Toothless in Tohoku

Have you noticed Stacia lost her two front teeth the morning of Arielle's birthday? They've been very loose and she WORKS to get loose teeth out as quickly as possible - she likes the $1 for each tooth.  I had been waiting for her to say, "Wish you Merry Christmas" without front teeth - but she says it perfectly without the front teeth. LOL 

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

Komakko Land - End of the Day

Stacia has asked to go to  Komakko Land (the horse park) every day the girls were home. It was either a time which would work or raining on the days we set aside to do it.

This morning dawned bright and sunny! Go figure. We put the girls on the plane, Michael went to work and I took the other children and went to Komakko Land.

I love this sign - it always cracks me up.

We found 10 buses of pre-schoolers at Komakko Land. This made for some interesting adventures in the bathrooms. Enough said.

We've had lunch here before, the menus are all in Japanese. We thought we had it figured out. I got the younger boys fries and fried chicken. I ordered curry pan for me - curry stuffed inside of bread (didn't realize they'd deep fry it) - it was good. Stacia got a big bowl of ramen. I thought I was ordering curry for Jared and Arielle. I was...but instead of rice it had big, fat, grey noodles. I think they were were soba or udon or something....they were surprised. I think Arielle would have been fine if Jared hadn't said, "Yum, curried pig intestines." Having spent time in countries where we DID eat such things I had had the same thought when I saw their meal and was glad I hadn't ordered it for myself.

The buses of pre-schoolers left shortly after lunch and we had the place nearly to ourselves - being unsocialized homeschoolers this is the way we like it best. ::snort:: 

Just before the horse got a bit too interested in Jared's tummy.

 On the way home we stopped at the beach. I must go to the beach on airplane days.  This is from the ocean side - looking toward the swim beach. We had hoped we could start swimming there - they officially open in July each year (except last) but they are still working on rebuilding.  Zander gave Arielle a Boogie Board and is looking forward to borrowing it from her. LOL 

 I needed more beach time but all but Stacia and Zander wanted to go home. I dropped them at home, Stacia saw a neighborhood friend and wanted to stay home. ZANDER came with me to the beach.  He's a crazy beach lover. 

Akikosan called when we were at the beach. She needed to take care of her grandfather (an amazing 102 years old!) so her father could take her mother to the hospital. We cancelled Akikosan lessons tonight...but enjoyed the family being together and cocooning. We watched a movie - which I slept through and can't remember. 

PS - spell check tells me "unsocialized" is not a word. Oh well. I've sure heard it a lot! LOL 

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

Passing the Baton

Before we moved to Japan, as the two older boys were moving out, the older four kids took Arielle and Jared out. We heard glimmerings of what happened. They talked to them about leadership and their new place in the family structure and gave Jared a baton. 


We had planned for all four of the older kids to be here these past few weeks but it didn't work out. The girls had one more thing they wanted to do this morning.  We met as a family......they spoke about leadership to Arielle and Nolan.  Bre had words for Arielle as the soon to be "oldest at home". 










Krista shared some excellent thoughts with Nolan about being the second at home, supporting a leader...it was awesome.

Jared then spoke about his three years as the oldest. He honestly shared some missteps along the way and made us all cry.  He also had words of thanks for Michael and I which were incredibly sweet as we've not always agreed on the path ahead these past few years. The day has been doubly hard for me as it has brought home how quickly it will be time to put Jared on the plane as well....but it was good. A GOOD HARD.  

They wouldn't be Gherkins if they didn't ham it up - just a bit. 

Michael put it all into a military context for the kids. Supporting and Supported commanders. He's the Commander-in-Chief. He offered me VP but I decided I wanted the title of "Homeland Security" instead. ::snort:: 

We all gathered up and prayed for our newest family leaders, and for Jared about to leave home for new adventures. We also prayed for the girls and they prayed for us. I wish we'd had more family circles for prayer while all were home.

I missed Josiah and Jamin as we gathered, but rejoiced in their new jobs...and we prayed for them. I was thrilled the rest of the family was part of this ceremony this time...and I think it meant more to Jared than the illusive graduation ceremony I was sure we needed. ::grin::  

Then it was time for the airport....and I am so SICK of airport photos that I swore I'd not take any.....

It was a great two weeks! 

