Monday, Monday

• TnT Eph 4 - good chapter and I already blogged a part of it! 
• Reorganized an installation service and sent out emails to local women about tomorrow's festivities!
• Three hours of ministry Skypes with two dear sisters.
• Table school with Zander and Stacia. 
• Prayer time. 
• Admin, Admin, ADMIN
• Prayer
• Took kids to PYOC
• Ate alone at the food court - ahh. 
• Visited with Tara and Jenn in the kitchen (going to miss these two). 
• Set up a table with mugs, dolls and installation stuff....
• Home - 9:08. 
• Answered a couple of emails and heading for bed at 9:15. It will be a full ministry day tomorrow - passing the baton to a new women's ministry team here in Misawa. 

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

Misawa Baccalaureate 2012

I'm so glad Jared decided to participate in the chapel's Baccalaureate service for high school seniors. It was a great service, short, sweet, meaningful.  Though, he didn't feel he knew many in the class, two of his good friends were in the class (Ashley and Cody). 


The graduate selects processed in....as Jared slows to allow me to take a photo (I've trained him well) we discover I forgot the memory card at home...and he has to keep walking.

The Cross Training (PYOC) band played.

Georgia and Scott read Scriptures. I'm sure going to miss Scott and Ruth. 

We sang some songs!

Michael gave an 8 min address! It was wonderful....real....yes, dream and reach for the stars, but it's how you handle failure that will decide if you are an Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson or George Morhouse. 

The graduates then came up one at a time and gave their name and where they see themselves in a year. Then they grabbed a flower from the altar and gave it to their mother. 

Cody is going into the Air Force. 

Ashley is going to Uof OK 

Jared is planning to go to ASU and study Political Science and then....he couldn't help himself and even though he thought he'd feel uncomfortable with seniors he didn't know he said....OR live in your basement. (Michael was holding the mic and passing it to Seniors). That's my son! 

Then the service was over and we took family photos.....and YES I KNOW I have weight to lose and I'm aware I look like a "middle aged hippie" but it makes me happy! LOL

Chapel Graduates - Kim in the middle is PYOC leader. 

Graduates (in front) with PYOC members who attended. 

Jackie, Ruth and Annette did a great job with the reception. It was a fun night for all. 


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

Walking Worthy

Shared this with PWOC Japan this a.m. and want to capture it here as well. 

Paul instructs the church at Ephesus, and us, to Walk WORTHY of our calling in Ephesians 4:1.  He then goes on to describe what this will look like in the rest of the chapter. I encourage you to stop, go get your Bible, and read Eph. 4.  Good stuff, isn't it?

Walk speaks to the continual habits and patterns of our lives. The habits and patterns of our lives are to be suitable, proper - worthy (Strongs #516).

Walk Worthy (1 - 7) by walking in 

• Humility (Strongs #5012a)
• Gentleness (Strongs # 4240) - Gentleness is an in-wrought grace of the soul, its an attitude of the spirit which accepts God's dealings as good and does not dispute or resit. Aristotle defined gentleness as standing between getting angry without reason and ot getting angry at all! Gentleness encompasses getting angry at the right time, in the right measure, for the right reason. (Dr. Zodhiates, Complete New Testament Word Study Dictionary)
• Patience (Strongs #3115) longsuffering; self-restraint before proceeding to action. Able to avenge yet refrains (Dr. Zodhiates - ibid)
•  Tolerant Love 
• Tolerance (Strongs # 430) to restrain, stop, hold up or back from falling - when dealing with others it is to bear with and have patience with errors and weaknesses. (Dr. Z ibid)
• Note how this differs from society view of tolerance
• Tolerance does at times involve restraining something or someone from danger
• Tolerance is not accepting a clear error or sin with equal value of the truth
• Biblical tolerance is patience towards those who are still growing to truth
• Love - (Strongs #26) Agape - sacrificial, always with the good of the other in mind, CHOICE of the will
• Diligent Unity - eager to preserve unity of spirit in the bond of peace
• Grace-filled Gifts (and this will become a separate blog post)  - Strongs # 5485
• Grace (Strongs #5485) 
• God's unmerited, unearned favor
• Changes things to new (Eph 2:8-9) without destroying individuality
• Enables us to fulfill Christ's call 
• Gifts are given according to His pleasure, to benefit the body, and there is enabling grace to walk out our gifts. 

As a list-maker I love this passage. As a fellow walker; it's a challenge isn't it? I encourage you to use this list to evaluate how you are walking? The good news is that His saving grace transforms our old man. 

Walking with you as we follow the King! 

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

American Day 2012

Yep, today is American Day in Misawa, Japan.  Japan has a lot of festivals - and today was like most festivals. Lots of food on a stick, performers at various spots, lots of crowds out enjoying the day....the difference is that today many of the units, booster clubs etc on base had food booths too....a touch of America at it's "best" for our neighbors....BBQ, hot dogs, chips, cookies, rice krispy treats, funnel cakes etc. We opted for the Japanese food as the lines were crazy long for the American food. LOL 

Another highlight of the day was a LOT of Harley Davidson riders...in fact the parade was basically motorocyles.  This one caught our fancy....

Yes, those ARE long horns, leather and a wagon...."OR or Bust" in Japanese....

Japanese Elvis

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

Look What I Did....

Finally!!!

I am posting it here as blog headers do not show in readers - nor in printed blog books...and these are some of my favorite most-recent photos. I managed to incorporate all nine Gherkins...even the ones in the states whose photos I had to snatch from Facebook. ::snort::

Thanks to Michael for showing me how to resize the screen in powerpoint!  The world is a new playground....I figure I can't change this every week - after all it has my favorite photos - right?

Really excited to have figured this simple trick out. ::snort::

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

Arielle's New Adventure

Arielle requested inline skates for her birthday. The BX doesn't have them in adult sizes. Tonight we checked at Sport's Authority.

Being pretty good at Japanese ::smirk:: we figured the warning out! 

Die hard - can't even READ them and still checking!

What a great brother! 

They took a trip down the street and back. Maybe tomorrow she'll branch out without Nolan's arm. Nolan wanted a pair but they didn't have "oki" sizes (large sizes). They recommended Zebono sports store in Hachinohe...thing is I'm not sure that's the name and it may be hard to find - but we will try.

Arielle does not usually opt for pink but she figured if she got pink the boys would leave them alone.

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

Ocean Visit

Since the ducks were a bust...we dropped Jared at home, checked to see if any of the others were ready to leave their homies and venture out with us....none were. 


Shucks! Michael and I had to go to the ocean alone! Our plan was to feed seagulls....once again...the crows were our only faithful animal partners. 

See? They really are flat like frisbees

I enjoyed a walk along the seawall while Michael walked near the shoreline. These wildflowers are new since earlier in the week. 

The seawall abruptly ended and the uprooted, dead trees reminded me of 3-11....always sobering to remember....and pray for this country we love. 

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