolan accompanied me to the base. We went shopping and "ran by the post office". 

• Jared finished his AAFES training today. He aced one test - scored 90% on the other - and says he may never eat meat again. I like that training. ::snort::
• In the boxes were Sundrops...I splurged to buy 6 bags....but I thought they were personal size....and I seem to have ordered from both vitacost and Amazon. ::snort:: Zander is HAPPY! He did great avoiding all the Easter candy. 

• The rest of Choosing Joy 2006 arrived...overall "happy"....we'll do 4 a year from now on. LOL 

• Exhausted tonight...early a.m. and busy all day with school, cooking, cleaning and shopping. I'm done. Good night. 

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

Restoration

Michael was feeling energetic today and wanted a quick outing. He wasn't interested in the parks. The kids weren't interested in the beach. How sad....a walk on the beach alone! ::snort::  I feared it was the walk on the beach or he'd head for the office. The poor man is bored. 


Some of you will remember that we are less than 2 miles from Momoishi Beach. We love this beach. This beach received quite a bit of damage on 3-11 (tsunami). The seawall was destroyed the watch tower twisted, boats and nets in the trees, camping areas, bathrooms destroyed...and  SAND everywhere.... It's been "closed" for the past year.  When we've gone we've noted how "clean" the beach is. The old boats and big driftwood logs are gone. We've not found sand dollars or sea glass since last March. This is the beach where I found my red sea glass.


Today it was OPEN. The signs saying "pray for Japan" and "keep out" are gone. The parking lot is clear of sand. The cranes are gone. The seawall is back. The old boats and logs are still missing. ::grin::

April 2011

April 2012

The seawall is fixed - we noted it's not higher. They did add THESE and I'm not sure what they are meant to accomplish.....

First pieces we've found here since the tsunami!

The bathrooms are even cleaned out and stabilized.....

This photo is to prove I do NOT exaggerate about the glass walls (though they're frosted tiles) and windows in the bathrooms. LOL 

It really did my soul WELL to find sea glass on our beach again, and to see things restored and unbarred.  I have hope we'll be able to spend our summer at this beach and others this year.  You know when it's HOT and humid here. LOL 

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

Status Updates

• TnT Mark 9 - 
• How often does fear hinder my understanding of the kingdom (9:6,32)
• Receive - embrace, welcome, deliberately and readily accept - "What does it look like as a family, as a ministry, as a church to "receive children"?  (9:37)
• Stumble - trap, offend, scandalize "How do we avoid causing others to stumble?  What responsibility do we have to avoid those things which cause us to stumble?
• Princess chatterbox awoke  - "Mom, remember how you prayed I'd sleep good! I did - I'm AWAKE! This would be the perfect day to get a pedicure."
• SCHOOL - we are getting SO much done! Jared will finish Tapestry of Grace - his SENIOR year by the end of next week. 
• Walk on the beach with Michael and Yuuki.*
• Two double batches of English Muffins done
• ALL home for dinner - roast, roasted veggies, home baked bread, fruit, salad and great conversations....have been thinking a lot about dinner tables, making a place at the table etc. 
• Wow - our neighbor is moving QUICKLY - this neighborhood is going to be very quiet as folks move out and the base has gone to "base first" policies. 

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

Very Full Day

• TnT - Mark 8:29 - Whom does my daily life declare Christ to be? Or Mark 8:34 - What does it look like in the 21st century to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Christ. Your thoughts?
• This just in - Cherry Blossoms are predicted to open up here on 27 April, with best viewing between 2 - 10 May.  Spring will come! 
• "Well, Hello, grill!" The strange things that fly by my window from the neighbor's yard. ::snort:: 
• Elliptical and Advanced Mat workout done and charted at sparks people - Stacia is my workout buddy...one armed push ups and push ups were over the top - swapped for another exercise
• What is google pages? Why?  Is this another pinterest/facebook/myspace- like scheme to get me to share all my deepest interests with 3 billion of my closest friends?
• Trying to map my walking route on sparks people - when I put in my zip code it puts me in the ocean outside of Nigeria....seriously....this feature may not work for me outside of the states. LOL 
• ACK - they've changed the kindle ap for ipad....now how do I know when I'm in cloud or device....and where are my books going? 
• As we work our way through Ancient Civilizations we are about to hit Alexander the Great - the one week Zander has been waiting for all year. LOL 
• Jared survived another training day for work. 
• We all got a full day of school in...youngers and I did a week of Tapestry reading. 
• Christina, spoils us with her homemade Greek yogurt.
• Another chapter from Amon's Adventure. 
• Neighbor came over to tell us they are moving - in two weeks. WOW. They are going to Germany...if only.... ::snort:: 

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

Easter Thoughts

I just finished reading "More Than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell. I knew it was good, but I had never read it. It was a very abbreviated version of Josh's "Evidence that Demands a Verdict." The punch was still there, though. Everything he wrote centered around Jesus - his identity and his deeds. It caused me to do some thinking about how we treat Easter. In Josh's book, the coming of Jesus as God in the flesh and His death and resurrection are the central events in all of history. Jesus can only be a liar, a lunatic of the LORD. Many have come teaching lots of things, but the swirl of controversy around Jesus was constantly not so much His teaching but His identity. Telling a group of Jewish religious leaders "before Abraham was, I AM..." is a direct claim to being God in the flesh. The religious leaders of the day understood very clearly what Jesus was claiming, and fully intended to have him put to death because of it. Even at Jesus' trial, the charges were about His identity not His deeds. As far as His deeds were concerned, He was found blameless.

The crucifixion was accomplished with the full force of Roman efficiency and brutality. No one but Johnny-come-latelys bringing their revisionist delusions would/ could believe anything except that Jesus died on the cross.

Then comes the resurrection. There are too many aspects of this to ennumerate all of them - not even in a lifetime, but one I want to mention is the radical change in the disciples. They were transformed from shrinking, hiding, fearful men to men of whom it was said in Acts 17:6 they had turned the world upside down. What, besides the resurrection, could account for this radical transformation? This singular event in history changed everything. Think of it. One man, three year's of ministry, a horrific death by crucifixion at the hands of jealous men, and an empty tomb on the third day. From this spectacularly humble yet inscrutable beginning, hope and light has entered the world, and all of history is divided into B.C. and A.D.

So, how have we gotten to the place where Easter is about an egg-laying rabbit (how weird is that anyway - what do rabbits have to do with eggs?)? Where did the train of history get off the tracks? What can I/ we do to remember Easter for what it truly is and to tell others the same?

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