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

Aggravation

When Bre is home we have late game nights.  Last night I didn't have the heart to tell them to go to bed and left them up playing.....

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

Blessings and Challenges

No Visit or birthday celebration would be complete without a shaker. Japan cooperated and we had a 6.0 last night  off Aomori. We live under the "r" but in this photo it would be the "o".  Seems we had no gas or hot water this a.m. - but I figured it out. 

Today's blessings....woke up this a.m. with this song in my head and on my heart.....

I sing over you my song of peace

Cast all of your cares down at my feet

Come and find your rest in me

I'll breathe my life inside of you

I'll bear you up on eagle's wing and hide you in the shadow of my strength

I'll take you to my quiet waters

I'll restore you

Come rest in me and be made whole 

TnT reading for PWOC Japan - Philippians 4. 13, 7......"I can do all things through Christ who is my strength." I can live in the reality today of His peace guarding my heart and mind. For me, this means I can put our two daughters on the plane for the states in 4.5 hours with joy and peace. I can do the same in July with Jared, our graduating son, because He is my peace, because His word is sure and I can build and rest on it.

I love it when Jesus meets me so personally in worship, in study, in solitude...truly the spiritual disciplines are Kingdom Treasures.

This new day...just beginning is already full of blessing and challenge....and I will live in the present and embrace both fully.

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

Happy Birthday, Arielle JaNae

Arielle's name was deliberately chosen to name her after her Grams - Arielle means lioness of God - which was her Grams...we figured she wouldn't really like Mabel as she grew older. JaNae means God is gracious.

We have loved watching Arielle mature these past 15 years into a gracious lioness of God!  Today is HER day.

Stacia and Bre stayed up late to decorate she was SO excited to show Arielle the streamers! 

We bought a pinata and filled with goodies...both healthy and unhealthy....to share with the neighborhood children. We'd planned to do it today - but it was raining....maybe Saturday.

Stacia was happy to go hunting for birthday flowers. 

We began the day with a couple of errands for the girls....and then we headed to Yoshinoya for lunch. Yumm....and I think, if I read the paper right, we've earned something free.

Arielle had hoped we'd go to Hachinohe Children's Botanical Garden (or whatever that name is) but it was raining and so we opted for an inside outing. The girls hadn't been to the Misawa Aviation and Science Museum and the kids always love that....so off we went.

Spinning room 

Wind room 

Next stop was the base bowling ally....

 Arielle had asked for pizza at Massimo's but the chef is at a pizza competition in Naples....so we had Hawaiin chicken at the Italian Pizzeria in Northern Japan. ::snort::

Barbie Design Center (Jared got her some art stuff too)

Krista got her books

Nolan got her a weapon

We got her a Japanese doll, a photo of her and her sisters and will find some roller blades. 

One of Michael's famous creations

Jared got home from work and Arielle opened his gift of art supplies. She'd like me to find her some art lessons...any ideas? 

Yuuki is not amused to find Nolan in her chair. 

Games, jewelry making, packing....

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

Tuesday - final stretch

Today's goal is to live in the present. The girls have two full days left and will leave here Thursday a.m. (Wed night in the states).  Thus the title...the final stretch of blog catch up and the final stretch of this visit with Bre and Krista. 


I took off from PWOC.....Krista, Zander and I went in and did some set up and then I took them to breakfast. Bre and the rest were sleeping when we left. 


We did some BIRTHDAY SHOPPING for Arielle and then I dropped Krista and Zander at the Weasel's Den for batting practice and I ran to the doc.

Dr report - I'm now quite hyper- thyroid. Over-medicated...I was instructed 6 weeks is  not 6 months and I must be back in 6 weeks. I explained I had ministry projects, lost two months with Michael's situation (which she knew) and traveled. I will be back in 6 weeks. It would appear my thyroid is jumping around a lot - and THIS explains my insomnia. I now take one yellow pill for two days and a pink pill on the third day. I CAN remember this.... She didn't want me to go completely back to yellow as that put me way over the 1-2 range - 4.8. Today I was still quite a bit below the 1 but not as much as the last visit when I was only on pink.

We spent the afternoon getting things the girls wanted to take back to the states.

We had one of Bre's favorite dinners - BBQ meatballs.  Michael made one of his famous cakes for Arielle and I ran to pick Jared up from work.

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